Vintage ports in a capital storm
Afew weeks ago I got an email asking me if I would be interested in going to a luncheon in Wellington to taste a range of port wines, including the release of 2016 vintage ports. Of course I said yes, just because someone has to do these things.
Kahurangi Liquor Distributors are the New Zealand agents for the Croft and Krohn Port houses, and while I have tasted their wares many times, it was the temptation of tasting wines from the outstanding 2016 vintage that had me heading to Wellington last week.
Two things made this an event not to miss. Firstly, it was being hosted by Nick Heath, who is the group marketing director for The Fladgate Partnership, which purchased the family owned Croft Port House in 2001, and Wiese & Krohn Port House in 2013.
Nick was born in Oporto in 1954 into a family which has been involved in the port wine business in Portugal for over 170 years. His grandfather was a partner in Fonseca until 1947.
Nick graduated from Cambridge University in 1976 and then returned to Portugal to join one of the leading port houses, where he became responsible for wine making and blending, after training in oenology at the University of Bordeaux.
So we were in the company of a man who has immense knowledge of port wine.
The second thing that enticed me to endure a flight to Wellington on a stormy day was the venue. Noble Rot is a very cool wine bar and restaurant in Swan Lane, off upper Cuba St, that has garnered a reputation as one of Wellington’s finest hospitality businesses in recent years.
When we think about port wines we usually think of them as something to have at the end of a meal, or maybe while sitting in front of the fire on a cold winter’s evening, so it was really interesting for me to try a range of ports with food. Port is produced from grapes grown and processed in the defined Douro region of Portugal. When the base wine has been made it is fortified with a grape spirit like cognac, this stops the fermentation at just the right time to ensure there is some natural residual sweetness, and of course enhanced alcohol levels.
Let’s have a look at the history of these two port houses. Located in the Douro Valley the Qunitas (estates or vineyards) are some of the finest in this premium port producing region of Portugal. Croft is the oldest port house, with a history dating back to 1588, while Krohn was founded in 1865 by two young Norwegians, Theodor Wiese and Dankert Krohn.
During the 20th century, Krohn built an outstanding reputation for its caskaged ports, in particular its flagship ‘Colheitas’ or single-harvest tawny ports. Because these wines have been aged in casks or barrels the result is a wine that has been exposed to small amounts of air during the ageing process, and that means when you open a bottle you won’t need to drink it within a day or two. Once opened it will stay in the same condition for many weeks.
Krohn is also highly regarded for its vintage ports, that come from its flagship property in the Rio Torto Valley.
Croft, on the other hand, is simply regarded as one of the very best producers of vintage and vintage-style port wines. With Quintas in different parts of the Douro Valley the star is the Quinta do Roe da, often described as the jewel of the Douro quintas. It forms a vast south-west facing semicircle of terraced vineyard on the right bank of the Douro River, making it one of the most picturesque vineyards in Oporto, as well as one of the finest.
In exceptional vintages, about three times a decade based on historical evidence, the major port houses gather and ‘‘declare’’, a term that means the vintage is so good it is appropriate to produce a vintage labelled port.
Vintage port wines are ruby ports, meaning they are aged in large oak vats for about two years, before being bottled, whereas tawny ports are aged in similar vats for two to three years, and are preoxidised so they last longer than ruby port once opened.
Vintage ports tend to be intensely rich, with body and structure that allows them to age for many years, even decades in some instances. The oldest bottle of vintage port we have in our cellar is from the outstanding 1977 vintage; the last bottle we tried a couple of years ago showed the wine still has many years of life left.
Before 2016 the last declaration was in 2011, and at the tasting last week we were able to compare non-vintage wines with those from the 2009, 2011 and 2016 vintages. Of particular interest to me was the differences between the 2016 ports from Krohn and Croft, wines that were only bottled about three weeks ago.
Now this is where you are allowed to be just a little envious, four courses of beautiful food, each served with two ports.
The second course was a white port served with snapper and roasted pineapple. White port is made from a range of white grape varieties like moscatel, verdelho, and the most widely planted white grape variety in the region, codega.
This was an inspired wine and food pairing by the chef at Noble Rot, the small pieces of pineapple were saute´ ed with vanilla, and it was the acidity of the pineapple and aromatics of the vanilla that bought the whole thing together.
The next course was beef tenderloin, blackberries and mushrooms, paired with the two 2016 vintage ports.
The Croft 2016 is a wine that is rich, opulent and fresh, with crushed blackberry fruit flavours, nicely integrated silky tannins, beautifully balanced and very approachable now, even though it was only bottled two weeks before the tasting.
The Krohn 2016 has a bright, vibrant deep ruby red colour, aromas packed with layers of spiced black berries, mocha, black pepper and a palate that is mouthfilling and packed with black berry fruit flavours, firm but beautifully integrated tannins, and some nice spicy alcohol heat in the finish.
I saved a little to try with the selection of petit fours served as a dessert, and both of these ports were perfect with the bitter chocolate mousse and olive oil cake.
‘‘We were in the company of a man who has immense knowledge of port wine.’’