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The Side Bar
by Tony Arnold

About Port - That Lovely Fortified Wine

As the Nebraska weather cools to typical Antarctic temperatures, one drink comes to mind for me - port. That wonderful fortified wine with a flexibility that pairs as well with fine cheeses as it does with deserts and the occasional cigar. One of my yearly rituals on my birthday includes opening a half bottle of vintage 2000 port from my collection and reflecting on the last year. In theory, should I live another thirty years, that last bottle in the cellar should be at its projected peak and should be absolutely fabulous. 

Being a port lover, I am often asked what is the difference between all the various port types. I will omit the more rare styles of port including Vintage Character and Colheita.

Quintas are the actual grape farms.  Quinta Da Agua Alta mean the farm of Agua.  Grape farms are call quintas because 1/5 of thier income was paid in taxes, 1/5th in Portuguese is a quinta.

Ruby port is a blend from several harvests, different years and different "quintas"
It spends a minimum of two years in very large vats before being bottled. The large vats minimize the amount of air that comes in contact with the wine, which reduces oxidization so the wine retains its bright red hue. Ruby is ready to drink when it is bottled and has a rich red color and a full fruity taste.

Tawny port is also a blend from several harvests but is aged for two to seven years in casks. The smaller storage vessels allow more oxidization than the vats used for Ruby ports. It is ready to drink as soon as it is bottled. As its name implies, Tawny port has a deep mahogany color, with a drier and nuttier taste.

Aged Tawny is the best Tawny port. It can have an age of 10, 20, 30 or more than 40 years. The age will be indicated on the label and describes the average age of the wines in the blend. In a twenty year old aged Tawny, there may be some ports 100 years old added for additional complexity to the wine. Aged Tawny port has a refined, subtle taste.

White ports have a lighter taste and vary from quite sweet to very dry. The sweetest are called lagrima. These wines are made from a blend of juice from white grapes from different vineyards and different quintas and may have a small amount of juice from red grapes. The wine spends two to three years in casks and is ready to drink when it is bottled. White port is usually served as an aperitif with club soda and makes a very tasty and refreshing drink called a "port splash", which is a drink we have made for everyone who attended the port tasting earlier this year.

Crusted port is a type of Ruby and spends three years in a cask but most of its aging is in a bottle. It is a blend of wines from several different years and gets its name from the sediment that appears in the bottle as the wine ages, since the wine is not filtered. This crust is mainly tiny pieces of grape skin plus bits of seed and stems that settle in the lowest part of the bottle. Sediment does not taste or feel good so the port must be decanted. Crusted port resembles a LBV port but with added fruitiness.

Single-Quinta ports are made with wine from one vineyard. They may be Tawny or Vintage styles. After aging two years in wood they are bottled and spend from 5 to 50 years maturing. The label will indicate the Vintage year and bottling date. Single quinta port has a complex, and refined taste similar to an vintage port.

Late-Bottled Vintage port (LBV) is made from grapes grown in a single year.
The port is aged four to six years in wood before bottling. The label will indicate the Vintage and bottling date. The LBV port is ready to drink earlier than Vintage port and when labeled "Traditional", it may have some sediment. For this reason, L.B.V "Traditional" ports, like Vintage ports, need decanting.

Vintage port comes from a single harvest of exceptional quality and is bottled after two years in wood. The wine then spends many years aging in the bottle (in glass) and the label will show the year of the Vintage and the year the wine was bottled. This is one of the most sought-after wines in the world. From 1901 to 1999, only fourteen port Vintages have been declared.

My overall favorite for an everyday port? LBV - great price and tastes very close to an aged vintage port.

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