Douro and Port

Portugal is, of course, best known for port, the great fortified wine made from grapes grown on steep slopes in the dry, warm Douro Valley. At a Portuguese tasting at the swanky Palace Hotel in San Francisco, I sampled some extraordinary old ports, which showed just how ageworthy the finest ports are. I also tasted a number of table whites and reds from the Douro - in this case demonstrating the quality of Portuguese wines, but also the difficulty in selling them to consumers used to French grape varieties.

the whites

Portuguese white wine has a lot going for it, as the wines I tasted from the Douro confirmed. The grape varieties are fairly aromatic and share a crisp acidity, and blending adds different characteristics and qualities. The wines are refreshing and approachable, with structure added by lees ageing and maybe a little old oak. The downside is that there are so many grape varieties used, often unfamiliar to the consumer, that it's difficult to get a handle on the many subtly different styles of wines. Some wines, grassy and herbaceous, reminded me of Sauvignon Blanc; the most interesting were reminiscent of the best Italian whites, with smoked almond aromas and a really dry, mineral mouthfeel.

Porto Réccua Branco 2015

From a new winery, this was a good example of how Italian the Douro whites can feel, with stone, peach, mineral aromas, and a very refreshing acidity. ✪✪✪✪

the reds

Portuguese - and especially Douro - reds are so distinctive that it can take some getting used to for those trained on New World wines. The tannins are unavoidable, and I have to note that there was a stinky, Brett character to a lot of the reds I tried that wouldn't sit well in California. Furthermore, the many different indigenous varieties don't have an easy international comparison. But these wines are worth persevering with, with ripe red and black fruit and floral aromas and a rich, almost sweet intensity.

There are a couple of important labelling terms that can be easily confused with neighbouring Spain. Reserva simply refers to a wine that's been aged for one year (like Riserva in Italy), without denoting the nature of that ageing. Grande Reserva (pronounced more or less like Gran Reserva in Spain) is a term I hadn't previously encountered; the wines, I was told, must be aged for at least eighteen months. Unlike Spain, this term does not denote a style but refers, a little tenuously, to quality.

adorable representative of J Rosas

Vieira de Sousa Reserva 2014

I preferred the Reservas to the Grande Reservas, as they kept a little more of the youthful fruitiness. This wine had a year's ageing in used oak, allowing the red and black fruits to shine, backed up with dry, grainy tannins and high acidity. ✪✪✪✪

J Rosas Quinta da Touriga-Chã 2013

Tannic, smoky, spicy, with black fruits, and a long, complex finish. ✪✪✪✪✪

the white ports

White port is such an obscure category that it was surprising to see that most producers at the tasting poured it. Not only that, but there were some old, serious bottles too. The best wines were almost like madeira, but without that baked fruit character, and almost like sherry, but much sweeter. I'm not sure when I'd want to drink these intense wines, dominated by fudge and toffee aromas, but they showed an individual quality that in some cases was truly astonishing.

Vieira winemaker Luísa Borges

Vieira de Sousa Fine Very Old White Port

Perhaps one of the most extraordinary wines I have ever tried. With wines up to sixty years old, this was an intense, sweet wine with grapey, aromatic aromas that almost made it taste like a brandy or a grappa - the winemaker commented that the grape spirit in the wine gets more concentrated with time. There were plenty of dried fruit aromas too, with fudge, toffee, and caramel. Like a sweet version of palo cortado, and then some. ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪

the ports

Equally extraordinary were the red ports, both young and old. 2011 is the standout vintage of recent years, and all the producers were sold out. A great alternative to vintage port is Late Bottled Vintage, which spend longer ageing in barrel before bottling. 2011 LBVs are wines I definitely recommend buying to drink now, with intense, rich dark fruits. Older vintage ports were also available to try: the warm 2009 year produced quite hot, but complex wines; 2004 still felt very fresh; 2000 remarkably tannic even now. The best wine of all, though, was Kopke's 1966 Colheita - a vintage tawny, which means deliberate oxidative ageing. Tasting a wine fifty years old brooks no comparison.

Ramos Pinto LBV 2011

An attractive, elegant, restrained, but tannic wine, with intense, sweet red and black fruit aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪

Kopke Colheita 1966

Old, nutty (walnut), spicy, with rich toffee aromas. Like an old, sweet sherry. Intense (a word I repeatedly wrote down during this tasting) and with layers and layers of flavours. Unforgettable. ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ The 1978 I also tasted was a bit hotter, still very alive with aromas of dried fruits, fudge, and spice. ✪✪✪✪✪

the market

There's no doubting the quality of Portuguese wine, particuarly from the Douro. The wines have distinctive characteristics that distinguish the wines from other countries, although a valid comparison would perhaps be the wines of Italy, both white and red, rather than Spain. But how to market those wines? The grape varieties are numerous and difficult to pronounce; the tannins and acidity are forward; and the fact that the wines are invariably blends makes it awkward to market the wines on the nature of those varieties. And it needs to be said that the Portuguese are not the best at marketing: whenever asked about the price of a wine, the producer had no answer.

There's so much foundation to work with, though. Port is one of the historical great drinks; the dry, table whites are crisp, approachable, with nice complexity; and the reds are great with heavy food. And there are few regions in the world capable of producing fifty-year-old wines that can hold up to further ageing. Explore Portugal: prepare to be perplexed, challenged, and excited, which is how wine should be.

Fortified Wine Exam

Much has changed since I started the WSET Diploma in January 2014. Then, I was working for a wine merchants in Manchester, now I'm working at a winery in Napa. Oh, and I'm also married. That's how much time it's taken to complete the Diploma, my studies prolonged by my move to California. It was a year ago that I took the exhausting and exhaustive day-long Unit 3 exam (Wines of the World); this week, I was back in San Francisco to take the final exam on fortified wine. This is one of the few exams I've genuinely looked forward to, if only because it would mean a welcome and overdue end to studying for the Diploma. I also love fortified wine, especially sherry, but that doesn't make being examined on it any easier. I'll find out in a couple of months how I did, but here's how it went on the day.

Unlike last year when I nearly missed the exam due to a three-hour car journey caused by faint drizzle, I made the exam in plenty of time by taking the beautiful ferry trip across San Pablo Bay into San Francisco. A fellow student and I met before the exam to taste a little bit of sherry to acclimatise our palates and to steady the nerves. 

At this late stage, I don't see much point cramming information into one's overloaded brain, but most students were busy reading books when we walked into the exam venue. Given the wide range of subjects covered, it's impossible to guess which pieces of information you're likely to need to know and which you're not. For me, it was more a case of staying calm and relaxed until the exam eventually began. 

theory

The exam is 65 minutes long, with a blind tasting of three wines and three theory questions, each of which take ten minutes to answer. I tackled the theory questions first, in part to get them out of the way but also because running out of time is a real danger with the theory questions. 

Turning straightaway to the questions, I felt a sense of relief as the topics were relatively straightforward. I left the trickiest topic (Key Madeira Shippers) till last, going straight to Fortification of Sherry. This involved describing when fortification happens (after fermentation which is different from most other fortified wines), and the different levels of fortification that result in the many styles of sherry. The next question was on Rutherglen, an area of Australia I would love to visit one day and about which there is a lot to write. Key Madeira Shippers I found trickier because there are only seven independent producers plus a co-op in Madeira and production is small, so it was hard to know what the examiners were looking for. I felt that I answered all three questions comprehensively, though, and that all my studies had been worthwhile.

Students taking the exam in Europe were asked about Key Madeira Shippers, The Fortification and Maturation of Vins Doux Naturels, and Pale Cream Sherry, while students in Asia were asked about Key Madeira Shippers, Sherry Varieties, and The Fortification and Maturation of Vins Doux Naturels - all questions I would also have been confident answering.

tasting

The tasting was harder. My ideal tasting would have been three distinct styles of sherry, but as soon as I saw the bottles of wine I knew we were in for a port tasting. The question revealed that the wines were indeed from the same region; we didn't have to answer which region, but which style each wine was. And this I found very difficult: the first and third wines were a similar deep ruby colour, while the middle wine was much paler and more faded. On first sight, I guessed this was a tawny but overthought it: the colour was more garnet than tawny and although there were lots of dried fruit aromas I didn't sense the nuttiness that is typical of a tawny, so I put that it was an LBV. Wrong: it was a tawny. Always go with your first instincts - at least when you're right. The other two wines were very similar and I really didn't have a clue what style each one was. The first was complex and intense, and I guessed it was a young vintage port: it was a ruby. The third was less complex and less intense, so I guessed it was a ruby: it was a vintage port. I hope my tasting notes were accurate enough to make up for mistaking the wines; if not, I also hope my theory answers were strong enough to compensate for the tasting. I really don't want to have to do this exam again; I want this Diploma over and done with.

wines tasted

Taylors First Estate Reserve Port ($20) 

I'm going to have to seek out a bottle, because I thought it was fantastic!

Niepoort Tawny Dee (not on sale in the US, sells for £6-10 in the UK) 

used to sell this wine in the shop in Manchester, so disappointed I didn't recognise it.

Ferreira Quinta da Leda Vintage Port 1999 (again not on sale in the US, but would be around $50) 

once more, disappointed I wasn't able to spot a vintage port that's nearly 20 years old - at the same time, I didn't find it that impressive.

I'll be getting the results in a couple of months, let's see how I do ...

Update, 16 August

I just got the results for this exam. As I hoped, I passed the theory with distinction; as I feared, I failed the tasting. That's frustrating, because that's the only element of the Diploma I didn't pass. However, my theory answers compensated for my tasting and I came away with an overall pass. Which means the Diploma is done and dusted!

Port

The Diploma is finally nearing its close! I have just one unit left to complete which is on fortified wine, one of my favourite subjects. The main focus of the unit is port and sherry, but I will also be studying madeira, the vins doux naturels of southern France, and the unique and often extraordinary stickies of Rutherglen in Australia. This week I have been focusing on port, its history, and its different styles, indulging in a tasting of five different wines to help understand the varied styles.

a bit of history

Like sherry and madeira, port emerged through trade and war. When England and France were at loggerheads in the seventeenth century, French goods, including wine, were subject to sanctions and high taxes. To sate England's thirst for wine, the English turned to one of its European allies, Portugal. After finding the coastal red wines of Vinho Verde too astringent, English merchants went further inland to the Douro Valley and its rich, ripe, full-bodied red wines. The wines were shipped to England in barrels (the practice of bottling wine on site and shipping it in bottles had not yet been developed); to ensure that the wines arrived in good condition, brandy was added to the wine.

This strong, high alcohol wine proved extremely popular and the practice of fortifying the wines became standard. Although at the height of port's popularity practices were wayward - the wines were fortified to an extra strength for the English market and often had elderberries added - various styles of port emerged which exist today.

the area

Port is made in the Douro Valley, whose boundaries still mostly follow local politician Marquis de Pombal's 1756 designation. The soils are schist, a form of slate, on steep terraced slopes on the banks of the river. The valley is divided into three areas: the Baixo Corgo, which is cool and wet and produces the lightest, most inexpensive ports; the Cima Corgo, which is warmer and drier and produces the most complex wines; and the Douro Superior, which is hot and dry and the focus of recent plantings as it is flatter and easier to maintain.

how it's made

Port is a sweet wine because it is fortified with a grape-based spirit (called aguardamente in Portuguese) during the fermentation. The high alcohol (77% ABV) kills the yeast in the wine with sugar still remaining. There are over 80 permitted grape varieties allowed for port, which were traditionally grown together in vineyards without anyone really knowing what was what. Since the 1970s, five varieties in particular have been identified as being ideal: Touriga Nacional (low yields, high tannins, very perfumed), Touriga Franca (the most planted), Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo, adding colour and body), Tinta Barroca (high alcohol, low acidity), and Tinta Cão (literally "red dog"). Port is always a blend of different grapes, each of which brings different qualities to the wine.

the styles

ruby

Simple, inexpensive, fiery, fruity, and young, ruby was until the 1960s drunk by the British with lemonade. It's now most popular in France where it's served as an aperitif. There's also ruby reserve, a higher quality version introduced in the late 1960s by Cockburn's after the British taste for ruby and lemonade faded.

late bottled vintage

LBV for short, it's a port which has been aged for four to six years in old oak barrels before release. It comes in three different styles. The most common is filtered before bottling and has a stopper; the second isn't filtered, has a cork, and generally needs decanting; the third is aged in bottle for three years before release and can be similar to a vintage port in style. Like vintage port all the grapes come from one year and the wines have a similar fruity, tannic intensity, but even the best LBVs lack the heady concentration of a vintage port as they are made every year, not just those that are outstanding.

vintage

Made only in years a producer considers outstanding, when a warm summer produces grapes of optimum ripeness. Vintages are declared around three times a decade, although some producers will declare a year a vintage while others may not. The wine is aged in old oak barrels for three years before bottling (unfiltered, which is why vintage port needs decanting). After that, it's up to the customer to age the wine: vintage port can be at its best at fifty years' old even though it's released so young.

tawny

This is my favourite style of port, perhaps because it's deliberately oxidised like sherry. Its name comes from its colour, the deep ruby port fading in the barrel due to the exposure to oxygen. Inexpensive tawnies are put out in the sun to quicken the ageing, but the best wines are aged gradually over time to develop a nutty complexity. These usually have an age indication of 10, 20, 30, or 40 years (which is an indication of the wine's average age, as tawnies are non-vintage). A vintage tawny is called a colheita (Portuguese for harvest), which has to be aged for at least seven years. It displays the character of the vintage as well as the nutty maturity of an aged tawny.

the tasting

 

Passagem Ruby Reserve NV ($18)

Simple, but at this price very appealing. Fruity, jammy red and black fruits with spicy alcohol on the palate. ✪✪✪

Quinta do Infantado Late Bottled Vintage 2009 ($24) 

For a few dollars more and from an extremely good year, this wine offers a lot more complexity with aromas of liquorice and cloves, irises, blueberries and blackberries, and dried fruit aromas of figs and prunes, with a gripping tannic structure. Intense, but very approachable. ✪✪✪✪✪

Quinta do Infantado 10-year-old Tawny ($41)

My wine of the tasting. Incredibly pronounced, concentrated aromas of every dried fruit imaginable: cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, figs, prunes, currants, and raisins, with spice aromas of cinnamon, cloves, anise, and liquorice. The tannins are faded, but the acidity is high enough to balance the sweetness. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Niepoort 1999 Colheita ($52)

After the tawny, this was somewhat disappointing - perhaps a reminder that just because a wine has a vintage on the label doesn't make it superior (the same is true in Champagne). The aromas were similar to the tawny - floral and with dried fruits - but lacked the same intensity. ✪✪✪✪

Quinta do Infantado 2007 Vintage Port ($50) 

When I bought this wine I knew it would be far too young, but old vintage port is not easy to come by at an affordable price. This wine was really closed and tight and difficult to assess, but nevertheless lots of complex aromas emerged: brambles and blackberries, mint and lavender, cloves and nutmeg, black pepper and liquorice, sultanas and raisins, and strawberries, redcurrants, and raspberries. I'd love to taste this in another ten or even twenty years. ✪✪✪✪✪

It's remarkable how different these styles of port are: the fruity, hot ruby, compared to the closed, difficult, and still young vintage, in contrast to the tannic, concentrated LBV; and then there's the faded colours of the tawny and colheita, offering a reserved, intense maturity. The range of these styles are perhaps confusing to many consumers, but understand the label and there's a wealth of choice in these wines.

A Vegetarian Christmas

Christmas can't be an ideal time to be a vegetarian; all that turkey and when it's not turkey it's goose, or some other game. However, there are plenty of vegetarian food options - the BBC, Jamie Oliver, and the Vegetarian Society have some good recipes - which can be as rich and decadent as a traditional Christmas meal - and, after all, all those side dishes are meat free.

Matching wine with vegetarian food is not as obvious as with meat or fish. The great wines of France, Spain, and Italy have developed in tandem with the local gastronomic culture, which has usually involved meat or fish dishes, and these are countries where vegetarian food can still be difficult to find.

What this means, though, is that matching vegetarian food with wine is not based on tradition but innovation, and you can really experiment with both food and wine. Thinking about matching flavour intensity rather than specific flavours, here are some pairing recommendations based on styles of wine.

Champagne

Any Christmas meal should start with a bit of fizz, and the yeasty, bready, toasty flavours of Champagne make it a great match for canapés, pastries, tarts, bruschetta, or even poppadoms.

Sauvignon Blanc

The aromas of Sauvignon Blanc are intensely green - apple, gooseberry, green bell pepper, asparagus. Goat's cheese salad is a perfect match: this polenta and goat's cheese stacks recipe would be a much more indulgent and Christmassy option.

Gewurztraminer

This is where you can really start to experiment. Gewurztraminer is often off-dry (particularly if it's from Alsace) and has rich, opulent flavours of tropical fruits (think lychee and mango) that makes it a great pairing for spicy Asian food, particularly Thai or Vietnamese. It may not sound that Christmassy, but that just depends on what you want to eat on Christmas day.

Pinot Gris

Pinot Gris is the same grape as Pinot Grigio, but it's picked much later on in the harvest, meaning that it has much deeper, richer aromas and may be quite a bit sweeter. Whereas Pinot Grigio is an easy-drinking aperitif, Pinot Gris can accompany an array of foods. Again, like Gewurztraminer, the nutty depth of Pinot Gris can stand up to spicy food: I recently had a New Zealand Pinot Gris alongside an aubergine and cauliflower rogan josh curry (at Green's in West Didsbury) and its nutty spiciness added further complexity to the meal. This Christmas curry would similarly benefit from being paired with Pinot Gris.

Italian Reds

Due to their high acidity and high tannins, Italian reds are at their best as food wines. The reason that Italian reds are so high in acidity is to match the sauces in pasta, so it doesn't matter whether there's meat in the pasta dish or not: it's all about the rich sauce accompanying it. Jamie Oliver recommends a couple of spinach-based pasta dishes that a Chianti or Valpolicella would be great with.

Pinot Noir

A grape that tradition pairs with game, but the earthy characteristics of Pinot Noir mean that it will go perfectly with any mushroom-based dish. This vegetarian Christmas roast almost demands a bit of Burgundy.

Sweet Wine

At the end of the meal, veggies and carnivores can get together in sweet harmony and share a sherry and Christmas pudding or port and cheese. For sherries, seek out in particular the intensely sweet Pedro Ximénez style. The French may not make their wines to suit vegetarian palates, but there's one combination that works well: Sauternes and blue cheese. Now there's a way to end Christmas day...

Drinking (and eating) for Christmas

Last Thursday, I celebrated my first ever Thanksgiving, followed on Friday by my second. I can now see why Americans make such a big deal of it - the cold, dark days of November are brightened by food, wine, friends, and family. It also introduces the festive season, and got me in the mood for Christmas much earlier than I usually am.

This had me reflecting on food and wine pairings for the Christmas season and what wines I should be thinking of getting in. Like Thanksgiving, Christmas is a time for rich foods and you need to find wines to match. That doesn't limit your options though; instead it increases the range of food and wine pairings you can come up with.

food & wine

 

Pairing food and wine is taken very seriously by some, with extremely specific recommendations offered. Trying to match flavours in both wine and food is great up to a point, but it's difficult to find such exact matches. It's much more fun experimenting and you'll discover surprisingly successful pairings. However, there are some guidelines that are useful to follow. Don't try and match the flavours, but think instead about their intensity: neither the wine nor the dish should overwhelm the other. Likewise, think about acidity and sweetness: the two should roughly correspond.

the line-up from Thursday's Thanksgiving, showing just how many styles of wine fit this kind of meal

turkey

 

Turkey is a food high in acidity, so you need a wine to match. But with all the sauces and side dishes that come with it at Christmas, the wine has to have enough depth of flavour. For whites, think of a dry Riesling: the crisp acidity and lively citrus flavours will cut into the turkey's richness. We had Billi Billi Riesling from Mt. Langi Ghiran in Victoria, Australia (hangingditch, £12.50); although delicate, its fresh acidity provided an invigorating contrast to the heaviness of the food. Alternatively, a full-bodied white will fit in with a weighty Christmas meal. For the second Thanksgiving celebration, we tried an aromatic blend from Prieuré de St-Jean-de-Bébian, Languedoc (Spirited Wines, Deansgate, around £18); rich, creamy, and nutty, it went well with the mash and béchamel sauce.

For reds, Pinot Noir is a classic pairing. With its high acidity and red fruits, Pinot Noir is not just a great match for turkey but also for the accompanying cranberry sauce. We tried two very different Pinot Noirs, which demonstrated how two wines can interact with food in varying ways. I brought one that I had tried on a recent trip to Oregon. White Rose Estate (unavailable UK; $60) describe themselves as "neo-classical"; the combination of upfront red fruits (New World style) and grainy tannins (Old World style) paired deliciously well with the turkey: like adding a juicy sauce to add on to the cranberry. The Digioia-Royer Chambolle-Musigny Vieille Vignes 2004 was a maturer, more reflective wine and quite a contrast (hangingditch, £35). Here, the earthy flavours acted more like a mushroom sauce. When choosing a wine, do think of its age: a youthful, fruity wine will be quite a different match than an older wine.

Oregon 2011 v Burgundy 2004

goose

 

Not something we had at Thanksgiving, goose is an increasingly popular alternative to turkey on Christmas Day in the UK. Again, acidity is all important; you also need a wine that will cut through the fat. An Alsatian Riesling will do just that, while something richer and creamier like oaky Chardonnay or aromatic Pinot Gris will add so much flavour. For reds, you can stick with Pinot Noir, but, as goose is a bigger, fattier dish than turkey, you can go big and get a wine with lots of oak and tannins - wines from South-West France, such as Madiran, are great options. A less obvious alternative could be a Portuguese red, particularly from the Douro.

pudding

 

Here, you really are spoilt for choice as there are so many great sweet wines out there. The important thing to remember is that the food should have at least the same level of sweetness as the wine. As puddings at Christmas are full of all sorts of rich, sweet flavours, that shouldn't be a problem. Pedro Ximénez sherry is the perfect option: its rich, dark, toffee flavours are sublime with Christmas pudding. And, of course, port is the ideal drink to finish off a long meal. There are two particular styles that work especially well at Christmas: the chocolate and dark fruits of a Late Bottled Vintage or the more mature fruits of a Vintage Port. Two wines I would recommend from hangingditch are Portal LBV 2008 (£20) and Delaforce 1994 (£55), the latter of which we tried with our dessert at Thanksgiving: the balanced fruity sweetness went so well with the pumpkin pie. Quite simply, there is no better way to end a meal than with a decadent dessert and a sumptuous sweet wine: roll on Christmas!