Drinkers take note: it’s time port made a comeback

Port is often perceived as an older gentleman’s after-dinner tipple, but this complex and wonderful wine should be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

Port is a fortified wine made from grapes grown in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. The grapes are vinified the same way as regular wine but with the addition of Aguardente, a local grape brandy. The Aguardente arrests the fermentation process, killing the yeast cells and resulting in a wine that is both sweet and high in alcohol.

There are over eighty authorised grape varieties allowed in the production of port, and it is only relatively recently that larger producers have carried out research to discover which of these make the best wine. It is still a common occurrence to have between twenty to thirty different varieties within the same locale. Still, varieties are now being planted in identifiable rows and plots to assist with the research. The most commonly used grapes for red port have wonderful names such as Tinta Roriz, Tinta Cão and Touriga Nacional.

Though port has largely fallen out of fashion in the UK today, in the 17th and 18th centuries the drink enjoyed widespread popularity due, in part, to its entanglement with political unrest. In 1693, punitive taxes were levied on French wine, forcing British merchants to source alternative supplies, sending them to Portugal. The British merchants traditionally enjoyed a good relationship with the Portuguese, so much so that many ended up setting up shop there, accounting for the many British brand names such as Sandeman, Taylor and Graham we see on labels today.

There are seven loosely defined styles of the wine, with Ruby being the simplest – aged for two or three years and bottled young with a fiery personality. At the other end of the scale, there is Vintage Port, an expression of a single year, aged in wood for two to three years but only declared good enough roughly three times a decade, but these expensive wines only account for about one per cent of port production.

Try Unfiltered Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) and White Port wines instead. The unfiltered LBV style is very similar to a delicious (and much more expensive) vintage wine but ready to drink straight away. It will “throw” sediment, but decanting this is all part of the fun. White Port is a candied citrus, stone fruit and nutty dessert wine that will be sure to impress.

Some great examples to try:

The tasty white: Kopke – Kopke Fine White Port

The VFM red: Sandeman, Unfiltered Late Bottled Vintage Port

The real deal: Quinta do Vesuvio 2011 Vintage Port