PORT is really fabulous stuff to be enjoyed all year round, and not just with the cheeseboard. It can be white, tawny or ruby (which includes late-bottled vintage or LBV, crusted and vintage). The ruby styles are aged mostly in the bottle whereas the tawnies are aged for decades in cask before bottling. White port should be enjoyed in the back garden in a tall glass with ice and a slice of lemon. It’s not stuffy at all, in fact it’s very trendy and extremely tasty.
About 30 different grapes are used in the production of port with the most common ones being Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cao and Tinta Amarela. Foot-treading of the grapes in large troughs called lagares is still commonplace, but I’m assured that the workers give their feet a wee wash first.
Port is fortified with a neutral, young grape brandy which stops the fermentation before all the sugar has turned to alcohol thus leaving a residual sweetness in the wine. The brandy is usually 77% ABV (alcohol by volume) and is added roughly in a 1:4 ratio.
So, don’t wait for Christmas, try a bottle of port this weekend after dinner. Here are a few to choose from ...
Fonseca Crusted Port (Inverarity One to One, £16.99). This has a lot of the richness, depth and character of vintage port but at a fraction of the price.
Taylor’s Late Bottled Vintage 2009 (Majestic, normally £14.99 currently on offer at £9.99). This LBV gets about five years in the cask before release (hence the "late bottled"), and is one of the classic examples of the style. It’s rich, full and fruity and extremely good value.
Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas 2002 (Majestic, £30 limited availability). This is a cracker from one of the house’s best vineyards. You just have to decide if you want one of these, or three of the LBVs.
Pete Stewart is Glasgow director of Inverarity One to One, 185a Bath Street, Glasgow www.inverarity121.com
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