2014 W&J Graham's Late Bottled Vintage Porto

2014 W&J Graham's Late Bottled Vintage Porto

Vintage: 2014

Region: Douro, Porto, Portugal
Winery: W&J Graham

Varieties: Blend of Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca, old mixed vines

Price: $24 (I found it for $21 at Trader Joe's)

Rating: 92 Points

My Rating: 93 Points

The Review: As I was sitting at home the other night enjoying a nice glass of Port after dinner (hold the old man jokes), I realized that I've never written about the well-known fortified wine! And I've gotta be honest with you, it's for two main reasons- 1) I really don't drink a ton of it, and 2) it's one of the harder types of wines to explain. But I promise I'll do my best, and hopefully you'll close your browser having learned a little bit about Porto. And maybe you'll drink some instead of just cooking with it. :)

Right off the bat, let me clear the air before we get into it. I'll probably alternate between referring to the wine as "Porto" and "Port." They're the same, Port is just the English translation of Porto. I tend to lean towards saying "Porto" cause I'm annoying.

 

Porto is a city in the Douro region of Northwestern Portugal, but it is also the name of the style of wine made in that region. Just like Champagne is a style of wine made in a particular place, Port is the same way (so if you see a wine labeled as "Port" and it's not from Portugal, it's wrong! Many labels avoid this trouble by saying "Port-style"). The wines made here are famously red and fortified, meaning at a certain point during fermentation, grape spirits are added to kill the yeast. This does 2 things- it means that there's a higher alcohol content (usually ~20%) and that the wines are sweet! However, like lots of famous sweet wines, the balance should be so good that you shouldn't hardly notice the sweetness. There are 4 styles of Porto- Ruby, Tawny, White, and Rosé. To be honest, I've never in my life seen nor learned about White or Rosé Port, so I don't exactly intend to provide any information on them! The other two styles, however, Tawny and Ruby Port, are quite famous. We'll start with Tawny.

Tawny Porto is a red port that is made in barrels in an oxidative style. Simply put, the wine is exposed to small amounts of oxygen throughout the aging process, which turns the wine a brownish color and adds nutty aromas. The wines are released in a couple of designations- tawny (2-year aging), 10, 20, 30, and 40 year old. These ages mean that the release is a blend of wines that have spent at least the designated number of years in wood. I personally don't much care for Tawny, but I would certainly encourage you to try it! It's a really interesting experience.

Ruby Porto is the other, and probably more famous, type of Porto. Ruby is a red Port that is NOT made oxidatively and is much more fruity than Tawny. Within the category of Ruby Port, there are the subcategories of Vintage and Late Bottled Vintage (LBV). Vintage Port (it's all from a single vineyard year) is usually QUITE pricey. It's the creme de la creme and is designed for incredibly long aging abilities and unbelievable power. Vintage Ports are aged for 2-3 years in oak, and are then aged in bottle... forever... Late Bottled Vintage Porto, however, is an interesting way for us members of the proletariat to get a little taste of Vintage Port power for significantly cheaper. LBV wines are aged in wood for 4-6 years, then released immediately with the intention of the drinker consuming the wine within a few years. They're not as premium as Vintage Ports, but they're still excellent values.

That's what today's wine is (bet you were wondering if I would ever actually write about the wine). The 2014 W&J Graham's LBV Porto shows a really aromatic and floral nose, with delicate aromas of violets and roses playing nicely alongside ripe cherry and rich plum. I like to think of these fruit aromas as kind of being like a fruit compote. A little sweet, a little jammy, but still really vibrant. The taste of this wine is much more fruit-driven, with notes of ripe dark plum, dark cherry, and wild dark berries. There's the slightest hint of raisins (a good thing to look for in Port! But too much is bad). There's a beautiful freshness to this wine and subtle secondary flavors (baking spices mostly) that liven things up. The tannins are coarse, and the wine is sweet, but like I mentioned, you shouldn't be super appalled by the sweetness.

Porto is an interesting style of wine that I think has been kind of ruined by its reputation as a cooking wine in the US. It's really fun to sip on after a meal or with many fruity desserts! I try to keep a bottle in my collection at all times because it's such a vibe to open one up with friends for dessert.

One last word of advice- as this style of wine is closer to a liqueur than a wine, I'd advise against sticking your nose down in the glass like you would a regular wine. You risk catching a fat whiff of alcohol!

drink what you like,

db