Vintage port isn’t sole worthy option
“There’s a risk in a few years’ time that no one will know what aged vintage port tastes like,” Rupert Symington said, shaking his head wistfully as we sipped one of his family’s newest releases, the Graham’s 2016 vintage port. Symington was in Washington recently to promote these wines, released only in June, but his mind was partly in the future, a quarter-century or so from now, when these new wines should reach their prime.
“Being lucky enough to have tasted a 25-, 50-, even a 75-yearold bottle of vintage port, I know how wonderful it can be,” Symington added. “The greatest wines I’ve ever tasted have been old wines.”
Times are changing. British wine merchants traditionally aged ports in casks for years before bottling and selling them, but few if any are doing that today. Producers rarely hold back reserves of their vintage ports, preferring to capitalize on instant cash flow from high ratings and the fanfare of a new release. And wine lovers rarely have the extensive cellars to allow them to collect wines and age them for decades. Today, most wine is consumed within days of purchase.
“People live much more rapidly today,” Symington added. “That port moment, where everyone lingers over a bottle after dinner, still happens over the holidays, but otherwise we rarely take time to open and enjoy a bottle.”
Vintage port, of course, is too scarce and pricey (usually over $100 a bottle) to drink every day. And there’s less of it than there used to be. Port houses only declare a vintage in the best years. Symington said his family’s brands, which include Cockburn’s, Dow’s, Warre’s and Quinta do Vesuvio, in addition to Graham’s, made less vintage port in 2016 than in 2011, which was already a smaller output than 2007, also excellent years. That’s because they are increasingly relying on their own estate fruit rather than purchasing grapes, a move that sacrifices quantity in favor of greater quality.
Luckily for us, there are other styles of port, more affordable and easy to find, that we can enjoy anytime. Here’s a quick primer of the various styles:
Vintage port
Aged in cask for two years before bottling, with minimal exposure to oxygen. It is meant to age for years and even decades in the bottle (in your cellar after you pay for it, mostly) before it sheds its tannins and unfurls an exotic compote of dried fruits. But with our modern lifestyle, it’s good to know that vintage port is wonderful at release; just be prepared for primary, upfront fruit flavors and lots of tannin. After about four years from the vintage, they tend to close down and hibernate until they are about 10 years old.
Ruby ports
Fruitier and more supple than vintage, ruby ports are intended for immediate enjoyment. They typically are blends of wines from several years, meant to promote a house style immune to vintage variation. A ruby is often not labeled as such, but it may be called “reserve” or have a proprietary name, such as Graham’s Six Grapes.
Late-bottled vintage
LBV is essentially a single-vintage ruby, meant to offer some of the character of a vintage port but at a fraction of the price. They are aged longer than vintage ports before bottling, so they are more accessible and meant to be drunk right away.
Tawny port
The opposite of the vintage and ruby styles. Aged in 600-liter vats called pipes, the wine is drawn off, or racked, into large vats once a year so sediment can be removed, then returned to the pipes.
In the process, about 3 percent of the wine is lost: some in the discarded sediment, the rest — the “angels’ share” — to evaporation. Before the final blend is bottled (usually beginning six years after harvest), the pipes are topped off with younger and/or older wine to balance the flavors and create a house style unaffected by vintage variation. Because the wine is exposed to oxygen in this way, it takes on a browner “tawny” color and a nutty flavor.
Aged tawny, labeled as 10, 20, 30 or 40 years old as an approximate average age of the wine in the blend, is a special treat. A special subset of port called “colheita” is a single-vintage tawny.
White port
It can be hard to find, but white port makes a nice dry aperitif and is useful in cocktails, such as the port tonic, a great summer cocktail to start an evening right.
Port of any style is an excellent dessert wine, or dessert by itself. Rubies and younger vintage ports are great with chocolate cakes or other pastries, especially if there is a fruit element to the dessert. Older vintage ports are favored by cigar hounds. Aged tawnies cry out for custardy finales (flan, puddings) or buttery cookies.
In fact, a bottle of port and a platter of holiday cookies would be a fine ending to any feast this season.