Port & Sherry
Fortified wines — the most notable being Port and sherry — are made by adding a neutral spirit (usually brandy) to stop fermentation and raise the alcohol level of the wine. This process allows fortified wines to age longer in the bottle and to remain fresh for a longer period after they have been opened. Fortified wines can be made from white or red grapes and run the gamut from dry to sweet, introducing a range of distinct styles. A favorite dessert wine, Port, is a fortified wine made in the Douro region of Portugal from a variety of different grapes. Port can be unaged or aged in wood barrels to create Ruby Port or aged for extended periods of time, even decades, to create Tawny. The best Port vintages are extensively aged to create Vintage Port, which can develop and improve for decades. Madeira is also a Portuguese fortified wine, but it is made on the Madeira Islands off the coast of Africa. Styles of Madeira run from the very dry Sercial, which is typically enjoyed as an aperitif, to the decadently sweet Malvasia, which is usually paired with desserts. Showing similar versatility is the Spanish fortified wine Sherry. Sherry is typically made with the Palomino grape and ranges from the dry Fino to the very sweet Jerez Dulce, which is often made with Pedro Ximénez grapes. Marsala is Italy’s versatile fortified wine, drawing from the city of Marsala in Sicily, and it too can range from dry to sweet. Today, Marsala is most commonly used in Italian cooking — dry versions appearing in sauces and sweet versions appearing in desserts. A final wine that deserves note is Vermouth, for which we have a dedicated section.
Top Port & Sherry Posts:
Exploring Port Wine: Touring Porto and the Douro Valley
What is Fortified Wine and How Is It Made?
2016 Vintage Port (and Beyond)
Madeira Wine 2018
Hidalgo Fino and Bodegas Dios Baco Oxford 1.970 Pedro Ximenez Sherry
Jose Maria da Fonseca is one of those rarities we don’t see enough of in the U.S.: A Portuguese wine producer that makes red table wines (in addition to some sweet stuff). Established in 1834, J.M. da Fonseca now has vineyard holdings all across the country, and recently its head winemaker, Domingos Soares Franco, came…
We’ve covered Madeira wine extensively in past dispatches. Today we’re looking at three Madeira wines from Miles, which is part of the Blandy family’s Madeira Wine Company, a producer that has been producing wine on this Portuguese island since 1814. Thoughts follow on three different styles of Miles’ Madeiras, all nonvintage (and two with generalized…
Vintage Port is on a roll. 2016 marked the first declaration for Vintage Port in five years, and now 2017 has been declared as well, the first back to back declaration for most Port producers in, well, forever. For Symington, which produces Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s, and Cockburn’s (among other brands), it’s the first back to…
Today we’re taking a belated look at four of the Port wines of Warre’s, one of the major Port houses, including its most widely-known expression, Warrior. We’re also looking at a fresh bottle of the 10 year old Otima Tawny, a wine we’ve reviewed three separate times in the past. These are all nonvintage bottlings,…
Port powerhouse Dow’s recently rebranded its Tawny Port line, with Charles Symington “tweaking his rule-book to create and re-launch a striking range of tawny Ports.” Those changes involve aging the wine for a longer period of time in smaller oak vessels, with the goal of building up the body of the wines and darkening their…
As a reminder, Late Bottled Vintage Port is officially “ruby Port from a single year, chosen for its high quality and bottled after aging for four to six years in wood.” It’s designed to mimic Vintage Port somewhat, but at a far lower price. Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage release for 2012 is extremely mild, a subtle…
It’s been two years since we took a deep dive into Madeira, but recently representatives from this unique, fortified, island-grown wine style arrived in San Francisco with their latest wares in tow. This includes some classic brands and one new one — a cooperative of all-female winemakers called CAF being the first new winemaking operation…
“Tio Pepe En Rama” is a special version of Tio Pepe’s Fino bottling, released once in a year (this is the 9th time), bottled unclarified and unfiltered. For 2018, En Rama is drawn from 62 casks, pulled from its “dense veil of flor” to showcase fino sherry at its finoest sherriest. If fino sherry is…
For the first time since 2011, a Vintage Port year is being widely declared for 2016. (A smattering of 2015 vintage wines were also released in limited rotation.) 2016 was a hot, hot year for the Douro — I know, because it’s the summer we were touring there — but numerous producers, who visited San…
Pineau des Charentes is perhaps the most unique “wine” you’ll ever encounter — in part because there’s actually no wine in it. What’s Pineau? Pineau des Charentes hails from the Cognac region of France (and thereabouts), where winemakers take (typically white) wine grapes, crush them into must, then — before it ferments (and turns into…