Graham's 10 Year Tawny Port

Wow! This was a lot of fun! I ran across a recipe for an Italian dessert containing dried dates, apricots and cherries. It also called for wheat berries, hazelnuts, and chocolate. I thought it would be fun to try having this with a port. Since I know little to nothing about ports, it was a bit of an adventure. I went to Bob's and found everything from $6 (very scary) late vintage port, to 30 year ports that were well over $100. They also had something called tawny port for about $35. It looked promising, so I decided to give it a try. It was delicious! I'm really not a big fan of port, mainly because I find the high alcohol content a bit of an impediment. And it does have that spike of "heat", which many people enjoy. The color on this was just beautiful. It had a lovely tawny red current color, like brick red, but brighter. The nose was lush with dried fruit. There was date, fig and raisin, along with the scent of baking spices (cloves, and allspice). The taste was true to the nose, and it had this wonderful rich, viscous mouth-feel. It was very sweet, but well balanced, with a lingering finish of dried fruit and spices. It reminded me of those home-made holiday fruitcakes that are basted daily in rum. It was a great compliment to the dessert.

I went on line to find out just what is this "tawny port". Apparently there are basically three kinds of port: late vintage port, a ruby red port of recent vintage with minimal aging; classic aged port which is aged primarily in the bottle for up to and sometimes more than 30 years; and tawny port which is aged for shorter periods in oak barrels. All are, of course, fortified wines with alcohol levels of about 20%. Aged ports acquire the same characteristics of aged red wines. The 30 year ports are still deep red. The tannins have softened and the flavors are more blended and mellow. The tawny ports pick up flavors from the barrels which change the taste and character of the wine. The barrel aging is what gives this port both it's color and taste. It has less fruit and more oak than the other ports. I read that it is not advantageous to further age tawny port in the bottle. Also, once opened, it is best consumed within 4 days or so. The recommendation was to re-cork a partially consumed bottle and store it in the fridge. Classic old ports retain their character longer after opening, with partial bottles lasting for up to a few weeks.

So, while ports may not appear frequently in this blog, we will probably enjoy one from time to time, particularly around the holidays.