GETTING STARTED | WINE NOTES | SEARCH SITE | DISCUSSION FORUMS | 30 SECOND WINE ADVISOR | CONTACT US

Subscribe (free) to
The 30 Second
Wine Advisor

Read
past issues of
The 30 Second
Wine Advisor

30 Second Wine Tasting Tip:
Port: A warming drop for winter

On Friday at 7:20 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (2:20 p.m. in the Eastern U.S.), the winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of winter.

It's as good a time as any for a quick refresher course on Port, a warming, hearty dessert wine that's as welcome as a crackling fire in a cozy room on a cold winter night.

With all respect to the fine Port-style wines made in Australia (where summer begins on Friday and it's no time for talk of Port), let's focus today on the genuine original, which takes its name from the city where it's made, Oporto, Portugal. It's a "fortified" wine, made strong and sweet by the addition of brandy to the fermenting red grape juice before fermentation is complete. The brandy stops the fermentation before all the natural fruit sugar in the wine has been consumed, resulting in a sweet, strong wine. Most often served after dinner, by itself or with cheese and nuts, it contains about 20 percent alcohol, nearly double the strength of table wines, so it's best sipped in small portions!

There are several different kinds of Port, and they vary substantially in cost and style. Vintage Port, generally regarded as the finest (and most expensive) Port, is made entirely of grapes grown in a specific year, and it's offered only in years when nature cooperates by providing a quality harvest. Vintage Port requires many years of age before it is ready to drink. It "throws" a substantial sediment in the bottle with time, so it is customarily served from a decanter, taking care to leave the muddy sediment behind.

Don't want to wait for your wine to mature? Try Tawny Port, which is held in barrels for years before bottling. This process mellows the wine while its color turns from ruby red to golden brown. Tawny Ports are deliciously sweet, usually have no sediment, and are ready to drink when you buy them.

Ruby Port is non-vintage (usually a blend of several years), and is considered less fine; compared to a well-aged Vintage Port it's typically both simple and a bit rough. But at prices ranging from under $10 to $20 or so, it's a good starting point. You'll also Late Bottled Vintage Port, which is a sort of vintage-dated Ruby, generally simpler and less expensive than Vintage Port; and Colheita, a vintage-dated Tawny.

Because Port has been immensely popular in Britain and the English-speaking world for centuries, many of the major producers bear English names. A roster of the top "houses" (listed alphabetically) might include Churchill, Cockburn, Croft, Dow, Ferreira, Fonseca, Gould Campbell, Graham, Martinez, Niepoort, Offley Forrester, Quinta do Crasto, Quinta do Noval, Ramos-Pinto, Sandeman, Smith Woodhouse, Taylor Fladgate and Warre.

I would also note that one of those houses, A.A. Ferreira, has been a 30 Second Wine Advisor sponsor during this holiday season, marking its 250th anniversary with a special offer of two very luxurious, limited-edition cabinets holding collections of rare and very old Vintage Port. Should these be of interest, you'll find the details below and on the Ferreira Website (in Portuguese and English), which you can reach through http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/porto.html.

For more reading about Port, you might also enjoy the following articles on WineLoversPage.com:

Care to comment on this week's topic? Feel free to post a comment in our interactive Wine Lovers' Discussion Group at http://www.wineloverspage.com/cgi-bin/sb/index.cgi?fn=1. Or send E-mail to wine@wineloverspage.com. I regret that the growing circulation of the "Wine Advisor" makes it difficult for me to reply individually to every note. But I'll respond to as many as I can and do my best to address specific questions. Please be assured that all your input helps me do a better job of writing about wine.

Please tell your wine-loving friends about The 30 Second Wine Advisor, and invite them to register for their own free subscription at http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor.

30 Second Tasting Notes:
Young but drinkable Vintage Port
Apparently a closeout item (the U.S. importer no longer lists this brand, generally regarded as a rather minor producer, on its Website), this item came at an almost unbelievably low price for the much-ballyhooed 1994 vintage. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee that you'll be able to find it at this price, but let it serve as an illustration of the occasional treasures that can surprise you in the bargain bins.

Duff Gordon 1994 Vintage Oporto ($24.99) Clear dark ruby, with appealing scents of licorice, dark plums and stone fruit, a holiday fruitcake in a glass. Very full-bodied and ripe, tart acidity and firm tannins, but there's so much fruit that it's surprisingly accessible already. Like most Vintage Port, it will benefit from much more aging. But - especially if you can find it for a price like this - there's no reason not to enjoy it now. U.S. importer: Palm Bay Imports, Boca Raton, Fla. (Dec. 17, 2001)

FOOD MATCH: We enjoyed it as a warming after-dinner glass, although one of Port's natural companions is blue-veined cheese.

WEB LINK: The U.S. importer's Website is at http://www.palmbayimports.com/.

Wine Lovers' Voting Booth:
Best gift for a wine fanatic?

It's that time of year again, and all around the world, folks are making lists and checking them twice, trying to come up with just the right holiday gift for friends and loved ones. Happily, wine lovers are easy to please. A new corkscrew, a good wine book, or best of all, a gift of wine is always welcome.

But what about the true Wine Fanatic, the crazed enthusiast - you know who you are - who has to have the newest, latest and greatest when it comes to wine? Turning to the zany side for this holiday-season Voting Booth topic, we invite you to peruse the list of wacky imaginary wine gifts that we've provided, then click to http://www.wineloverspage.com/votebooth and tell us, "What's the perfect gift for a wine fanatic?"

California Wine Club:
Happy Holidays!

Tick-Tock! Is your Christmas shopping finished? The California Wine Club can help! With three-, two- and next-day delivery, get your gift there on time!

Business associates, family, friends, neighbors and even your mailman! A gift of wine is the perfect way to say "Happy Holidays!"

Each shipment includes two bottles of award-winning wine, hand-selected from the best of California's small, family-owned wineries.

Subscriptions start at $32.95 plus shipping and include a fun, informative eight-page newsletter. Send as many months as you wish! Special discounts on gifts of 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Call (800) 777-4443 or visit the California Wine Club website at http://www.cawineclub.com.

Delivery is limited to locations where interstate wine shipping is permitted by law.

2000 Years Ferreira's Port Vintage
A.A. Ferreira, S.A., is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year with the presentation of two limited collections of Vintage Port Wine, providing all collectors, scholars and lovers of Wine and Port Wine with a unique opportunity to enhance their wine cellars.

The 2000 Years Ferreira's Vintage Port Cabinet is made up of 24 bottles of Vintage Ferreira Port Wine whose summed ages amount to 2000 years in 2001.

The 250 Years Ferreira's Vintage Port Cabinet is made up of six bottles of Vintage Ferreira Port Wine whose summed ages amount to 250 years in 2001.

The two Cabinets have been made of Portuguese oak by local craftsmen, and the bottles are in drawers marked in chronological order with the year of each Vintage. Each Cabinet includes six Riedel glasses and the book "A.A. Ferreira - Wines Steeped in History." The book describes the weather conditions and the main events in Portugal and abroad in each of the years and contains the tasting notes for each Vintage.

In view of the extreme rarity and delicacy of these Ports, only 10 collections of the 2000 Years Vintage and 250 collections of the 250 Years Vintage will be made available. Come and visit these exclusive collections at www.2000yearsvintage.com by clicking to http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/porto.html.

30 Second Administrivia
This free E-mail publication is distributed to subscribers every Monday, and our daily Wine Advisor Express is E-mailed Tuesday through Friday. Previous editions are archived at http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/thelist.shtml.

You are on the subscription list because you registered during a visit to Robin Garr's Wine Lovers' Page. To change your E-mail address, switch from the weekly (Mondays only) to daily distribution, or for any other administrative matters, E-mail wine@wineloverspage.com. In the unhappy event that you must leave us, please take a moment to let us know how we could have served you better. In all administrative communications, please be sure to include the exact E-mail address that you used when you subscribed, so we can find your record.

We welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas for future columns. We do not use this list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail to anyone.

All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry.

More time for wine?
You don't need to wait for Mondays to read about wine! Drop in any time at the Wine Lovers' Page, http://www.wineloverspage.com, where we add new tasting notes several times each week and frequently expand our selection of wine-appreciation articles, tips and tutorials. If you'd like to talk about wine online with fellow wine enthusiasts around the world, click to our interactive, international Wine Lovers' Discussion Group forums, http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum.

Vol. 3, No. 48, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2001

Subscribe (free) to The 30 Second Wine Advisor