America Is Going to Port

There may be more myth, snobbism and misunderstanding about Port than any other wine, and part of it is due to how it’s treated in Great Britain.

“England has been very stuffy in its attitude about Port,” says Bartholomew Broadbent, a Port merchant who was born in England. “They drink it only after dinner and only when it’s very old.”

Broadbent knows. He’s the son of one of England’s greatest wine authorities--author and auctioneer J. Michael Broadbent. And for the past six years he has been president of the American import company Premium Ports and Madeiras.

For the most part, America has copied English Port tradition. But things are changing here to the point that Broadbent was prompted to open his Port firm in Sausalito.

“When the 1983 vintage Ports were released (about 1986), America was No. 8 in the world in Port shipments,” says Broadbent. “When the 1985s were released, America was No. 2, and by 1990 the U.S. passed England as the No. 1 market in the world for Port.”

One major reason, theorizes Broadbent, is that Americans are more practical. “You have a refreshing approach,” he says. “A vast majority of Americans consume their Cabernet young, while it still has good amounts of tannin, and you don’t mind drinking young Port, which has yet to smooth out.”

He says there is another reason: “You are all madly keen on chocolate--and young vintage Port goes fantastically as an accompaniment to chocolate desserts.”

Port may be better than it’s ever been (though some purists would dispute this), because so many new styles and types of Port are being made.

Vintage Port is considered the best of all Port, but it comes along infrequently. Port shippers “declare a vintage” only when a wine is exceptional, and there hasn’t been a widely declared vintage of Port since 1985.

For example, 1988 was a year so high in quality it could have been declared a vintage, but there was so little wine made from it that few producers released a vintage Port. In 1989, quality also was high, but the worldwide economy was sour--no vintage. The 1990s also were of vintage quality, but 1991 may be a better year, and tradition holds that there should be no back-to-back vintages declared, so 1990 won’t be a vintage year.

This means that high-quality wines are being used to make Ports of lesser designations, and these are superb wines and good values.

Here is a brief description of the various Ports:

* Vintage Port: The wine is bottled after only two years in aging casks to preserve the fresh, jam-y fruitiness. It usually has the stuffing to age in the bottle for a long time and it’s expensive, $20 to $30 a bottle on release.

Young vintage Port is rough and offers little aged bouquet. Collectors age great vintage Ports at least a decade; some vintages are best only after many decades. The 1970 Ports taste wonderful now; the great 1963 Ports are barely showing development. One of the greatest Ports of all time, the 1931 Quinta do Noval, was still youthful and fragrant when I tasted it in 1984.

You may still find a few 1985 vintage Ports on shelves at decent prices. Graham ’85 should be about $45 a bottle. The next vintage Port likely to be declared is 1991 or 1992.

* Ruby Port: This is a young Port aged three to four years in barrel, then filtered. It offers a fragrant, floral aroma and less depth than other Ports. One Ruby Port I like is Cockburn’s “Special Reserve” ($14), with good fruit, not overly sweet.

* Late Bottled Vintage Port: Port made from a good (perhaps not great) vintage and aged in barrel four to six years. The added aging in cask gives the wine a smoother, less fruity aroma. They represent a kind of superior-quality ruby Port.

LB Ports usually are filtered, so they are smoother and less in need of further aging, though they do develop some character in the bottle. Two producers, Smith-Woodhouse and Warre, make LB Ports with more substance than most because they are not filtered. One version I like is Noval LB, a deep and complex wine with graceful fruit. Cockburn 1984 “Late Bottled” also is quite good, and a value at $13.

* Vintage Character: This is one of the newest categories of Port. It is top-quality ruby Port kept for you five years in cask.The phrase “vintage character” occasionally doesn’t appear on the label, however. Instead, Port shippers use fanciful names for their Vintage Character Ports.

Among the best are Graham “Six Grapes,” which sells for about $19; Dow “AJS,” $16, and the relatively unknown Smith-Woodhouse “Lodge Reserve,” $13. An old favorite of mine is Fonseca “Bin 67.” Others worth tracking down are Sandeman “Founder’s Reserve,” Taylor “First Estates” and Warre “Warrior” (the latter is lighter then I prefer).

Vintage Character Port offers consumers a chance to see what great vintage Port is all about without the need to age the wine a long time.

* Single-Quinta Ports: A new phenomenon in the market, these are wines from vintages that are of high quality but without enough production to release as vintage wines. In those cases, producers often release a small amount of wine from a single quinta (a vineyard site). The 1978 Graham “Malvedos” may still be bought for about $33 a bottle; it’s splendid wine. Three current high-quality single- quinta Ports are 1990 Taylor “Vargellas”; Dow’s “Quinta do Bomfim” and Symington’s “Quinta do Vesuvio.”

* Tawny Port: These are Ports that are aged in barrels for a long time and have a tawny color and aroma. They lack the freshness of younger Ports, but they have a certain burnished quality that resembles very, very old vintage Port.

Most tawny Port is bottled with an average age of 10 years in cask, though the top tawny Ports are aged 30 or 40 years in cask. They can cost as much as a good vintage Port--$30 or $40 a bottle and up. However, a lot of excellent tawny is available at $10 a bottle.

Wine of the Week

1989 Quady Winery “Starboard” ($20) --Not many traditional “vintage-type” Ports are made in the United States, but Quady of Madera makes this one. It is a blend of Tinta Cao, Tinta Amarela and Bastardo grapes and has a load of fruit and chocolate notes and lower tannin than most young Ports. Andy Quady says the small berries he and winemaker Mike Blaylock use make a wine of intense color and high tannin. The result is an excellent, deeply complex wine that appears to have as much aging ability as past vintages but is drinkable much sooner.