Tesco Finest 10-Year Old Tawny Port, Portugal NV (£14.50, Tesco) As I say every year in the same slightly sanctimonious tone used by parents fending off pet-seeking children, Port is not just for Christmas. Like its fortified Iberian cousins, madeira and sherry, it is outstanding value for the quality when compared to its unfortified peers, and it remains by far the most popular drink on offer when I do wine-tasting events, even at the height of summer. Still, for all its underrated seasonal versatility, I must admit strong, sweet port does come into its own at this time of year, when all of us are open to indulging in more sugar and alcohol (and post-prandial naps) than we (or our nearest and dearest) would normally deem acceptable. This is one area of wine where supermarket own-labels compare favourably to branded offerings, with Tesco’s array, for example, being produced by the Symington clan behind Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s and Cockburn’s, and with this decidedly mellow, toffee-and-raisin tawny a pick of the bunch.
Kopke Colheita Tawny Port, Portugal 2005 (£31.99, Waitrose) Tawny port is a style that has really taken off in the UK over the past decade or two, British port drinkers, and the British family port shippers (such as the Symingtons and the Fladgate Partnership of Taylor’s, Fonseca and Croft) having historically inclined towards vintage and vintage-style wines. What’s the difference? Well, both start with the same basic raw materials (red wine fortified with grape spirit), but vintage, late-bottled vintage, reserve and ruby ports are bottled much sooner than tawny, which are only bottled after several years maturing in wooden cask. Tawny wines are exposed to more oxygen, giving them a softer, nuttier character to go with their paler, tawny colour. Most tawny ports on the market are a blend of cask-matured wines of different ages that have been blended and sold with an average age statement. But recently there’s been a resurgence of interest in tawny ports from a single year, with Kopke, makers of this figgy treat, being a master of the style.
Quinta do Noval Late Bottled Vintage Port, Portugal 2017 (£23, The Wine Society)
The opposite of an older tawny such as Kopke’s is a ruby port, such as Morrisons Ruby Port NV (£9.25), made from a blend of younger ports, bottled young, and retaining its vivid fruits of the forest fruitiness: what this style might lack in terms of complexity, it more than makes up for in vibrant drinkability. Moving up a notch, the style I tend to drink most often: the poor man’s vintage port that is late-bottled vintage. Among my favourites are the ripely succulent, subtly spicy Fonseca Unfiltered Late Bottled Vintage 2016 (£18.45, ndjohn.co.uk; frazierswine.co.uk) and the refined, fine-grained feel and silky abundance of dark fruit in Quinta do Noval’s classy offering. And for a vintage treat this Christmas, Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port 2012 (£30, Tesco) is a sumptuous, mature example of the single-quinta style, Port’s equivalent of a single-vineyard or single-estate wine, generally made in those years when producers decide not to make a classic vintage port, which can be every bit as satisfying, but which is ready to drink much sooner and at much lower prices.
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