Port Styles

To the beginner Port can seem very complex. Once you get beyond the fact that there is more than one type of Port the subject seems to mushroom with seemingly endless variations on a theme, yet Port really is not that difficult to understand, and the labelling rules are generally very helpful.

As a simple starting point, we will look at Port by colour

The first duty of Port is to be red, the second is to be drunk

There are a handful of clearly defined terms that are used on labels, each indicating both the style of the wine and its ageing. The most fundamental style point is the wine's colour. Despite what Ernest Cockburn said, Port can be red, brown (called tawny) or white. Most Port drink in the export markets, in particular the UK and USA is red, so we will start here.

But within red Ports there is a range of qualities, from humble ruby to the greatest Vintage Port.

Ruby Port

The most basic of all Ports is ruby, often labelled "Fine Ruby". The blenders select these from those lots of wine that do not have vast colour or tannins. These are uncomplicated wines; simple, fruity and best drink young.

Premium Ruby

Reserve is one up from basic ruby. Once called Vintage Character, this is high quality ruby, without any pretensions to anything greater. Usually it represents excellent value for money.

Late Bottled Vintage

LBV is a sort of ultra premium ruby. Made from wines of a single vintage, but selected for greater intensity and complexity, it is matured in large wooden vats for between four and six years before bottling and release. Most, typified by Graham's and Taylor's, are made for immediate consumption, but there are others that benefit from further ageing. Warre's LBV is usually released when about ten years old, having matured by the producer in both vat and bottle. Other producers are increasingly producing 'unfiltered' LBVs, wines that can be drunk when released but will improve given a few more years in bottle.

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Vintage Port

The top of the tree in red Ports is, of course, Vintage. Made only in the finest years, typically three times each decade, Vintage Port is bottled young, less than 3 years after the harvest, and needs at least ten years maturation before being approachable, and the best are not mature for twenty, thirty or more. The best wines of 1963 are drinking well now, 40 years on.

In years when a 'full' vintage is not released producers sometimes make a Single Quinta Vintage as a sort of second label. The rules for Single Quinta Vintage are just the same as for Vintage, but the wines are usually earlier maturing. You should note, however, that this is not always the case, see the article of single quintas in the features section.

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Crusted

For those of us who cannot afford Vintage Port everyday, but like the style there is Crusted. These are wines of nearly vintage quality, bottled young for subsequent bottle maturation. After years in the doldrums Crusted is currently enjoying something of a revival, particularly by the Symington clan. They are perhaps the best value Ports on the market today.

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The Brown Stuff

If you are ever lucky enough to be the guest of a Port shipper you might be surprised by how rarely Vintage Port is served. Whether in the baking heat of the Douro, or at the lodges In Vila Nova da Gaia you are far more likely to be offered a glass of delicious tawny Port. Like red Ports, there is a range available, from basic to unbelievably fine. The basic version, often labelled as 'Fine Tawny', is little more than light versions of ruby, but is inexpensive.

Aged Tawny

Far better to go for one that states an age. Ten and twenty year-old wines are quite delicious, and not too expensive. These are blended for consistency, so if you like the first bottle of, say, Warre's Optima, or Ramos Pinto Evramoira you should enjoy subsequent ones. Ten years of cask-maturation gives a raisiny nuttiness to the wines. At twenty the dried fruit character should have faded to give a greater depth of marzipan and dried peel. Thirty and forty year old wines can be marvellous wines with caramel and toffee hints overlying figs and prunes, but they are expensive, and sometimes do not offer such good value for money. Keep an eye on the Tastings section to see what has been scored well in tastings recently.

Some tawnies claim age without being specific. 'Aged' or 'old' tawny, now officially known as 'Reserve' Tawny can be very good and, like Reserve ruby, can be very good value for money. The only drawback is that you don't know how old the wine is without specialist knowledge. They will vary from the youngsters at six to eight years old to wines of great complexity aged for over twenty years in cask.

One very interesting category, albeit a rare one on many export markets is colheita. These are the wine on one vintage but tawny in colour; in contrast with vintage. Unlike the indicated age tawnies, they will vary from vintage to vintage but will also vary depending on when they were bottled. The rules require that they be bottled no sooner than the eighth year after the harvest but his can be extended quite considerably. There are still occasional releases of wines that have spent ninety or a hundred years in wood.

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The In-betweens

One oddity that only one shipper now makes is Garrafeira. A speciality of Niepoort, these wines spend time in cask, then in old demijohns and then bottle before release. The result is something lighter than a vintage but retaining the lively fresh fruit flavour alongside the flavours of maturity. They are never going to be widely available but if you want something completely different, look old for these from specialist suppliers.

White Port

White Port is usually, and quite fairly, dismissed by the pundits. Young wine from white grapes grown in the higher slopes, this is usually a poor alternative to fino Sherry as an aperitif, although it can be refreshing mixed with ice and tonic on a hot day. One thing to watch is freshness. Most of these wines are meant to be drunk with a few months of bottling, but often sit on the retailer's shelf for far longer than that, resulting is dull, stale wines. There are a couple of more interesting white Ports, including those from Churchill and Dalva, but these really are exceptions.

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