Port wine that’s not for dessert

There was always a bottle of Port in my dad’s bar when I was growing up. It wasn’t very expensive or very good but it felt luxurious to have it in the house. So luxurious, it would only be enjoyed once or twice a year. My family didn’t realise, however, that that’s not how you drink Port. Depending on the style, it is best after opening for a few days to a few weeks. In my home a bottle would be opened on Christmas, a tiny amount poured into liqueur glasses and the bottle returned to the shelf to wait until the next special occasion. Months later. By the time the bottle was half-empty, the Port tasted like vinegar. And that is how I first encountered it as a teenager. Needless to say, I thought Port tasted awful.

Rabelo boats, which used to be used to bring barrels of wine from the Douro Valley to the Port cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia (in the background).

I lived well into my thirties before I decided to revisit this wine from my cultural background. But this time I was going to do it right. I read books on the wine’s history and making, spent a year sampling as many styles of Port as I could find and even visited the Port lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia (next to the wine’s namesake of Porto). Along the way I discovered that it wasn’t just my family that misunderstood Port, it was most people. Port is often relegated to desserts, small glassware and improper storage. It is a shame because good Port is probably my preferred adult beverage. I love how certain styles combine ripe fruit, sweetness and complexity while others, aged a long time in barrel, take on the character of wood and leather, reminding me of my favourite cigars and whiskeys. And so, like my drive to not only dress better but help others along the way, I feel the need to advocate for this unique and special wine. I give you this relatively brief introduction to Port in the hopes of inspiring you to not only expand your wine horizons (if you haven’t already) but also to explain why I break with tradition and drink Port on its own.

All Port begins the same way: with aguardente vínica (a flavourless alcohol made of distilled wine) added to wine to stop its fermentation. That’s why Port is called “fortified.” The gold standard in the Port world is Vintage Port. Blended from wines of a single harvest, from many farms or in some cases just one, it is aged two years in barrels. Vintage Port then requires many years of bottle ageing to reach its potential, typically two decades, while some will continue to mature gracefully for half a century. And when it does, it can be the pinnacle of the craft. Only certain years are declared – by the individual house, then ratified by the Port Wine Institute – but a declaration does not necessarily mean the Port is of remarkable quality. That depends on the house that produced it and the wine itself, of course. However, the truth is that the investment that Vintage Port requires, both in terms of cost and time, means it is a very special drink, not something I enjoy on a regular basis. If my dad had started collecting it when I was young, maybe I could, but alas…

Colheita ageing in massive barrels at Graham’s.

So I will focus on a few categories of Port that sit below Vintage in the hierarchy but within which you can still find quality. These are Ports that punch above their weight since many others, especially the kind preferred by my dad (cheap ruby), are mediocre at best. I have found, however, that certain late bottled vintage (LBV), colheita and tawny Ports can provide a superior experience. I should start by explaining the basic differences between these three types of Port. LBV and Colheita begin like Vintage Port: blended of wines from a single year. These are wines not considered great enough to become Vintage Port but still with enough structure and balance to produce a good Port. LBVs then spend four to six years in barrel, much longer than Vintage, thus “late bottled.” Colheita spends even longer, a minimum of seven years to as much as twenty, which makes it, essentially, a single vintage tawny. Colheitas can be very inconsistent, of course, because they depend on that single harvest being exceptional and able to be aged for many years. But when you find a good one, it is a unique and intense expression of tawny Port.

When I visited Vila Nova de Gaia I discovered that many in the industry don’t actually refer to Tawny as “Port.” Because of its long ageing in barrels – from a few years to over fifty – which strips the wine of some of its sweetness, fruitiness and much of its colour (as they get older), they simply refer to it as “tawny.” This Port falls into four different categories: “10, 20, 30, 40 years.” The thing to understand is that 20 year old tawny, for example, does not solely contain Port that has been aged for 20 years. Instead, it is a blend that matches the house’s style of a 20 year tawny. It will contain wines that are young and old but can average out to about 20 years.

The Vintage Port stockroom at Graham’s.

Drink-ability, in fact, is really what these three Ports have in common – on the whole, they will not improve in time so you can drink them right away. And all, once they are opened, should be enjoyed within a short period of time. I find that LBVs are best one to three days after opening, whereas colheitas and tawnies maintain their initial experience for up to two weeks. One way to extend this time, for these three Ports, is to keep them in the fridge. However, you don’t want to serve your Port that cold – cellar temperature is best. Therefore, pour a glass an hour or so before you intend to drink it and it should be just right.

But it is not only the many, many categories of Port that can throw people, it is also the extra work of decanting. First off, tawnies and most colheitas don’t need to be decanted: they threw all their sediment in the barrel. And while a lot of LBVs sold in Canada are filtered, I avoid them and stick with unfiltered. Yes, they can require decanting but I find they have much more character than filtered. However, they are much harder to find: you must look for the word “unfiltered” or a mention on the bottle of sediment. That said, unfiltered LBV is not automatically better than filtered – that depends on the wine used, of course. Since unfiltered LBVs do throw a sediment, they are best stored laying down, while tawnies and colheitas should stand.

A great Port is the classic beverage to accompany cheese. Or, when I visited Taylor Fladgate, they offered a flight of Ports served with chocolate. Both can be lovely, but I prefer my Port on its own. I enjoy savouring everything a good Port has to offer without the (sometimes pleasant) distraction of food. And never in those dinky liqueur glasses that are slender at the bottom and open at the top. Port needs a glass with a bit of a bowl, room to open up and breath as well as a small opening to concentrate the aromas. A regular or small white wine glass is fine but I prefer glasses made specifically for Port. They are slightly more narrow than white wine glasses but just as tall.

Port wine glass by Riedel

I find it difficult to recommend specific Ports since LBVs and cohleitas, like other vintage wines, will not be consistent from year to year. However, I have had great experiences with LBVs by Warre’s as well as the small house of Quinta de Santa Eufemia and colheitas from Cálem. Aged tawnies are much easier to recommend because they are far more consistent. I have yet to sample a 10 year old that was truly remarkable but there are a couple readily available in the 20 year range: Ramos Pinto (“Quinta de Bom Retiro”) and Ferreira (“Duque de Bragança”).

And finally, here’s the connection I see between good Port and a good wardrobe, what I usually write about: the search for quality in crafted goods. When I visited Port cellars and spoke with the winemakers, I could hear the same passion, see the same attention to detail and striving for perfection that I have witnessed countless times with tailors, hat-makers and other clothing artisans. What they create they do so by putting a lot of themselves in the product. And understanding that, understanding everything that goes into making something – whether it is a bottle of Port or a tailored jacket – is for me a big part of true style and elegance.

Recommended further reading: The Port Companion: A Connoisseur’s Guide by Godfrey Spence

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