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Like many people, I often crave something sweet after a meal. It could be a single morsel of dark chocolate, some ice cream, or a small glass of port. I have a few bottles of young vintage ports lying around, but they’re too expensive to open on a solo Tuesday night, and they take decades—generations, even—to come around (hence the traditional English practice of buying cases of vintage port upon the birth of a child: It can be enjoyed by father and son when the former is middle-aged and the latter has come of age).
But I’m talking about a casual weeknight meal, so I’m not looking for anything fancy—just something juicy, fruity, and well made. Port can be divided into two categories: bottle-aged (ruby) and wood-aged (tawny). Tawnies are aged in the barrel at least 10 years, long enough to become amber and oxidized. They lose primary fruit but will not continue to evolve in the bottle. Ruby-style ports, which include simple rubies and vintage ports, are bottled without much barrel aging to preserve the fruit; then the vintages will develop in the bottle.
Ruby ports are inexpensive and abundant, but they’re often thin and unsatisfying. I’ve been experimenting with another category of port, late bottled vintage, or LBV, that shows some of the nuance and power of a good vintage port but doesn’t require terrible expense and/or the onset of old age. These wines can often be found for less than $25. Lacking the richness and depth of vintage ports, LBVs are selected from lots that didn’t make the cut for vintage but still show the concentration, flavor, and fortitude to weather extended time in the barrel. The wines spend four to six years in cask (compared with one year for vintage port), which allows them to soften and open up. Then they are bottled and ready to drink upon release. They can also reward further aging, so hold on to them as long as you want.
Once opened, a bottle can last for a week or so before declining in quality. The wines may have some sediment and should be decanted. LBVs are not made every year, but always in years considered good enough for vintage ports, as well as other above-average years. Right now, 2000, 2001, and 2003 are all very good buys. Here are a couple of my favorites from recent vintages:
Taylor’s Fladgate LBV 2000: This house invented the style and still makes one of the best. This LBV tastes like vintage port, with a massive, full-bodied style smelling of blackberry purée, coffee, and chocolate and leaving the mouth with a lovely aftertaste of spice.
Niepoort LBV 2003: This one was released recently and also has lots of the fiery character you’d expect from a vintage port. It’s full of dark, juicy cherry and plum, with notes of espresso and rock dust. Built with great finesse, this port is young for an LBV and will mature gracefully for more than a decade. Definitely decant for an hour or so before serving.
Thanks so much for your corrections. I don't feel picked on at all. I must say that my information came from notes taken a day spent with a representative of a major port house. Perhaps I drank a little too much tawny or maybe some of the information I got was a bit off. Either way, thanks for setting the record straight on all the details. I certainly appreciate the extra nuance you have given...+READ
Thanks so much for your corrections. I don't feel picked on at all. I must say that my information came from notes taken a day spent with a representative of a major port house. Perhaps I drank a little too much tawny or maybe some of the information I got was a bit off. Either way, thanks for setting the record straight on all the details. I certainly appreciate the extra nuance you have given my understanding of port.-COLLAPSE
Sorry. I'm not trying to pick on you, but I found two more factual errors.
>>> Tawnies are aged in the barrel at least 10 years, long enough to become amber and oxidized. They lose primary fruit but will not continue to evolve in the bottle. <
1) The legal definition is a minimum of SEVEN years of wood aging, not ten.
2) Colheitas -- Tawny Porto which is produced from a single year's harvest --...+READ
Sorry. I'm not trying to pick on you, but I found two more factual errors.
>>> Tawnies are aged in the barrel at least 10 years, long enough to become amber and oxidized. They lose primary fruit but will not continue to evolve in the bottle. <
1) The legal definition is a minimum of SEVEN years of wood aging, not ten.
2) Colheitas -- Tawny Porto which is produced from a single year's harvest -- can and does improve with additional bottle age.-COLLAPSE
>>> LBVs are selected from lots that didn’t make the cut for vintage but still show the concentration, flavor, and fortitude to weather extended time in the barrel. The wines spend four to six years in cask (compared with one year for vintage port), which allows them to soften and open up. Then they are bottled and ready to drink upon release. They can also reward further aging, so hold on to them...+READ
>>> LBVs are selected from lots that didn’t make the cut for vintage but still show the concentration, flavor, and fortitude to weather extended time in the barrel. The wines spend four to six years in cask (compared with one year for vintage port), which allows them to soften and open up. Then they are bottled and ready to drink upon release. They can also reward further aging, so hold on to them as long as you want. <
Three SERIOUS errors here.
1) Vintage Porto must -- by law -- be bottled TWO years after the harvest, not one as you you stated above. (Technically, it's between July 1st of vintage+2 and June 30th of vintage+3; thus, a 2010 Vintage Porto must be bottled between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013.)
2) Whether or not an LBV can age is dependent upon how it is made. "Traditional" LBVs are bottled unfined and unfiltered; these will definitely and significantly improve with bottle age. But unless the label actually says "Traditional" (or "unfined" and/or "unfiltered"), then the wine has indeed been fined and filtered, and generally will NOT improve with bottle age.
3) Ruby Porto is generally bottled after TWO-to-THREE years of aging, not one.
* * *
An outline of the types of Porto produced -- difficult to do without tabs -- would be as follows:
1. Ruby Porto (legally defined defined as red Porto wines bottled with less than seven years of wood aging).
1a. No indication of age.
1a1. True Ruby Porto, bottled very young.
1a2. Vintage Character Porto (a fuller, "beefier" style of Ruby Porto).
1a3. Crusted Porto (a non-vintage blend of between four-and-six years of age).
1b. Ruby Ports with a Vintage date.
1b1. Late Bottled Vintage Porto (by law, bottled between 4-6 years of vintage -- note, numbers here are rounded off).
1b1a. Traditional, unfined, unfiltered (this will improve with further bottle aging).
1b1b. "Regular" (fined and/or filtered; generally doesn't improve with bottle age).
1b2. Vintage Porto.
1b2a. True Vintage Porto (a producer's "main," showcase product -- by law, bottled two years after vintage [again, rounded] and capable of great improvement with added bottle age).
1b2b. Single-quinta Vintage Porto (either from a small, estate, or from a large producer, but made from a single estate; again, bottled two years after vintage [again, rounded] and capable of great improvement with added bottle age).
2. Tawny Porto -- red Porto wines bottled with 7+ years of wood aging.
2a. No indication of age.
2a1. Young Tawny (often a mix of Ruby and Tawny).
2a2. True Tawny Porto.
2a3. Tawny Reserva, a usually branded bottling of Tawny Porto that is "older" than the "true" Tawny Porto.
2b. With a general indication of age.
2b1. 10-Year Tawny Porto.
2b2. 20-Year Tawny Porto.
2b3. 30-Year Tawny Porto.
2b4. 40-Year Tawny Porto.
2c. With a specific indication of age.
2c1. Colheita Porto.
2c2. Garrafeira Porto.
3. White Porto.
3a. Bottled young.
3a1. Dry.
3a2. Sweet.
3b. Bottled after 7+ years of wood aging.
3b1. Dry.
3b2. Sweet.-COLLAPSE