Anthony Gismondi: All about port
Credit to Author: agismondi| Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 19:00:35 +0000
Few wine styles are more cyclical that port and few wines offer more styles than ports, which makes it a prime candidate for younger drinkers looking for something different. And it comes with an intriguing story.
The Port 101 class can be relatively short to get started. Generally, there are two styles: vintage port that is made to age in a bottle, in your cellar, and wood ports that are aged in barrels for an extended period and are ready-to-drink upon release. In its purest sense, Vintage Port is the product of a single harvest. After one climatically-splendid growing season, fermentation, and fortification, vintage port is aged approximately two years in cask and bottled. Unlike tawny and other long-term, wood-aged ports, Vintage Port is bottled-aged un-filtered and left to improve inside the glass for decades.
Wood aged ports fall mainly under the Tawny banner, and there are several categories (based on age and taste) from which to choose. That’s right, in Portugal, the Port and Douro Wines Institute (IVDP) imposes age restrictions along with a panel of tasters who, refreshingly, certify wines based a series of technical regulations and on the premise “Does it taste like a Reserve or 10-20-30-40-year-old port?”
According to (IVDP) rules, the introductory category Reserve is meant to be mellow in flavour combining the fruitiness of youth and the maturity of age, with medium golden-brown colour and an average age in wood of seven years.
A level up are the famous ascending levels of 10, 20, 30 and 40-year-old tawnies where complexity and nuance are the game. It takes years to come to know these wines and discover their stories. When you think about it, making wine that won’t sell for decades is not only a complex task by an almost unfathomable marketing exercise that pays little heed to fashion or demand.
The Portuguese word for “harvest” is Colheita (pronounced Cool-YEAH-taws), and you see it on single vintage Tawny that by law must age a minimum of seven years in wood before bottling. It’s bottled upon order, so for example, the 1967 Kopke Colheita ($185.99) has been bottled a dozen times or more over the last 52 years. As the original barrels empty and the wine spends longer and longer in the remaining wood, its flavour profile changes varying the style of that single harvest Colheita from bottling to bottling. The oldest are unique examples of fortified wood ports.
Another peculiarity of this marvellous wine is, unlike Vintage Port, a wine you need to drink the same day you open it, Tawny comes pre-aged after spending all its life exposed to air oxidizing in wooden barrels. Translation: you can open a bottle of Tawny Port and pour yourself a glass daily, over two or three weeks and not see or taste any perceptible change in the wine’s flavours, especially if you keep the newly open bottle in a refrigerator. It’s a fun wine to have around over the upcoming holidays to sip by the fireplace.
Switching gears to Vintage Port, B.C. Liquor Stores have cut prices on several selections of the great 2016 vintage throughout November. The 2016s will be revered for generations. If you want to put some bottles down for a birth year, or anniversary, or a special occasion as much as 50 years from now, this is it. They will keep for a lifetime if well cellared.
Now about those Tawnies and the fireplace. Along with the warmth of the fire, port can also thrive with many foods. Port and Stilton is a classic match, but Cheddar, Cheshire, Emmental, Gruyere Téte de Moine, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Manchego all work equally well. Nuts and fruits are other excellent compliments; try any combination of walnuts, brazils and almonds with figs, peaches, apricots and ripe pears.
Personally, a small glass sipped solo on a cold afternoon is one of life’s great pleasures; don’t miss out.
Cockburn’s Special Reserve Porto N/V, Douro Valley, Portugal
$18.49 I 88/100
UPC: 5010278021169
Since acquiring Cockburn’s in 2010, the Symington family has been quick to renovate and renew the brand and getting back to the original Reserve Port is the immediate goal. Special Reserve is a “vintage character” made to reflect Cockburn style, which includes a lengthy period in wood (four to five years) before release. There’s subtle richness here with more body than the Ruby and better length. The fruit comes in at the peak of ripeness from single, varietal vineyards and undergoes a slightly longer fermentation produces a less sweet finish with more “grip.” Look for a spirit-y, cedar leather aftertaste.
Fonseca 10-Year-Old Aged Tawny Port N/V, Douro Valley, Portugal
$39.99 I 91/100
UPC: 5013521100949
The Fonseca 10-Year-Old comes by its tawny colour naturally, spending ten years ageing in Portuguese barrels or pipes. Ten years in casks sculpts its spicy tea and walnut nose with pungent rancio, cedar and cherry notes. The front end is mellow with spiced fruitcake, walnuts, golden raisin compote and black tea notes. Smooth, silky, extended finish that persists for minutes. Youthful, but ready to drink.
Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port 2016, Douro Valley, Portugal
$169.99 I 98/100
UPC: 5013626115695
“Remarkably backward yet still impressive when young,” are the wise words of Robert Parker, brought on by tasting youthful Taylors. The colour is opaque. Lovely pure fruit with perfect acidity and bones all in the elegantly restrained Taylor style. A sure sign of an extraordinary wine is you can drink this now or put it away forty years and beyond. Young collectors can be assured this wine will be with them their entire lives. First released at $169.99, it is on sale until November 23 at $129.99.
Fonseca Vintage Port 2016, Douro Valley, Northern Portugal, Portugal
$129 I 97/100
UPC: 5013521100543
Fonseca seldom, if ever, disappoints. From its deep, almost opaque colour to its inviting, intense, pure fruited nose, it lures you into the glass with high expectations. Black cherries, blackberries, menthol, violets and more swirl out of the glass above the rich, jammy, hedonistic fruit that takes over and persists in the mouth for minutes. The key here is the exceptional level of acidity that stretches the wine out from front to back, keeping it fresh and exposing a richness of texture that sets it apart from most of its peers. First released at $179.99, it is on sale until November 23 at $129.99.
Taylor Fladgate Very Old Single Harvest Port 1966, Douro Valley, Portugal
$299.99 I 95/100
UPC: 5013626114988
Taylor Fladgate boasts extensive reserves of ancient, cask-aged Tawny Ports, and as of 1964, have released a series of fifty-year-old Tawnies from a single vintage (Colheita). A medium mahogany hue, with a complex nose of salted hazelnuts, almonds, orange and light caramel carry onto a savoury palate. Layers of subtle spices, wood, salted caramels, fig, and dark molasses, framed with fine, persistent tannins. Exceptional length and hum on the finish, with sweet tobacco and potent orange-caramel notes lingering. Subtly confident, this is a unique wine that is drinking beautifully now.
Taiwanese night markets are filled with stalls and street hawkers selling their famous “popcorn” chicken. Not just your average fried snack, the five-spice marinade and chili salt sprinkle separate this fried chicken from anything the Colonel serves. This version hails from Jennifer Joyce’s very eclectic cookbook, My Asian Kitchen. The London-based food writer demystifies Asian ingredients and techniques with useful illustrations.
Taiwanese Fried Chicken
1 tbsp (15 mL) light soy sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) Shaoxing rice wine
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp (15 mL) grated ginger
2 tsp (10 tsp) five-spice powder
1 lb 2 oz (500 g) boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp (5 mL) Sichuan peppercorns
1 tsp (5 mL) red chili flakes
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) sea salt
3 1/2 oz (100 g) rice flour or cornstarch
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 large handful Thai basil
Spicy Dipping Sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) light soy sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) black or rice vinegar
2 tsp (10 mL) sambal oelek, Sriracha
In a zip lock bag, mix soy, rice wine, garlic, ginger and five-spice powder. Cut excess fat off the chicken and slice into bite-size pieces. Add to marinade. Leave for 1 hour or overnight, refrigerated. Drain chicken and discard the marinade. Toast Sichuan peppercorns in a small frying pan and then crush with a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder. Mix with the chili flakes and sea salt and set aside. Mix spicy dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Place rice flour or cornflour in a shallow dish and dip the chicken into the flour, coating well. Shake off the excess set aside. Heat the oil in a wok or deep saucepan until it reaches 350-375°F (180-190°C). Fry chicken in batches, about eight or nine pieces at a time, until golden. Drain on paper towels. Throw the basil leaves into the oil for 30 seconds until crisp, then drain. Place the chicken on a serving dish and scatter with the basil and Sichuan chili salt. Serve with the spicy dipping sauce on the side.
Makes 4 servings
The Taiwanese fried chicken match is all about the amount of sugar and spice used. Match the wine intensity to the intensity of the dish.
Quails’ Gate The Bench Pinot Gris 2018, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada $24.99
Red apples and perfectly ripe pears, floral notes, brown spices, exotic tangerine and pink grapefruit, are poised to slay the chicken.
Township 7 7 Blanc 2018, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada $18.97
The wine is refreshingly unoaked, and there is a light, mineral, undercurrent with ripe exotic floral, tropical fruit notes to mount a defence against the spice and heat.