The spirit of the Old World: Port

Churchill sipped port while smoking Havana cigars, and mixologist Charles Schumann, proprietor of Schumann's in Munich, once confessed a secret love of port, though he's poured less than 10 bottles of it from behind the bar.

Unless you're from England or France where port is still popular, you may pour even fewer bottles of this rich fortified wine during your life. But on late evenings when even champagne seems prosaic, a glass of port manages to mark an occasion into memory.

Like sherry and Madeira, port - with all its varieties - can be intimidating to novice hosts. (I'm defining "novice" as anyone who takes the sediment in a bottle of port as a bad sign). First off, true port can come only from Portugal, but don't be surprised if it has an English brand name, since many of the producers are indeed English. It was the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1916 that officially defined port as "A fortified wine produced in the delimited Douro region and exported through the Bar of Oporto."

Typically, only two varieties of grapes are used in port. One grape type, usually white or yellow, is selected for its fruit quality and will give the port a rich character and finesse. Another grape variety, such as Cao, Tinta Francisca, and Souzao, will be selected solely for its color. Once crushed, the grapes' pips give the must its rich color and intensity.

Like other fortified wines, digestifs.

Once in the cask, the wine is left to age and mature. The most cherished ports are vintage ports. A vintage, or spectacular harvest, is defined by the quality of grapes and the wine it produces. Typically, growers in the region confer on which years shall be classified vintages. However, any single grower can claim a vintage if its wine passes the scrutiny of the wine authorities in Portugal. Only three to four vintages are produced per decade. The last agreed upon vintage year was 1995, and the best year ever is said to have been 1931.

Vintage ports remain in the cask from 18 months to 3 years. Most are shipped to their country of destination while still in the cask and are bottled there. Bottled vintage ports do not travel well because they throw, or create, an especially heavy deposit that forms a crust inside the bottle. Once bottled, the wine must remain relatively still for more than a decade, the minimum time needed for it to mature. If disturbed, the crust will not resettle, and the wine will become cloudy and gain a distasteful chalky texture.

Early on, a vintage port is rough and acidic, but after 20 years in the bottle, it gains a rich, pungent, fruity taste that's unmatched when served slightly chilled. Imbibers rarely agree on a more specific description of a port's flavor than that. In fact, a vintage may be called "chocolatey" by one taster and "raisin-like" by another. Most agree, however, these ports are well worth the occasional expense. Vintage, like all ports, remains good for several days once opened. At bars and restaurants, a 2-ounce glass of vintage will cost US$10 to $20, and a bottle will run about $90. Some insist that the cost is the real reason no one forgets an occasion shared with port.

For much less money, you can enjoy either a crusted or a late-bottled vintage (LBV) port. Close relatives to vintage ports, these classifications are not as temperamental as a true vintage and cost only between $25 and $30 a bottle. Made from wines of a particular year, these ports are typically blends of vintages that have been literally bottled late or early. They too create a small deposit inside their bottles, though not as severe as true vintages. They are rarely as rich as a vintage, though they will still offer dark ruby colors and fruity bouquets.

Ruby and tawny ports are a step below crusted or LBV. These wines are produced through a system much like the soleras system used to make sherry. Ruby ports are blended ports, taken from many harvests that are of consistent quality. Every port maker produces a ruby port. The wines used to blend these ports are usually aged longer in the casks than vintage ports and are selected for blending based on their strengths. By blending so many wines, each with its own strength, the final product is usually a pleasant tasting wine that lacks the finer subtleties of a vintage. Ruby ports cost about $10 - certainly low enough to make you more accepting of their shortcomings.

Tawny ports are those that have been aged a very long time. Considering their age, their cost is quite reasonable. For instance, a 40-year-old Tawny will run about $40. During the aging process in the cask, these wines throw off a deposit, but one so slight it doesn't settle into a crust. To remove the particles, port makers use a process called "fining." Keeping the wine clear ages it more gracefully. Although there are many fining materials, the very best producers use - surprisingly - egg white. As a film forms in the port, the egg white separates the sediment and some of the coloring matter in the wine. Each time the wine is fined, a little more of the ruby color is removed until a topaz wine remains.

As the wine ages in the cask, it becomes much softer because of both the wood and the fining process. Over the course of decades, the wine becomes quite pleasant. In fact, it becomes so light and subtle, that these ports are often enjoyed as cocktails. Although port connoisseurs never value these ports highly, I've nearly always found a glass to be a pleasant reminder to stock up on a bottle of vintage, for some unexpected special occasion.