"He drank Port as Port should be drunk—a trial of the bouquet; a slow sip; a rather larger and slightly less slow one, and so on; but never a gulp; and during the drinking, his face exchanged its usual bluff and almost brusque aspect for the peculiar blandness which good wine gives to worthy countenances."
— From "Notes on a Cellarbook,"
by George Saintsbury
Port is the only wine to have been invented by mistake and political intrigue.
At war with the French in the late 1600s, the British turned to other sources to replace their beloved Bordeaux claret. One acceptable trading partner was Portugal. There, the British found a red wine from the Duoro River Valley in northeastern Portugal.
These first ports were dry, acidic, harsh red wines made even stronger by a bucket or two of brandy in each cask—added to stabilize the wine for the long journey by ship to Britain.
Later, in the early 1700s, shippers began to leave some residual, unfermented sugar in the wine—and increased the amount of brandy added to each cask ( about one part grape spirits to four parts new wine ) . The British took after these sorts of port like kids after candy, and port as we know it was born.
The wine should have been invented at Lake Michigan, for it is a perfect antidote to our winters.
The several varieties of port—vintage, white, ruby, tawny, late-bottled vintage, single quinta, to name a few—can be confusing.
But looked at another way, there are only two types of port: ports of the wood and ports of the glass—designations of where a port predominantly ages and matures after it is made.
Ports of the glass are ports that age chiefly in bottles, the most famous of which is vintage port, superlative wine from one single year that ages for decades in bottle. Vintage ports are rare, expensive and account for a mere 3 percent of annual port production. As they age, vintage ports throw a very heavy deposit and must be decanted before drinking.
Not every year is a 'vintage year'—that is, a year of the highest quality worth extra aging. And even when some port shippers 'declare' a vintage, others do not.
Most other ports are ports of the wood, that is, before being bottled they age in cask for a period of a few, or up to many, years.
Ruby port, tawny and late-bottled vintage are all ports of the wood. Ruby ports age about three years in cask; tawnies age much longer, sometimes as long as 40 years. The older a tawny is, generally, the more it costs.
Some of the most delicious ports are tawnies. Whereas rubies emphasize power, fruit and plummy intensity, tawnies play up nutty, woody aromas and tastes. Because much wine has evaporated from the cask during the years in which tawnies have aged, they also are intensely concentrated in flavor and have a voluptuous feel in the mouth.
Ports such as late-bottled vintage port are from finer, individual harvests that mature for a brief time in cask and finish their aging in bottle. White port is something like sherry and is enjoyed chilled, as an aperitif.
Interestingly, 40 percent of port production is bought up by the French—not the English, as many would assume—and most of what the French buy is ruby port. The French serve it chilled, as an aperitif.
Because it is both fortified and sweet, once opened, a bottle of port lasts longer than normal table wine. A ruby or tawny can last two weeks to a month; a late-bottled vintage, about a week. Refrigeration helps.
I recently went through a tasting of several ports from the houses of Fonseca Guimaraens and Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman, two very old port shippers. Here are some tasting notes and recommendations of cheese matches:
Fonseca Bin 27 ( $15 ) : A very grapey, sweet port, with a thick, silky-oily body and flavors of blackcurrants and black cherries. Try with goat's cheeses.
Taylor Fladgate late bottled vintage 1994 ( $16 ) : Has more maturity than many LBVs, with hints of tea and wood, soft tannins and a medium body. Very elegant and fine, with an extraordinarily long finish. Serve with a funky blue cheese such as Cabrales or Bleu d'Auvergne.
Fonseca 10 year-old tawny ( $25 ) : Pretty orange-brown color, with a mix of flavors of berries and caramel, berries winning out. Perfect with a firm sheep's milk cheese such as Manchego.
Taylor 20 year-old tawny ( $40 ) : Like liquid nuts, with additional aromas and tastes of toffee and orange; very sweet and luscious on the tongue. Also excellent with hard sheep's milk cheese such as a Sardinian pecorino.
