When I tell my wine-loving friends that Port is one of the most outstanding wines in the world, they usually respond by raising an eyebrow. But look at the facts – top wine critics give Port wines some of the highest grades in the wine world. Some of those same wine lovers won’t allow me to confuse them with the facts; instead, they will say, “It’s not even a wine since it is sweet and fortified with alcohol.” To them, I say, “Just try it, and you’ll fall in love with it.”
Here is where I confess: I am crazy for Port. Crazy, almost to the point of needing a straitjacket. This is nothing new to my friends, who can immediately spot the surreal hazy look that appears in my eyes upon any mention of the word “Port.” I’ve visited the Port production capital of Porto, Portugal, in the past. Still, when a distinguished vintage is announced, such as in 2011 and 2017, it would have taken more than a straightjacket to have stopped me from going there again and again to taste the new and acclaimed harvest.
How did Port come to be?
Port was created in the late 17th century due to Hundred the Years’ War between France and its allies and England. The French imposed a boycott on the export of goods to the British Isles and closed most of the shores for exporting, which were controlled by its allies. England looked for an alternative to the import of Claret (the British name for the red Bordeaux wines) and found it in Portugal. However, in previous centuries, the transport of wines in slow, uncooled ships that rocked in the waves damaged the wine. The Bordeaux wines easily survived the quick crossing of the English Channel; however, the journey from Portugal to England was much longer, and the wine oxidized and turned into vinegar. The Portuguese red wines were fortified with alcohol to about twenty percent to complete the long journey. As the alcohol was added before the natural fermentation ended, the yeast’s activity stopped, and the wine preserved its natural sweetness. Alcohol and sweetening, two known natural preservatives, helped the wine make it through the long journey. It wasn’t long before the British fell in love with the new wine. At the beginning of the 19th century, after the fall of Napoleon, the land boycott France had on England also came to an end. Nevertheless, old habits die hard, and even though fine Bordeaux wines were now at the disposal of the British, their love for Port didn’t end there.
Types of Port
Port is divided into various types (see below), but they may be divided into two primary groups: those that age in the barrel for a long time before their bottling and, therefore, may be consumed upon their sale, and wines that are bottled young, and therefore must be aged for several more years before being finished. The leading wine in the first group is the Tawny, whose amber color, though made chiefly from red grapes, is a result of its exposure to oxygen while aging in the barrel. This is a great wine, which is often sold even after 50 years. It is soft and nutty with a noticeable brandy flavor. The leading wine in the second group, another reason I flew to Portugal again, is the Vintage Port, which is the greatest of all. This wine is released to the market only in special harvest years. It possesses bursting, intense, and concentrated fruit aromas. In the past, it was only possible to drink this wine after aging in a bottle for twenty years or more. Today, due to the market’s demands (not everyone is willing to buy a bottle that only their children will be able to drink when they grow up…) and technological improvements, this wine can be enjoyed after only a decade….
Tawny port on right and LBV on left. Note the color differences
The Different Types of Port
“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that.” – C.S. Lewis.
Barrel-Aged:
- Ruby – Usually a simple wine. The name is about the red color that characterizes the wine. It ages for 2-3 years in large wooden barrels.
- Riserva – A general definition is given to the manufacturers’ interpretations. Mostly Ruby wines of relatively high quality.
- Tawny – The name also refers to the color of the wine, this time golden-brown. In contrast to the Ruby, the Tawny ages for long periods in barrels until it loses its red color. Quality Tawny wines are aged 10, 20, or even 30 years.
Bottle-Aged:
- Vintage – The finest and most expensive Port. Vintage Port uses wine from only a single, especially quality, harvest year. It spends only two to three years in small oak barrels. It has the most impressive color intensity and a long aging potential in the bottle.
- LBV (Late Bottled Vintage) – A wine from a single harvest year. Produced from quality vineyard plots in good harvest years but not declared “Vintage.” It is bottled after 4-6 years of aging in a barrel and therefore is ready for consumption sooner than a Vintage.
- Single Quinta – A quality Port, produced similarly to the Vintage but from grapes from a single estate only and in years that are not declared Vintage. The Single Quinta requires long aging in a bottle as a Vintage.
- White Port – Produced similarly to red Port but from white grapes.
Port and the British
“If Portugal is the mother of Port, Britain is certainly its father.” – Karen McNeil, Author of “The Wine Bible.”
As a result of the many wars between Britain with France, there was a need for an alternative to French wines. When a British wine merchant explored the Douro Valley in Portugal, he encountered a new and appealing wine-production method developed by one of the monasteries in the Valley. While fortified wines have been famous for centuries, adding alcohol to them was made after the yeast finished its processes and the wine became dry. The new method was the addition of alcohol during the fermentation, where not all the sweet must have turned into alcohol. This is how a sweet and intense wine was created. The wine merchant realized that this production method preserved the wine better against the hardships of the journey by ship and allowed for its export to Britain. This is how Port was created. The British merchants were those who built the Port houses in Porto, to where the wine was sent in barrels from the Douro Valley, and it was they who sent it to Britain. Therefore, to this day, the large Port brands bear British names such as Taylor’s, Croft, Graham, Cockburn’s, etc.; families of British origin still own some. The British merchants benefited primarily from the dramatic growth in Port wine sales and less from the Portuguese farmers, as the merchants had control over the sales pipeline.
Today too, Port is considered one of the favorite wines in Britain, particularly in the British Royal Court. Jokingly called the “Drink of Kings,” Port is served regularly at formal dinners of Queen Elizabeth, such as dinner with US President Barack Obama on his trip to London. Port is also the official wine with which the British army toasts the Queen, and Port is the traditional wine with which the British celebrate Christmas. It is a known British tradition to sip a glass of Port on the sofa beside the fireplace, beside the Christmas tree.
Barak and Michelle Obama with a glass of port
The Three Port Houses incorporated under the Fladgate Partnership:
Taylor’s
Taylor’s is the Latour of ports” Robert Parker”
What more can you say about a winery that is the wet dream of every Port lover? This is a Port house established in 1692 and has been considered a trailblazer throughout its existence. In 1920, Taylor was one of the first to separate the planting of the different strains in the vineyards and scientifically analyze each strain’s characteristics. In 1958, they were the first to come out with a Single Quinta; in 1970, they were the first to introduce the LBV (Late Bottled Vintage). The three vineyards of the winery were planted at an elevation and face north, which moderates the impact of the Douro Valley’s summer heat, providing the wines’ intensity and complexity. The 1992 harvest of the vineyard, which received an excellent grade of 100 by wine critics, woke America up to the greatness of the Vintage Port.
During my visit, I tasted eight Taylor’s wines. All of them were excellent, but the best among them was the 1964 Single Harvest Port – a Tawny wine with an intense and never-ending perfume aroma, and at over 50 years old, it is in its best form (like some people I know). I also tasted the 2011 Vintage Port – an excellent wine; it is dense and concentrated like syrup and bursts in the mouth with intensity. I gave it a grade of 96, but international wine critics were more generous than I was. I also tasted the 2017 Vintage Port, to which I gave a grade of 97. This winery is known for wines that are constricted in their taste in their early years but likely majestic in their maturity.
Taylor's port tasting
Fonseca
“The vintage Ports of Fonseca are perhaps the most consistently great of them all.” James Suckling, Wine Spectator
David Guimaraens is the chief vintner for Taylor’s, the sixth generation of the Guimaraens family, who have owned Fonseca since 1820. Fonseca is characterized by a soft and sensual taste and a very fruity intensity, derived from his three vineyards (Quintas) facing the warm south. On my visit to Porto, I tasted eight Fonseca wines and fell in love with the winery. While Fonseca doesn’t have the structure and intensity that Taylor’s has its feminine and concentrated character captured my heart. Another characteristic that distinguishes it is its ability to produce wines at a high and relatively uniform level across its harvests. In years that are not declared harvest years, in which Fonseca feels capable of producing quality wines, the winery releases the Guimaraens Vintage Port, the second series of the winery. Consumers interested in a quality Vintage Port at a reasonable price will stick with this wine. Another quality wine is the winery’s LBV. It isn’t a Vintage, but it is excellent at a ridiculous price in good harvest years.
Foot treading at Fonseca's Quinta do Panascal
Croft
This Port house was established in 1588 and is considered the oldest existing house. The Fladgate Group purchased the house in 2001, and since then, the quality of the wines has continued to improve. I tasted the 2011 harvest, which was beautiful – intense, concentrated, with fruity bursts; it is reminiscent of Crème de Cassis. I give it a 97. I also tasted the magnificent 2017 to which I gave a grade of 96.
Adrian Bridge, CEO of Fladgate
During my visit to Porto, I interviewed Adrian Bridge, the CEO of Fladgate, which owns the three Port houses: Taylor’s, Fonseca, and Croft. I gifted him with the T2 wine of the Golan Heights Winery, the Israeli equivalent of a Port wine. In my opinion, this is a beautiful wine, but just like many attempts to produce Port outside of Portugal, the result does not come close to the original. Therefore, my first question to Adrian was:
Why isn’t it possible to produce a quality Vintage Port in other places worldwide?
First, Portugal possesses the unique wine strains from which Port is produced. The complex soil conditions challenge the roots of the grapevines to deepen six meters to reach the desired humidity. The average grapevine output is meager – 1.2 kilos. The manner of producing the wine is unique, beginning with extracting the juice by stomping with feet and finishing off with the brandy quality added to the wine. Adrian calls the accumulation of all the small details that characterize the production of the quality Port of Portugal “the sum of the 1%” or, in other words, the slight differences that make all the difference.
The average salary for one working in the Douro Valley is only 600 euros. Several individual international corporations, such as Fladgate, possess most of the wealth deriving from the region. This polarization in income leads to discomfort and unrest in the area. What do you anticipate for the future?
The future for Port in general, and Fladgate in particular, lies in quality products at a high value. This is also the reason that Fladgate is growing every year. Producing and selling cheap products at low margins at supermarkets is a problematic business model. Quantity is not the goal; instead, it is quality. If we succeed in changing the business model, we will earn more, and this wealth will trickle down to the Douro Valley residents. Furthermore, we need to remember that Douro’s primary point is low. This is a remote area, where electricity first reached the region 20 years ago and roads 15 years ago. The economic development of the Douro Valley needs to be created in collaboration with the government. We, as a brand, require educated and sophisticated farmers who can grow quality grapes using modern methods. But to improve the quality of education, the government needs to get involved.
Adrian Bridge
Technological improvements make it possible to consume Vintage Port today earlier than in years past. Do you see further technological development that will enable Port consumption even before it reaches its first decade of life?
The development that will enable this will come from the consumers’ preferences. Today, they tend to consume young wines with fruit highlights. Today, consumers don’t have time to age wine for years and want to consume it immediately after purchasing it. My role is to tell the consumers: ‘Here you have an excellent product that you can drink immediately or wait for twenty years – it’s up to you. The consumers will decide their preferences. Of course, the nature of the product must be modified to the needs of the consumer; therefore, for example, the tannins must be soft also when the Vintage Port is young.
In recent years, dry Portuguese wines have become increasingly popular worldwide. Port houses like Quinta do Noval and Ferreira have also begun producing dry wines. Is Fladgate also planning to do this?
Fladgate plans to continue to focus on manufacturing Port for the foreseeable future. We feel we are blessed in this area and don’t have a surplus of grapes to produce the dry wines.
What is your favorite Port to sip on a cold winter night beside the fireplace?
The answer depends on the circumstance. If I end the evening with a good book, I will likely drink an excellent Tawny. As for a good Vintage Port, I have a long-lived relationship with the 1963 harvest, the year of my birth. I have enjoyed drinking Port from this year’s crop for the past thirty years. For me, it’s like talking to an old friend. This port develops with age, like me.
Could you tell the readers a personal story about Port?
About fifteen years ago, Portugal hosted a celebratory conference for the Latin American countries and asked that Taylor be responsible for the Port pavilion. Fidel Castro, the King of Spain, and the President of Portugal visited the pavilion. During the tour, I explained the Port production process. Fidel Castro stopped the lecture, turned to me, almost poking my eye, and asked in a deep voice, “Where do you buy the sugar that you mix into the Port?” I tried to explain that we don’t buy sugar and that the natural sweetness comes from the grape, but Castro didn’t accept the explanation and demanded an answer. To my pleasure, the King of Spain stepped in as an interpreter. He explained in Spanish why Taylor’s does not need to purchase sugar canes from Cuba, even though, if Taylor’s had the market, it would undoubtedly contact Cuba first, as the quality of its sugar is known around the world….
