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Port: English or Portuguese? Plus Two or Three Things to Know About Port
Many tasters last week peppered us with questions about port, so we thought it would be a good idea to print some of our answers here.
January 4, 2012
In order:
1. What’s the difference between tawny and red port?
Both are sweet. Red ports are aged a shorter time in wooden barrels and retain more and fresher red-berry plum fruit. Tawny ports are lighter because they lose color being aged longer in wood. Better tawnies most often have a number, usually 10, 20 30, or 40 that says the average age of the blend of wines in the bottle. the longer they age the more prominent are dusty and sweet flavors that people usually describe as nuts and figs and come onto the palate seemingly lighter and more elegant.
2. How long will they age unopened?
Tawnies have aged in the barrel, and are bottled to be consumed on release. Red ports vary. Some are made to be drunk right away. The finest vintage ports can easily mature at 30 - 50 years. I tasted a very very good 1900 Warre port in 2002.
Back on earth, by and large red ports without a vintage and Late Bottled Vintage ports (often abbreviated LBV) are made to be drunk right away. Otherwise price is a good rough guide. If a bottle with a vintage on it costs more than $50, you shouldn’t think about drinking it until at least 10-15 years from the vintage. Well stored, it will likely get better for another 20.
3. How long will ports keep once you open them?
Not a simple answer here. Air changes port as it does other wines, but there is a difference: Port is fortified to 20% alcohol, so it is not as vulnerable to microbes that, turn wine to vinegar and do other nasty things, so port lasts longer open. The main change you’ll taste in opened port is that the fruit fades.
Young ports, particularly fine vintage ports, like sturdy table wines, often can get better after the bottle is opened but over time will be fading flowers and lose intensity and their acid and tannin bones will show through.
In general tawny ports last a shorter time than red ports and older ports less than younger. That is not the answer that people wanted to hear last week so here ‘s a highly inaccurate rule of thumb: Red ports three weeks to a month or longer, tawnies two to three weeks, but that will depend on the balance of elements that make each bottling attractive to begin with, and your palate also.
If you happen by the store , you are welcome to taste for yourself. We have at this writing opened bottles of all last week’s ports.
4. At what temperature do you serve port?
You can preserve opened port bottles, particularly tawnies, in the refrigerator, but if you do, you should warm the glass in your hand to room temperature to drink it. Tawnies can be served cool, not chilled and for that reason are better in the warmer parts of spring or fall, when red port is too heavy.
Last Week’s Wines
Two reds, three tawnies, and one between-the-two. People liked and took home a lot of the Ramos Pinto Collector, the between-the-two for a lot of flavor at a very reasonable price.
The two red ports, the 2005 Taylor and Ramos-Pinto LBVs differed in style. The Taylor in keeping with the house style was more structured and rigor, the Ramos-Pinto bigger fatter, and fleshier. Tasters opinion was divided by their palates, but seemed to me to favor the Ramos Pinto.
The two 20 Year Tawnies differed likewise, but here the Ramos-Pinto was more less fleshy than precise and even crystalline in its intense fruit. The Taylor showed true to the house with relatively strong rich wood. tasters again preferred the Ramos Pinto and pressed to name my favorite of the tasting, I agreed.
We have limited quantities of the Ramos-Pinto wines at these reduced prices, only about a case of the 20 Year Tawny.
I made an error last week, in posing the tasting as a contest between English and Portuguese houses. I had forgotten that, although Ramos Pinto was native-founded and is currently managed by a descendent of the original family, it was purchased by Roederer, the French champagne house, in the early 90s. The Hundred Years War continues.