Travel

Symington Ports
«Enoteka» № 12-1(69) 2008-2009

Ports are usually presented as a separate wine category.

This is not only because they are made with a different technology. Port category is a unique world, with own traditions and stories, as well as with a big family of products. Where’s the best place to learn the Port basics? Of course, in Oporto, the city that gave its name to the famous wine and became the centre of its production.

Here we need to correct ourselves slightly. Port is made not in Oporto as such, but in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the other side of the Douro River. For the visitors, as probably for the residents, the division is a mere administrative formality. The towns are connected with several bridges, heavy with day and night traffic. The most renowned bridge is Ponte Luis I, built by the apprentice of Gustave Eiffel. It sits next to two most beautiful embankments, with their amazing views on both sides of the river. From the Vila Nova de Gaia side you can see the Oporto historic part on the hill. Cross the bridge, and there is a full panorama of lodges, with big signs on top — Graham’s, Taylor’s, Noval, Sandeman, Fonseca and others.

Companies whose buildings are on the waterfront have an advantage over others. They do not need to put much effort into attracting tourists. The embankment is a popular place for walks, as well as a good starting point for excursions. Half a dozen Port shippers along the riverfront keep their lodges open for public so that people can come inside and see where and how Port is aged. Yet, if you want to learn all production secrets (usually it is a good reason for tourists come to Oporto), then it is best to find a more educational visit. Such as to Graham’s lodge that is situated only a few hundred metres away from the river.

I came to Graham’s by invitation from Dominic Symington, one of five partners in a family company. The role played by the Symington family in the Port industry, is very special. It is the largest independent Port shipper that owns 6 big names, besides Graham’s, — Dow’s, Warre’s, Quinta do Vesuvio, Smith Woodhouse, Gould Campbell and Quarles Harris. More importantly, the company built its reputation through production of high quality Ports in expensive categories. Interestingly, every third bottle of premium Port sold in the world is made by the Symingtons.

Graham’s Lodge

Dominic opens a glass door, and we enter a large tasting hall that also functions as a bar and a shop. The interior and the ambiance impress at once. The place is more like a Californian winery where wine tourists are welcome and cared for. We pass on to the place where the main action unfolds.

A huge cellar for Port’s barrel aging is called a lodge, that is a temporary place for living or resting. The Russian translation — storeroom — is not so expressive. It loses the idea of a live process through which wines undergo during aging. The cellars were built in 1890 and remain to be the main place where Graham’s Ports mature until they develop a required character. The barrels are aplenty, over 3,500 in all. They are lying in several rows, making thick walls with enough space for work between them. By law, a Port shipper can sell only a third of his stocks any given year, so barrels with wine are a genuine long-term investment, a producer’s “gold reserve”.

The lodge is open for free visits. Moreover, in Graham’s visitors have more to do than just walk around a semi-dark cellar and look at barrels. There are well equipped points along the route where geography of vineyards, history and production process, as well as various Port styles are presented. Recently a special library with old bottles, some over 100 years, was built, and it can also be seen during the visit. The tour is guided by the Graham’s staff, and then a tasting is offered. After a visit to the Graham’s lodge, people can easily claim to be almost experts in Port production.

What wine to choose?

I am not a wine novice, but even I sometimes get confused with a vast choice offered by Port producers. Young and aged, ruby and tawny, from 10 to 40 years old, single quinta vintage and vintage — these are all examples of a product called Port. As Dominic Symington points out, the most important thing to remember is that there are only two styles. One is a bright, fruity ruby style, and the other is tawny with a softer, rounder character. Knowing them, it is easy to pick a bottle according to own taste preferences.

We settle at the bar, where bottles keep coming one after another. We start with “serious” wines at once — well aged Graham’s Tawny 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old. The age indicated on a label means the average number of years that Port spent in barrels. As Dominic notes, 10-year old tawnies have been especially popular lately. One can understand why when tasting Graham’s. The Port is very balanced, all flavours come across as woven in a whole fabric, rather than being separate threads. Meanwhile, tawny with a good age to it, such as 30 and 40-year-old, appeals to Cognac lovers. These wines are very persistent and have complex, nuanced flavours of nuts, vanilla, dried fruit, tobacco and others typical for well aged styles.

We move onto LBV — late bottled vintage. Wines are made with grapes harvested in one year and are released after 4-6 years of evolution in producer’s cellars. LBV Port comes on the market ready to drink, with a formed character — unlike vintage that continues to develop in bottles for decades. Here Dominic presents two slightly different styles. Traditionally LBV is aged in barrels, bottled and sold at once. Graham’s LBV 2003 is a good example — it spent 5 years in barrel and was bottled this year. There is another type of LBV when wine after barrel aging is additionally left to rest in bottles. These Ports require more work from a shipper, but they mean a better integrated wine. Warre’s 1999 (marked as Bottle Matured LBV on the label) is made this way. In general, late bottled vintage is a great introduction to the concept of vintage, especially for those who are not prepared to part with a solid sum of money, as vintage Port is priced.

After a short detour to Warre’s Otima Tawny 20 year old, a wine with a stylish modern packaging that is likely to achieve the same success as its predecessor Otima Tawny 10 year old, we make a step up, to Single Quinta Vintage Port. Quintas are individual winemaking estates. Their Ports are ambassadors of a strictly limited territory that belongs to an estate. There are three wines, three different personalities in front of me — Warre’s Quinta da Cavadinha 1997, Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos 1998, Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim 1996. All are attractive in their own way. Cavadinha has a seductive, almost perfumed floral bouquet; Malvedos — restrained power and masculine character; Bomfim — a particular flavour profile of dried fruit and chocolate. There is no point in saying which is better. All are different, and the ultimate choice depends on personal taste. As for me, I’ve long been enchanted with the style of Quinta da Cavadinha.

Thus we are gradually coming to the apogee, the tasting of Vintage Port Graham’s 1994 and 2000. Vintage Graham’s is always among the leaders. He shares the pedestal of fame with a very limited number of other, most prestigious Ports. One needs to walk a long path of learning from simple to the complex in order to understand Vintage Ports, but the award is well worth it. Vintage Ports, like finest masterpieces of art, offer the highest degree of pleasure — in this case, for the palate as well as for the mind. Evaluation of Vintage Ports relies not only on primary emotions, but also on a certain baggage of experience and knowledge. Here’s, for example, Graham’s Vintage Port 1994. In a usual system of values a 14-year old wine is considered mature. For a Vintage Port it is still a period of youth, of initial character building. The flavours are still dominated by primary fruit, typical for young wines, and one can also detect secondary nuances of smoke that appears with aging. When this Port is being tasted, one notes its complexity, as well as impeccable tannic structure and overall balance which guarantee a long life. Yes, you can drink it now, no one will stop you from doing that. But it’s like enjoying a masterpiece without final touches — its plot and beauty are understood, but not brought to perfection. Vintage Port needs at least 25-30 years to develop a bouquet in all beauty.

What to do while waiting? To drink reserve ruby, aged tawny, late bottled vintage and single quinta vintage Port. These wines are good because they always provide a new side of Port and build up to the experience of Vintage Port, one of the greatest wine creations. You can choose Port companions in accordance with own preferences, as long as the quality is high. You don’t need to worry about it if Port is made by the Symingtons. Year in, year out their family company receives more prestigious awards than any other winery in the world.

Yes, and there is something else. If you are in Oporto, come to the Graham’s lodge for one more reason. Ask the staff if they can take you upstairs, where you can get a fantastic panorama of the Douro, with equally good views of Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia. There is no better viewing point in the entire city.