Port and the Douro (Infinite Ideas Classic Wine)

Port anD the Douro 155

Since revision of the
legislation in 2002, LBV may
also be sold as Envelhecido em
Garrafa or ‘Bottle Matured’.
These wines, defined as ‘liable
to create a deposit in bottle ...
must have aged in bottle for a
minimum period of three years
and may only be released after
this period has elapsed’. Warre
and Smith Woodhouse have
made a speciality of this style
of LBV and the wines share
something of the depth, intensity and maturity of a true vintage Port at less than half the
price. Like a vintage Port, they should be decanted before serving.

crusted Port

So-called because of the deposit or ‘crust’ that the wine throws in bottle, crusted Port is a fairly
recent creation that has earned itself the epithet of ‘poor man’s vintage Port’. Although the
coveted word ‘vintage’ does not appear anywhere on the label, crusted Ports are much closer in
style to vintage Port than most LBVs, presenting a dense, concentrated wine for a fraction of
the price. Wines from two or three harvests are aged in wood for up to two years and bottled
without any fining or filtration. The only date that is of any significance is the year of bottling,
which has to appear on the label. The preserve of a few British shippers, most crusted Port was
UK bottled and, following the suspension of bulk shipments in 1996, it briefly ceased to be
sanctioned by the IVP. Crusted Port may be released at any time after bottling but under the
legislation drawn up in 2002, a wine with three years in bottle may be sold as ‘bottle matured’.
Most crusted Ports are ready to drink around six years
of age but some will keep for nearly as long as a fully-
fledged vintage Port, as I found in 2011 on opening a
bottle of Noval Crusted – from 1961!

tawny with an indication of age

Most ‘true’ Tawny Ports are bottled with an ‘indication
of age’: ‘ten’, ‘twenty’, ‘thirty’ and ‘over forty years old’ are the designations officially
permitted by the IVDP. However there is a category of tawny reserve/reserva for wines
that have spent at least seven years in wood. With the exception of colheita, which forms a
separate category (see below), all tawny Ports are complex blends of wines from a number
of different years. The indication of age found on the label is therefore nothing more than
an approximation. Ten-, twenty- and thirty-year-old tawnies may be officially described on
the label as velho or ‘old’ whereas wine bottled as ‘over forty years old’ may be described as
muito velho (‘very old’).

Pick of the LBVs

cockburn

Fonseca

Graham

niepoort (unfiltered)

Quinta do noval (unfiltered)

Ramos Pinto

smith Woodhouse (unfiltered – Bottle Matured)

taylor

Warre (unfiltered – Bottle Matured)

Pick of crusted Port

Graham

niepoort