Cheers to the Years

Everything you need to know about vintage ports.

Eight Vintage Ports Worth Investing In

Why Port?

Read More From Anthony Gismondi's The Pour

Do you remember all the hype surrounding the millennium celebrations and which wines would be opened? Big bottles and old bottles were all the talk, but it never really came to pass. I remember thinking that, as a wine collector, I would love to open and share something with my friends from the previous century on that celebrated night. Alas, my relatives were not in the wine business and none of my ancestors considered laying down wines for their great-great grandchildren’s enjoyment at the turn of the 20th Century.

I did manage to get back as far as my birthdate, but no turn-of-the-century wines graced my table. That could all change next century for my ancestors and maybe yours, if you are willing to take a chance on the future.

Vintage port has always been a long-lived wine and, in exceptional years, when the weather is perfect and the yields are low, it can live for many, many decades — indeed the best bottles from the very best vintages will keep comfortably into the next century.

I’m more bullish than ever about vintage port after earlier this year working my way through two separate vertical tastings of vintage port made by Croft and Taylor’s spanning a century of time. It’s hard to explain how satisfying it can be to taste a wine from 1927 or 1934 or even 1900 that
is still in terrific shape for its age.

Imagine your relatives opening a bottle of 2003 vintage port, 100 years from now. One can only hope you will be fondly remembered for your foresight and largesse.

Port’s ability to go the distance starts in the steeply terraced vineyards of the upper Douro Valley. The vines themselves grow out of near solid, stone soils in a climate frozen much of the winter and scorched all summer. Strange-sounding grape names such as tinta cão, tinta barroca, touriga nacional, tinta roriz and touriga franca have survived from an ancient list of hundreds of varieties to form the basis of the modern-day port blend.

Interestingly all port, whether crushed by man or machine, begins its life with a short violent fermentation that can last as little as 30 hours.

The still-fermenting grape juice or “must” with an alcoholic content of six to seven degrees is then “run off” into large wooden casks. At this point, the winemaker blends one part neutral grape brandy for every four parts of partially fermented must, raising the alcoholic content to port’s traditional 20 per cent level. The fortification proves lethal to the still-active yeast cells, halting the fermentation in its tracks. What is left is port: strong, sweet, fortified and built to age.

To prepare for its upcoming marathon inside the bottle, vintage port is removed from the barrel at the earliest possible moment on or about the age of two. After that, the longer its sleep, in a still, dark cellar, the better the possibility it will keep for a century or more.

That doesn’t mean you cannot crack a bottle or two this holiday season — in fact, I encourage you to do just that — but you should also consider saving one or two bottles for your great grandchildren. They will be happy you did and you will ensure the wine culture you have been busy building survives another generation or two.

As mentioned, it is the top names and top vintages that you should be cellaring for the long haul and even then be sure to get expert advice from your local retailer or do some reading about which labels have turned out to be the best in a given vintage. Get 8 top vintage port picks here.

Only then will your gift to the next generation have the best chance of surviving. Happy Holidays!