Wool for Wine

Unsurprisingly, the history of Port as a commodity follows the political turmoil and vicissitudes of the warring nations involved in its trade. With the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, England simultaneously severed its centuries-old route of commerce with the French wine market and embarked upon more than congenial relations with vineyard-rich Portugal. Several English shipping firms were already established in the city of Oporto—Warre’s, the first, was founded in 1670.

With the supplies of French wine dwindling in London, a Bordeaux-thirsty market sent panicked merchants scrabbling to find a replacement. In 1703, the Portuguese signed the Methuen Treaty, a trade agreement with England based on the exchange of English wool for port wine. As brisk business ensued between the two countries, fortune seekers descended upon the northern coast of Portugal.

In search of Portugal’s best—the dark, “blackstrap” wines of the Duoro Valley—English merchants sailed up the Rio Duoro, or “river of gold,” as it cut through gorges of arid, terraced vineyards and jagged cliffs. They witnessed the most unlikely and hostile of agricultural lands: Steeply sloped vineyards perched above the river, driven into bedrock. The Rio Duoro flows 400 miles from its source inside Spain and then continues across the entire width of Portugal, emptying into the Atlantic at the city of Oporto, from which the wine Porto, anglicized to Port, takes its name. The wine region begins about 60 miles east of Oporto, extending approximately 70 miles to the Spanish border with a width that never exceeds 15 miles. From this modest area hails some of the world’s longest-lived red wine.

As the story goes, two young merchants from Liverpool with a proclivity for wine-sleuthing chanced upon a monastery in Lamego. High in the mountains above the Duoro, they met an industrious but impatient abbot, who added grape spirits, i.e. brandy, to his robust red wine prior to the completion of fermentation. Adding brandy to wine after fermentation was common practice and was used to prolong the life of a wine, stabilizing it for shipping, but the taste was strong and sharp.

However, the abbot’s method produced a wine that was velvety, sweet and, at 20 percent, rather high in alcohol. The gamey “blackstrap,” known for its midnight color and potent effect, was about to forfeit its slatternly ways for a gentlemanly waistcoat and a tricorne hat: This suave version of Port gained immense popularity, entering the 18th-century drawing rooms of every respectable Englishman, in the form of the potable that we still cherish today. One of the world’s most famous fortified wines was born.

This is the shortened, perhaps mythical version of the history of Port. More likely, Port came about over several decades. By fortifying red wine with brandy, the merchants acquired the perfect concoction for travel, designed to endure the high seas trip back to London. In addition to its seaworthiness, Port, with its hardy alcohol levels, held instant appeal for after-dinner, male-only, cigar-puffing gatherings. Dr. Samuel Johnson is credited with this manly proclamation: “Claret is the liquor for boys, and Port for men.” By 1728 over one million cases of Porto were shipped to England.

The styles of Port

The stylistic differences within the category of Port are numerous and tend to confuse the consumer: e.g., ruby, tawny, aged tawny, LBV, vintage, coheita, white port (yes, white) and garrafeira (which sounds like an awful disease, but just means “reserve”). For beginners, the one basic distinction among Ports that is extraordinarily helpful to know is how tawny differs from ruby, both in its production and taste.

Tawny Port is aged (the best are aged in casks) prior to bottling and is ready for consumption upon release. Although the aging time varies widely, even the least expensive examples have a warm, tawny-brown color and mellow, sweet taste. The best tawny Ports indicate on the label how long the wine spent in cask, beginning with the affordable 10-year tawnies. A 20-year tawny is widely thought to offer the ideal drinking experience, exhibiting both the nuanced complexity that comes from aging and evidence of its youthful fruit; in human terms, it’s like turning 40. Also available are the beautifully delicate 30-year and 40-year tawnies—sublime, contemplative wines.

Ruby, late bottled vintage (abbreviated on the label as LBV) and vintage Ports, while made from the same red grapes as tawnies, are aged a comparatively short time in cask before bottling. In appearance only, this category of Port differs little from any deeply colored red wine. They begin their life with a dark magenta hue; opaque in the glass, they are packed with fresh black fruit flavors and a hearty, full body. Ruby and LBV styles are drinker-friendly styles and require no extra aging by the purchaser. They will not improve with age, but they do represent great values, even if they live in the shadow of the formidable vintage Port.

Vintage Ports comprise wines from a single vintage and are only made or “declared” by the Port houses (through majority rule) in the years where the wine is thought to be of a superior quality. They are briefly aged, generally two years, in cask, before being bottled, unfiltered. Aged vintage Ports are notorious for throwing thick sediment and should always be decanted; otherwise, pour slowly, leaving a quarter cup of wine in the bottom of the bottle along with the sediment. They are the finest of the bottle-aged style, requiring a minimum of 10 to 15 years in the bottle before their fierce tannins begin to soften; more often, the patient drinker must wait 20 years before theses majestic wines are fully mature. This makes it the perfect gift for a newborn, as the recipient will just be legally of drinking age as the wine reaches its peak.

Buying Port

When purchasing Port, a safe bet is to stick with one of the major Port firms: Warre’s, Fonseca, Grahams, Sandeman, Dows, Taylor-Fladgate, Royal Oporto. In the mid-range price category, for about $20, I am more than satisfied with an LBV from Taylor-Fladgate, Graham’s “Six Grapes” or the comparable Smith-Woodhouse Reserve. Be forewarned, though, real Port is from Portugal, not Ohio. As my grandmother, a professional seamstress, was apt to say concerning fabric, “You get what you pay for.” With Port, a cheap knock-off from outside of Portugal is bound to be a disappointing affair.

I do cheat a bit when it comes to buying tawny Port, opting for one of Australia’s finely crafted versions that represent great value. Bullers & Sons, Whisker Blake and the slightly more expensive Galway have all been sumptuous, welcome guests in my home.

To my mind and palate, there is no drink superior to Port at the end of a meal, especially in the dead of winter. If you are serving tawny Port, I recommend any dessert made with nuts—walnuts, pecans and almonds naturally reflect the toasty, nuttiness of the wine. Also, caramel, toffee or fruit tarts with pastry cream are beautiful complements to the buttery, vanilla qualities of a young tawny. The oft-touted food match of Stilton cheese (or any strong blue or gorgonzola) and ruby ports, alongside dishes of fresh raspberries, and dark chocolates, will extend a dinner party well into the wee morning hours.