You may think of port as the quintessential geezer's drink, fusty as tassel loafers and the word quintessential. You're young. You want the Cuervo and the Cosmotinis. But the time will come when you will be meeting with a managing director in a multi-starred restaurant, or entertaining a worldly client. The meal will end, and it will be port time. Now what?
At its worst, port is oversweet and forgettable. At its best, it's a nuanced and complex wine, full of spicy and even chocolaty notes. The drink takes its name from Oporto, chief city of the Douro Valley region of Portugal, whence all true port flows. Around the late 17th century, resourceful winemakers started spiking the red wine of the Douro with brandy. This not only boosted the hooch, it halted fermentation, giving port its natural sweetness. Today, port is usually classified into two types: wood-aged and bottle-aged.
Three of the most common terms you'll hear when encountering wood-aged port are ruby, tawny, and late-bottled vintage, says Larry Stone, wine director and master sommelier of San Francisco's Rubicon. These ports are matured before bottling and are not expected to take on much character after that.
As young as two years old when bottled, rubies are as red as the word suggests, as well as fruity and intensely sweet. Better rubies contain a better class of grape. Examples include Fonseca Bin 27 ($13), Graham's Six Grapes ($15), and Warre's Warrior ($16).
One step above, and increasing in popularity, are the late-bottled vintage (LBV) ports, which are allowed to mature four to six years in cask. The 1994 LBVs are exceptionally good, says Stone, who recommends the Osborne ($15) and Quinta do Castro ($26).
Tawnies are ports that have been aged 10, 20, 30, or 40 years in cask before bottling, gradually trading their red hue for a mature amber and taking on a more balanced, nutty flavor. Stone's top picks are Dow's 20- and 30-year-olds ($40, $80) and Fonseca's 20 ($52).
While wood-aged ports get their act together before the cork enters the picture, bottle-aged ports are bottled rather quickly (in the second year after harvest) and designed to stay there awhile.
The best of this breed, true vintage ports are typically unfiltered and made from grapes drawn in a single year. "After 21 to 25 years in bottle, a great vintage really starts to become interesting," says Stone. These are the collectible ports-their flavor is deep and complicated, and they're among the few wines still commonly trampled by human feet. Stone recommends the Quinto do Noval Nacional '62 ($400-$700) and '63 ($900-$2,000), and the Taylor Fladgate '27 ($700).
The Portuguese have another export you should know about: a beautiful, hard-to-define word called saudades. It's a winsome feeling, somewhere between homesickness and nostalgia-just the sort of mood a glass of port might inspire in a fusty old-timer, and maybe even you.
