Portalicious

Port Tasting and Birthday Celebrations!

Up until our tasting last month, I hadn't a clue what port was really all about. I had used it in cooking a fair bit - two of my favorite recipes are a marinade for rack of lamb and a pear and port fruitcake - and had enjoyed a glass at the end of a meal once or twice a year. However, I had never really known the difference between a basic ruby and tawny, let alone the aged and vintages of both. My, what an eye-opener tasting event! Ruby and tawny are so very different - tawny being the amber adult cousin of the youthful, sweet, Ruby. Both are loveable, but you'll probably prefer one over the other.

In the picture above, you'll notice we tried basic versions of both as well as a 1994 vintage porto and a 10-year aged tawny. The latter two were sophisticated versions of their younger siblings. They were softer, richer in depth, and nuanced.

The main difference between ruby and tawny derives from the aging method. Ruby spends two to three years in stainless steel or wood before it is bottled, but tawny ages only in the cask and is at least three years old.  Indicated aged tawnies, such as our 10-year old above, are made from a blend of vintages with the average age being 10 years old - hence the label, same goes for the 20-year, 30-year and older tawny vintages - labeled age indicating the average vintage of the wine. You might also see Colheita, which we did not taste, but this is aged tawny from a single vintage. They range from 7 to 50 years aged in the cask. I wouldn't be averse to tasting of a Colheita one of these days.

The single vintage ruby, such as our 1994 Dow's, is the rarest and most expensive form of porto. The wine vintages must be declared by the company and approved by the authoritative body - the IVP (i.e., the Port Wine Institute - Instituto do Vinho do Porto). Unlike the tawnies that age in a cask, declared vintage rubies must be bottled between July 1 of the second year and June 30 of the third year after harvest. There are several other types of porto, but we hit a couple of highlights in our tasting.

Our tasting of these fine ports followed a fun birthday feast with fabulous friends. Tasting with friends is a rich experience with ample rewards of good conversation and much laughter - I highly recommend it.  Eric Asimov agrees with me - I just finished his book "How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto" in which he finds enjoying wine with friends is possibly the best way to taste wine.  I usually read his column in the New York Times so my husband gave me the book as a Christmas present (thanks, incredible husband of mine).  The book is a fun read and makes me feel better about our approach to wine, albeit Asimov wouldn't agree with the blind tasting we usually do. If you've ever felt inadequate about selecting or tasting wines, read his book - it will all make sense as to why you feel that way and how not to do so.

As a bonus at our tasting this time, one of our friends knew his port, which helped us all understand the beverage better than just reading about it in a book. He also kindly brought the upper-end bottles for us to experience!  Many thanks, Chris!