At a vertical tasting this week of Quinta de Vargellas dating back to 1958, I asked Adrian Bridge, managing director of the Taylor-Fladgate Partnership, how the economic downturn would affect the company.

“We’ve survived 300 years through wars and pestilence,” he said. “We can make it through this downturn. Fortunately we are not as dependent on restaurant sales as other categories, such as Champagne. If the next release doesn’t sell this year, we can always hold on to it for a couple more years since we have a lot of experience aging wines.”

I asked him whether there were too many offerings of high-end ports, fighting for a dwindling number of consumers. But he sad that specialty ports are actually a growing category, expanding 30% in recent years.

Vargellas is a steep single vineyard that came Taylor’s acquired in 1896. Today it has 255,000 vines, a common way of measuring a vineyard in the Douro, and some of those are over 100 years old. The grapes are foot-trodden, and wines typically are more approachable earlier than classic vintage port, according to Adrian, at about 12 years and typically only last about 35 years.

If you’re interested in assorted tasting notes and reactions, read on!

1958: Very mature is a polite way of describing it. Quite a bit of heat (alcohol) and dried fruits.

1967 (find this wine): Aromas of violets and an undercurrent of spice undergirds more subtle notes of delicate licorice. Really, a beautiful wine that is in a beautiful, mature spot.

1970: Kind of an outlier, fuller, bolder, thanks to the fact that this came exclusively from low vines (that were subsequently lost in the damming of the Douro River).

1976: Pale in color belies a vigorous note of candied red hots that I find to overwhelming and lingering. But I’m not into red hots.

1978: more mellow and toned down, mercifully, in the red hots department. Subtle notes of licorice and violet.

1988: A pruney nose followed by a slight menthol note. The color is getting darker.

1991 (find this wine): Color now massively more rich, in fact, for all the remaining wines. It is rich, lush and vaguely chocolatey, in fact, more like that Vosges chocolate with chili (more apt here than red hots). This

1995 vinhas velhas: From select old vines, this is a big jump aromatically with more meaty, bacon fat type of aromas. It’s big and intense with a massive, lingering finish with more of that spice creeping back in. Clearly, it has a lot of aging potential but it is actually drinking quite nicely now too.

1997 vinhas velhas: A bigger style, with funny combo of both minerality and more ripe fruit. Perhaps it’s in a dumb period now; it’s my least favorite of the old vines.

2000 vinhas velhas (find this wine): Fantastic! Really amazing concentration and depth, it is lush but balanced between primary fruit, some licorice, and that spice, though beautifully integrated. It’s definitely a fifty year wine–is this going to be like the 67 of this old vine trio?

2005 (find this wine): a solid Vargellas that it very young; big, rich and chocolatey.

Indeed, port is not gross; in fact, it can be delicious. This year I’ve tried some excellent vintage ports, some with several decades of age on them, which makes them fantastic. The only trouble with vintage port is that it requires so much patience, usually two decades’ worth. Many of the top vintage ports currently on the market run close to $100 a bottle.

There’s another way to get the vintage character with a discount and put it in the express lane: Late Bottled Vintage or LBV. To qualify as vintage port, the wine must be bottled within about two years of harvest and do much of its aging in bottle. But the port houses age some of the port from one vintage longer, sometimes up to six years in cask, and then bottle it as LBV. It’s vintage character port that’s ready to drink.

The Taylor-Fladgate LBV 2003 is an excellent example. The vintage was outstanding and the producer it top notch. The port in the glass has a vibrant red-purple hue, lovely sweet and ripe aromas, and an unctuous, viscous, multi-layered palate that has a pleasant spice on the finish. We tried this with some friends who happened to have some Roquefort on hand and it really was one of those classic, perfect pairings. All we needed was a roaring fire!

Here’s perhaps the best part: I asked that friend how much he would pay for the port, with it’s handsome embossed bottle. He said $50. It’s actually under $20 (find this port). What a great gift!

The Quinta do Noval LB won lots of praise at two events where I poured it recently. Another top producer, this port doesn’t state a vintage, opting instead for the LB. It’s under $20 as well (find this port).

A little port does go a long way so it’s probably best to open when you have people over. As to the freshness of LBVs, I find that they can keep for a few days (maybe five), but shouldn’t sit around for too long after opening. Don’t be like my friend’s uncle and keep it too long and then foist it on unsuspecting guests!

SIPPED: wine investment (alpacas optional)
The WSJ finds a stay-at-home dad who has sunk $120k into 400 bottles of 1996 Champagne, quoting him saying: “It sure beats looking at a Merrill Lynch monthly statement.” Um, I think he means Bank of America. But nice call on the 96 Champagne! Also, the FT also reports on individuals and funds who are socking away blue chip red wine.

SIPPED: Portugal!
British photographer and journalist David Eley has launched a site with some impressive photography and producer profiles from his travels in the Duoro. Mmm, sun-drenched hillsides, good wines.

SIPPED: JetBlue terminal
About 400 wine choices await travelers in the new JFK JetBlue terminal, half of them by the glass–let’s just hope there’s something good. And with the free wifi in that terminal already, JetBlue is on the inside track to become the unofficial airline for wine bloggers. [NY mag]

SIPPED: Tropical wine! (”for tourists”)
What do you get when you combine a stiff 170 percent tariff on imported wines, a strong tourist economy, and tropical conditions? Why, Bali, the Indonesian island and new wine frontier. But Pinot Noir, move over since you’ll have to settle for a glass of Probollingo Biru. [IHT]

SPIT: Italian wine
When Italian wine bloggers get together, they drink Mexican beer apparently! Oh okay, and Produttori di Barbaresco Barbaresco with smoked pork ribs.

Fonte da Serrana, Alentejo, Portugal, 2004. $5.99 (find this wine)
Alentejo is a hot, dry part of Southern Portugal that, when it comes to wine, traditionally has been more known for making closures–corks–rather than what goes in the bottle. But this wine will make them consider planting more vines. The alluring nose of dried herbs precedes the all-berry attack the attack, which, in turn, is followed by a surprising degree of bright acidity and gentle tannins. A GREAT summer quaffer. And our new house burrito wine. Day two it was still going strong and poured at fridge temp, marvelously refreshing on the deck. The blend is mostly Aragonez (a.k.a Tempranillo) and the indigenous Trincadeira.

Hugues Beaulieu, Picpoul de Pinet, Coteaux de Languedoc, 2006. $7.37 (find this wine)
Picpoul de Pinet is a blast of summer freshness that comes from a stone’s throw away from the Mediterranean. With a citrus zip of tart acidity, a light saline quality, this wine, from a cooperative producer, is refreshing to pair with 95 degrees–as an aperitif or with seafood. It’s easy to understand why Picpoul is known as the Muscadet of the south both for flavor profile as well as wallet-friendliness. I got this bottle from a sale that is now, sadly, over (bringing the price up to $8.99) but I will definitely get more for the dog days of summer.

But the absence of aging the wine myself and waiting twenty years, I was able to have an extraordinary tasting experience last week of vintage ports from the producer Croft. Their 1945 is something of a legend — no ‘47 Cheval Blanc but you get the idea. So when I heard it was being poured at a press event in Manhattan, I was there in a flash.

In short, it was amazing (find this port). This port, which, if it were human would be gearing up for retirement at age 63, was still going strong with fantastic depth, color and finish. It had beautiful notes of orange zest, aniseed, spice, fig, all in beautiful harmony with great poise.

Although recent records have shown that Croft dates back to 1588 making it the oldest port house, it had fallen on a rough patch for much of the second half of the twentieth century. Among other things, the then-owners installed automated stomping machines and, as I posted last year, when it comes to port, nothing beats the foot. When The Fladgate Partnership purchased Croft in 2001 to bring it under the same ownership as Taylor Fladgate, Fonseca, and Delaforce, one of the first changes, um, underfoot was to rip out all the automatic crushers and install stone lagares for the resumption of foot treading. The 1945 was stomped by foot.

We tasted a few intervening vintages during the automation era and the vintage 1960 stood out as an impressive one (find this port). It was slightly richer brick-red hue and had more notes of anise mocha with supple tannins. But with the 1994, we were clearly on the more youthful side with the color still more the intense purple of youth rather than the faded, brick red that comes with age. The palate impressions were of more youthful intensity too and hadn’t entered the ethereal world of the mature. The first vintage under the new ownership, the 2003, had tremendous color intensity, ripe fruit concentration, viscosity and vigor. I would gladly tuck one of these away in the cellar and at $60 retail (find this port) it’s even a good bargain.

So there you have it: a magical transformation happens to port with more than twenty years of age. It may not be something that you might have been thinking about on a hot June day, but it’s something I can look forward to with my son twenty years hence. And you can enjoy it relatively sooner since vintage port with some age on it continues to be one of the better values at wine auctions.

The folks at the venerable port house Croft have now started to think pink. At a press event on an 80 degree, sunny day in Manhattan, Croft unveiled the first ever rose port and poured the pink drink both chilled and on the rocks. It is available for about $20 (find the Croft pink).

Adrian Bridge, CEO of The Fladgate Partnership that now owns Croft, explained the making of the port. He went to the Port authority (not, in his country, an entity that runs bus stations) and petitioned for the ability to make a rose. They told him that port is either red or white and if he wanted to do a rose, a new administrative category would have to be made, a process that might take ten years. With brio and speed usually reserved for the New World vintners, Bridge slipped it through the administrative cracks as a “ruby,” the youngest port aged in large vats.

The resulting port is pink in color thanks to brief skin contact during fermentation. But then it is made like a traditional ruby port and the fermentation is stopped with the addition of a distilled spirit resulting in a finished port with 19.5 percent alcohol and 94 grams of residual sugar–and pink. To me it was betwixt and between, neither wine nor port with notes of strawberry and rhubarb akin to a rose but the punch and sweetness of a port. I think it would benefit from bubbles, as in adding soda water.

That might not stop fashionistas from ordering it up. Bridge said that he made a “bold” 500,000 liters of Croft Pink last year but after “huge excitement” in Hong Kong last week, he said they “might run out.” Now, he’s now turning his sights on the US, starting with New York City first and later Texas and Florida. Since the Cosmopolitan has jumped the shark, I’m surprised that they weren’t swilling this pink drink in the new Sex and the City. Croft Pink–it’s not your grandfather’s port.

croftpink.com

When I attended a tasting last fall in New York and tried a serious wine from the Douro, I inquired as to the the grape variety.

“Field blend,” came the reply.

I laughed. What’s this “field blend” stuff? Can’t these Portuguese keep track of which grape vines they have in their vineyards? Well, after my trip to the region last week, I learned there’s a method to the apparent madness: many of the oldest vineyards were intentionally planted with a row of this and a row of that to be harvested at the same time and go into port. Table wine producers have tended to keep that same old vineyard blending to make lovable mongrel blends instead of purebreds, single varieties of the New World. Hey, if it works in Chateauneuf, why not elsewhere?

In planting new vineyards, some vineyard owners aim to repeat the traditional “field blend” approach of co-mingling varieties in the vineyard while others take a single vineyard, single variety approach. Thus many of the single vineyard wines from the region tend to be from newer vineyards.

The grape variety touriga comes in various forms in the region but none seems more prevalent than Touriga Nacional–it’s “national” for crying out loud! (It may have actually originated in the Dao Valley to the south of the Douro.)

In a few tastings of the grape, I found it to have wonderful aromatic intensity, particularly of violets. It tends to have a big attack, sometimes tannic and a long finish, but the mid-palate seemed hollow on occasion–maybe that’s why it’s traditionally a blender.

Anyway, at Quinta do Vallado, I tried the 2005 Touriga Nacional, from vines less than 10 years old. Great aromas of chocolate, cherry and violets made the nose alluring–on the palate the tannins were grippy and the wine could do with some more bottle age, which is exactly what it will get since it is not here in the US market yet. (find this wine)

Moving up the quality scale, I tasted the Quinta do Crasto 04 and 05 versions of the Touriga Nacional. Manuel Lobo, winemaker with Australian Dominic Morris, said that if the the best quality touriga gets bottled as a varietal wine while the rest goes into the reserva blend (there have been only five varietal bottlings since 1995). The 2004 again had great aromas of blackcurrants and violets with an herbal note and faint chocolate with lots of depth. It’s available now but tips the scales at $70 (find this wine). The 05 was equally impressive though the oak presence was stronger, perhaps because it was bottled more recently. (find this wine)

While these were very good examples of the grape and I’m pleased to have had the experience, my favorite wines from the region remained the blends. Maybe that old field blend that I laughed about last fall isn’t such a bad thing after all.

This is my contribution for Wine Blogging Wednesday #37 – “go native.” Check this site in a couple of days for the complete roundup from around the blogosphere.

Zooming down the Douro River at 35 knots provided relief from the noon-time heat. Vintner Joao Ferreira Alvares Ribeiro powered the boat across the placid water, sparing us the the twists and turns of the roads that curve through the valley. Whoever planted the first vines here must have been a sadist and a masochist as well as a hedonist: elaborate terraces for vines that represent generations of work now score the vertiginous hillsides on either side of the river.

The mighty Douro wends 600 miles from its start in the middle of Castilla-Leon in Spain (where it is known as the Duero), across northern Portugal and down to the city of Porto where the river opens into the Atlantic. In a different era, the river was narrow, fast moving affair with rapids. Now, since five dams have been built on the Portuguese side, it is languid and wide, making for our great boat ride. Indeed, our ride was symbolic of the fast pace of changes in the region.

As with so many wine regions in the world, a qualitative revolution is underway. But instead of exchanging quantity for quality as is the usual story, the Douro’s change is from sweet to dry. For three centuries or more, the grapes of the Douro have gone into port, a sweet fortified wine. So popular were the wines of the region in 18th century Britain that Adam Smith even pointed to the port-for-wool trade as an early example of the advantages of specialization in world trade. Indeed, legislators in the two countries also saw the significance and bound the countries together with favorable trade regimes.

But port wine is no longer what it was in Adam Smith’s day. The market for port is declining while the market for dry table wines is growing in countries like the UK and the US. Grape growers and port wine makers have seen the market shift and started to adjust accordingly.

The resulting table wines are often rich and concentrated reds that avoid the global trap of simply being carbon copies of the world’s great wines: Tourigua Nacional hasn’t quite had the impact on the vineyards of the world as Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyards have a seductive lush quality to them but also a local distinctiveness, thanks to the arid terroir and the distinctive local grapes.

The recent trend toward table wine can trace its roots back to 1986. When the region’s grapes went into ports only, they had to pass through “shippers” in the city of Porto to be exported to the world. However, a law dating from May 8, 1986 reformed the market for exports and allowed upriver producers to send their wines abroad directly. A new product therefore became commercially viable.

With 33,000 growers and about 40,000 hectares, plots are small but the opportunities for new exports are large. So far a group of about 18 producers have grouped themselves under the banner of “New Douro,” which includes Chryseia, the collaboration, between Bruno Prats (fromerly of Cos d’Estournel in Bordeaux) and Symington ports. In fact, practically the sole port house not to take the plunge into table wines is Taylor’s.

But the hard core of movers and shakers seems to be the group-within-a-group of five “Douro Boys.” They include Cristiano van Zeller of Quinta Vale Dona Maria, Dirk van der Niepoort of Niepoort, the Roquette family of Qunita de Crasto, the Olazabal family of Quinta do Vale Meao, and our helmsman on the river trip, Joao, and his Quinta do Vallado. This group put together a press trip last week and I was able to join and taste the wines and visit the quintas. The Douro Boys are an extremely affable bunch, as was on display they cracked many jokes during a tasting of their wines at the new hotel Aquapura in the Valley last week. More tales and tasting notes to follow in a brief series.

One note on price: many of these wines are the best coming out of Portugal today and have great aromatic intensity and the charm of place, which often involves traditional foot-treading in lagares. As a result this character and often limited productions, they have been priced according to the international market, which is to say that they are more likely splurge wines rather than everyday wines.

Related: Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto
(image #1 is of the Rio Torto, a tributary to the Douro)