Pull out those winter woolies and a good bottle of port

AS THE first frosty fingers encroach on the last days of autumn warmth, the prospect of pulling out heartier wines, including the fortified ones like port and brandy, from the cellar is tantalising. In the days of old, the British gentry regarded port as the eminent pre- and after-dinner drink.

However, times have changed along with health and drinking and driving considerations, meaning the high sugar and alcohol elements of port are taken in a more measured fashion.

Port is a fortified wine, typically red and sweet, but also produced as a white or pink dessert wine in a myriad styles. Its origins are the Douro Valley, Portugal, but Calitzdorp has become South Africa’s port capital where portstyle wines are produced equal to the best emerging from the homeland.

De Krans Wines co-owner Boets Nel believes port epitomises “conversational wine”, as it cannot be gulped down and must be savoured with family and friends, complementing any occasion.

He says the perception that these wines can be enjoyed only before or after dinner and limited to colder weather is wrong. The winery produces a variety of styles for any time throughout the year, with the white and pink ports ideal as appetisers and the Cape Tawny being a perfect partner for brown onion soup, loin of pork stuffed with dried fruit or a cheese platter.

Yet, it is those dark red, rich ports that conjure up images of Victorian smoking rooms and warming fires. Cape Late Bottled Vintage is a wine of grapes harvested in a single vintage and aged at least two years in oak and three to six years in total before bottling.

Cape Vintage is aged in wood with the vintage year on the label, while Cape Vintage Reserve is a wine the industry recognises as offering exceptional quality. It has been aged for at least a year and sold exclusively in glass wine bottles displaying the vintage date.

The De Krans port-style wines have garnered numerous awards, with the Cape Ruby awarded four stars in Platter’s guide for a record 14 consecutive years and, in the last three, voted Best Value.

The currently available De Krans Cape Vintage 2012 was awarded four and a half stars.

However, if port is not your drink of choice for the colder weather, there is always brandy. Klipdrift Premium has just won the 2016 World’s Best Brandy Award, so more kudos to home-grown.

E-mail your comments and suggestions to jenveyn@telkomsa.net.