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BARTENDER'S
WINE EXPERT: JOSEPH DELISSIO |
PORT
WINE
by Joseph DeLissio |
I can still remember quite vividly my first impressions of Port wines. What I remember is not a fine wine's aroma or bouquet. What I remember is dynamite-yes, large red sticks of highly explosive dynamite being carefully placed in freshly drilled holes in the side of a rather desolate-looking mountain top. I remember thinking, why would anyone go to such an expense to plant grapevines on a desolate mountaintop? Just then someone handed me a glass of 1963 Vintage Port, and I began to understand.
PORTO, THE REAL THING
Fine red Port wine can only be produced in a strictly delimited zone within the northeast Alto Duero region of Portugal.
Here row upon row of terraced vineyards, called quintas, are planted along the steep hills that run parallel to the Rio Douro ("River of Gold"). While these terraces add a look of antiquity to the region, they have been erected for the sole purpose of preventing the erosion of the precious, thin, almost non-existent layer of topsoil.
Like Chablis, however, Port's good name has been borrowed and misused without authorization. To remove consumer confusion, the term "Porto" can be used only on the label of genuine Port wine.
Port is a fortified wine. This fortification is accomplished by adding a neutral grape bandy to the fermenting grape juice. This bandy will cause the fermentation process to stop prematurely, thereby leaving the sweet unfermented natural sugar in the wine.
There are many different approved red grape types that can be used in the Port wine region. Often what is collected during harvest is a field blend comprised of many different grape types mixed together.
DIFFERENT STYLES OF RED PORTS
Ruby Port - Ruby Port is a blended wine that spends two or three years in either stainless steel tanks or oak casks before being bottled. This wine has a deep ruby color and is quite fruity, fresh, spicy, sweet, and easy to drink.
Vintage character Port - A finer grade of ruby, vintage character Ports are not labeled with a vintage date. Wines in this category offer more color and fruit than most ruby Port.
Late bottled vintage Port - Also known as L.B.V., these wines are similar in style to vintage character Port but are produced from a single vintage.
Vintage dated Port - The most expensive, long-lived, and sought-after Ports are of this classification. Vintage Port accounts for a mere 3 to 5 percent of total Port production. Vintage Ports are given only two years of cask aging before being bottled. Once bottled, these wines continue their development for many more years, and they are best consumed fifteen to twenty years after the vintage.
During the long bottle-aging period a rather heavy deposit of sediment develops; it should always be removed before the wine is served. Decanting is the method of choice for removing sediment. In a pinch, however, straining through cheesecloth works just fine.
TAWNY STYLED PORTS
Tawny Port - Tawny Ports are wood-aged Ports. As these wines age, they tend to shed their deeper ruby color and gradually take on lighter shades of brown-hence, the name tawny. Tawny Port tends to be drier than ruby Port, as over time the sweet and fresh fruit evolves into a drier and more complex wine.
Fine old tawnies/indicated age tawnies - When select tawny Port is given additional aging in the cask, it is sometimes bottled as ten-, twenty-, thirty-, or forty-year-old tawny Port. The age listed on the label represents the average age of the blended wines used in its production. Consume upon release.
ENJOYING PORT WINE
Nothing warms up a cold winter day like a glass of Port. Great at the end of a meal, perfect with a bowl of candied walnuts. Port is also an excellent partner to a quality cigar. Best served slightly cooler than room temperature in small quantities in a small- to medium-sized Port glass.
TOP PORT SHIPPERS
Cockburn, Croft, Delaforce, Dow, Fonseca, Graham, Niepoort, Quinta do Noval, Robertson, Sandeman, Smith, Woodhouse, Taylor-Fladgate,
Warre.
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