150 Port anD the Douro
Port: ClassiFiCation
The world has a near obsession with class and classification. Not content with the continuum
in which we inhabit and interact, for the sake of convenience we divide ourselves into socio-
economic groups A, B, C, and sometimes attaching labels like ‘Sloane ranger’, ‘yuppie’ or
‘preppie’... The classification of wine took hold in the nineteenth century with the 1855
Classed Growth system in the Medoc, although Pombal had attempted a similar (but
more complex) classification of Port vineyards when the Douro was demarcated nearly a
century earlier. The latter has long been superseded by Moreira da Fonseca’s vineyard points
system (see page 58). But no classification system is ever perfect and various attempts at
categorising Bordeaux and Douro vineyards have been subject to vociferous criticism over
the years. Due to the fact that most Ports are complex blends from a number of different
properties, sub-regions and terroirs, the Douro’s vineyard classification system is not of great
use to the consumer.
From the 1980s onwards, high-profile North American wine critics have taken
wine classification a stage further with their point-scoring systems. Based on the US
examination system, a wine can score a minimum of 50 points (in which case it will be
totally and utterly undrinkable) and a maximum of 100. Most scores are massaged to
fall between 80 and 100 and there is often very little difference between a wine that is
awarded, say, 89 and one that gains 91 points. However, as frustrated wine producers
will often tell you, a wine with 89 points will sell much less well than one with 91.
Apart from common wine faults and the agreed expectation of a particular style of wine,
classification is often a matter of personal taste. We all have our own opinions and getting
even the most skilled tasters to agree a mark for a wine, as I find when chairing the Port
and Madeira panel for the Decanter World Wine Awards, requires a certain amount of
negotiation and diplomacy.
I am not a fan of giving marks to wines, finding them too inflexible and prescriptive.
Although I much prefer the 20-point scale to the 100-point scale (most of which is never
used), I have stopped short of giving marks to individual wines in this book. This book is
not a compendium of tasting notes, which go out of date soon after they are published.
I have, however, listed my ‘pick’ of favourite Ports, not based on a single taste but on
many years of tasting and repeated success in competitions like the Decanter World Wine
Awards. I have limited my selection to the IVDP’s officially designated Special Categories.
Individual vintages (in the next chapter) are given a star rating.
stanDarD styles
Ruby
Named after its youthful colour, ruby is the simplest and can be one of the most satisfying
styles of young Port. The wines chosen to make up a ruby usually present a deep colour,
straightforward fruity aromas, some body and structure but not too much in the way of tannic