Although port is one of the world’s best and relatively affordable wines, many wine consumers are quite ignorant about it. Fortunately, Portugal was featured in this year’s Vancouver Wine Festival and many attendees had an excellent opportunity to experience port.
Port is a sweet fortified wine from Portugal that is aged and shipped out of the port of Oporto. Fortified means that alcohol has been added part way through the fermentation process, keeping some of the natural sweetness of the grapes and adding extra alcohol. Many ports can have 20 per cent alcohol content, whereas most red wines have 13 per cent or 14 per cent alcohol.
Port is an English invention. The British have traditionally been fond of French wines, especially those from Bordeaux. During the Napoleonic wars when Britain was at war with French, the British couldn’t get any French wine. Instead, they went to their ally Portugal and imported their wines.
Unfortunately, Portuguese wine didn’t suit the British taste. In trying to make the inferior dry red more palatable, the British invented the fortification process that made the wine sweet to smooth out its rough edges. And the extra alcohol was another bonus to make the hesitant consumer forget about his aversion to the old style of Portuguese wine.
Basically, there are two types of ports: bottle aged and wood aged. The best bottle aged port is vintage port. At the Vancouver Wine Festival, you can taste three 2015 vintage ports: Fonseca Guimaraens, Quinta do Crasto and Quinta de Vargellas.
Vintage port is only produced from the best vintages and is made from a variety of indigenous Portuguese red grapes, including Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz.
2003, 2007, and 2011 were declared classic vintages that rated 98 and 99 points. Although it’s not a classic, the 2015 vintage at the festival is still an outstanding one, scoring 93 out of 100.
To say that vintage ports are age-worthy is an understatement. Traditionally, the British would buy a case of a vintage port to mark the birth of a son and open it on his 21st birthday. Because the Portuguese grapes are high in tannin, they allow the port to age gracefully for decades.The residual sugar in the wine and the high alcohol content also allow vintage grapes to mature.
Drinking a vintage port like the 2015 when it is only three years old is a bit of sin, but it does give you an idea of how it will develop. It’s just that it will not show its complexity and the nuances it will potentially have.
When enjoying a mature vintage port, be sure to decant the clear wine from the sediment that develops after years of aging. Ideally, vintage port is best served with a gourmet blue cheese such as Stilton from England.
Before you indulge in the sweet vintage port at the wine festival this weekend, visit booth 32 to enjoy the Spanish Baronia Cims and booth 132 to enjoy the Monte Del Fra Ca del Magra, Bardolino, and Amarone.
Eric Hanson is a retired teacher and wine educator.
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