Winter perfect for port
As the cold weather begins its inevitable advance, my wine psyche turns to the dark side: ports and other wines derived from dark-skinned grapes, which offer a warming array of flavours.
In Canada, port wine sales more than double in winter, much to the chagrin of producers who would prefer steady sales throughout the year.
But port and its siblings, such as Banyuls and other fortified wines, are well suited to warming the spirits and body alike.
Fonseca Terra Prima Port is the first port made from organically certified grapes.
Grant Black, Calgary Herald
The fortified wine category is really quite vast. Port is the most famous example of wines that are beefed up with addition of a neutral spirit, such as brandy (minus the oak aging). The neutral spirit is added near the end of the fermentation process. The spirit kills the yeast and halts the fermentation; as a result the wine is not allowed to ferment fully dry and it retains a natural level of sweetness.
The spirit also boosts the alcohol level, pumping it up to about 20 per cent. The result is a powerful, heady red wine that needs to be treated with respect. A port hangover is something to be avoided; a small glass or two is usually sufficient, typically at the end of a meal. For this reason, most fortified wines are available both in full (750 mL) and half (375 mL) bottle formats, as well as magnums for large holiday gatherings where excess fortified wine may come in handy.
Portugal produces the lion's share of fortified wine but there are great examples from France and Australia as well.
While I was teaching a French bistro cooking class a few weeks ago, MetroVino served a delicious Maury, a fortified wine based on Grenache from France's Roussillon region. It was the Domaine Pouderoux Maury ($32 for 750 mL) and it paired beautifully with a dense chocolate tart; I thought it offered great value for sweet wine of this calibre.
Chambers may well be the finest producer of sweet wines in Australia, if the not the entire new world. While expensive, its Rutherglen Rosewood Vineyards Grand Muscat ($66, 375mL) is an intense wine, bursting with spicy black fruits, smoke, cassis and cigar box. It is produced from 100-year-old-plus vines, a remarkable wine for a special occasion.
Vintage Port has the distinction of being one of the longest-lived wines in the world, but old vintages tend to be rare and expensive. If you want to taste a great example of an older Port at a relatively reasonable $92
(750 mL), check out the 1978 Fonseca Guimaraens vintage Port. It's a beautifully mature vintage Port, with notes of toffee, raisins, black plums and tobacco leaf -- a first-rate wine from one of the most trusted names in Portugal. Cheers!
Geoff Last is a longtime Calgary
wine merchant and writer and a regular contributor to City Palate and other publications. He instructs on food and wine at the Cookbook Company Cooks.
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Best Cellars
Wine: Fonseca Terra Prima Port
Country: Portugal, from the Douro Valley
Suggested retail price: $35, 750mL bottle
Availability: General listing, widely available
Tasting notes: This new wine from Fonseca is essentially a vintage character port, meaning it offers vintage port flavours without the mandatory aging and decanting required from true vintage port. What makes it unique is that it is the first port made from organically certified grapes. Whether this matters or not is the subject of debate, but the wine is a typically solid effort, offering classic notes of black fruits (blueberries, plums), chocolate and espresso. It's an ideal match with chocolate desserts.