Q. In the past couple years, I've noticed more Northwest wineries are producing port-style wines. But they seem to vary widely in type, style and even in the grape varieties used. Why so much variation?
A. Port is made in such an array of styles and from so many varieties of grapes (80 are officially authorized in Portugal, the birthplace of the fortified wine) that it's no surprise the average wine drinker is left in a bit of a muddle.
More recently, the major producers in Alto Douro, the birthplace of port wines, have worked to standardize Portugal's offerings, planting in organized blocks the most favored varieties: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Francesca, Tinta Roriz (known as Tempranillo in Spain), Tinta Amarella and Tinta Cao, according to The Oxford Companion to Wine. Apparently, these and dozens of other lesser varieties were planted rather helter-skelter previously.
In addition to these red varieties, Gouveio (also known as Verdelho), Malvasia Fina and Viosinho are generally viewed as the best varieties for white port, the Companion says. All of which means that the port wine from Portugal is likely to come in two colors and from a minimum of nine grape varieties.
Add to this the two broad styles for making red port - cask aged and bottle aged - and then the list of seven rather loosely defined styles and so many special designations that they are enough to boggle the mind. For the average wine buff, it's enough to know that ruby is bottle aged and tawny is cask-aged.
It's best to drink most of the rubies young, unless labeled "crusted or crusting" or LBV (late-bottled vintage), which may last for up to 10 years, or unless they're labeled single-quinta (from a single vineyard) or vintage, which may last as long as 30 years.
Basic tawny port is to be drunk right away, but the aged, single-quinta or vintage ports can be good for up to 40 years or so. Drink the white stuff soon after you buy it.
What all these variations on port share is a common process in which the wines are fermented to about 6 to 8 percent alcohol, then injected with brandy, which kills the yeast and halts the fermentation. The brandy raises the alcohol to around 20 percent (making the port "fortified") and saves the unfermented sugar for the delighted consumer of port.
It's that process and the techniques used to create the various styles of port that have been brought to the Northwest more than the grapes of Portugal, although the grapes are beginning to be planted a bit here as well, including small blocks of Touriga Nacional, Sousao and Tinta Cao. Abacela Winery in Oregon's Umpqua Valley has even planted Tinta Roriz and Bastardo.
Now what the heck does all that mean to us in the Northwest? Well, if nothing else, it should help you know a few things to ask the winemaker. Is his or her port designed to age for months or decades? Was it aged in the bottle or cask? And what grape(s) was it made from?
Most Northwest winemakers who make port are great experimenters who make do with our more common reds. Among the port pioneers in the Northwest are two Prosser, Wash., winemakers, John Rauner of Yakima River Winery and Mike Wallace of Hinzerling Winery, who both made their first ports in 1982. Each has made port-style wines ever since.
When fellow Wine Press Northwest columnist Bob Woehler put together a Northwest port tasting a year ago, he rounded up 16 ports from Washington alone. Several Oregon wineries also are producing port, and a few in British Columbia offer port-style wines, which are not allowed to be labeled as port. And no doubt many more such wines are out there in the barrels of the region's 550-plus wineries.
Woehler's selection included port made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Lemberger, Zinfandel, Royalty, Pinot Noir, Touriga Nacional and even a dash of huckleberry for flavor. Some were infused with chocolate and vanilla.
Joel Tefft of Tefft Cellars in Outlook, Wash., even made a huckleberry port-style wine a few years back. But he ran afoul of federal rules that say port must be made from grape spirits, so he labeled his delightful product Starboard.
White port also is beginning to appear in the Northwest. Most recently, David Hill Vineyard and Winery in Oregon has released a Muscat port, following up on the Portuguese tradition of using Moscatel Galego, a grape from a branch of the Muscat family.
No matter what grape it's made from, a fine port is a delight, especially a vintage tawny, for those of us who adore sipping it on a winter's night before a crackling fire while nibbling at a hearty cheese, a luscious chocolate or whatever other strong-flavored delight might be at hand.
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