This vintage Port has a good depth of flavour and substantial structure. It can be enjoyed for the next 10 years and it is recommended that it is decanted before serving. Our Vintage Port has big flavours and a rich body which best suits blue cheeses, very mature hard cheeses and other strong styles.
In the Port world ‘Vintage Port’ is a technical term rather than just a name. Vintage ports are only produced in years considered good enough. The climate for that year is looked at and the quality of the fruit considered before a vintage is ‘declared’. If the year is not seen as good enough then the wine must be used for other - less prestigious - styles of port.
Only available to customers aged 18 and over.
Ports are fortified wines from a specific region in Portugal. It is called fortified wine because some spirit alcohol (brandy) is added to the fermenting wine before all the sugar has turned to alcohol. This kills the yeast and stops fermentation so that the wine keeps some of its sugar and stays a bit sweet.
Vintage port is the most rich, full-bodied style of port and is the classic style for which port has gained its reputation. The idea is that you mature the wine for a short time in wooden casks and then bottle the wine young, without filtering it to remove all the bits of grape and yeast sediment. This means that it continues to develop and mature in the bottle (on the bottle you should see a vintage year for when the grapes were picked and also the year it was bottled).
The reason Vintage port comes in very thick glass bottles made with dark glass is to protect the wine from light while it is maturing in the bottle. Because a vintage port is bottled with much of the ‘sediment’ (bits of grape and yeast) in the bottle, customers will need to ‘decant’ (let the sediment settle to the bottom of the bottle, then carefully pour it into a decanter or another bottle to serve) or ‘filter’ it (through a filter paper or fine sieve) before serving.
Below are a few tips to help you enjoy this superb Paxton & Whitfield Vintage Port.
Vintage Port improves in bottle for much longer than most other wines, slowly developing its sublime complex flavours with the passage of time. As it ages it must be protected from the air, so a long cork is used which fits very tightly into the neck of the bottle. The cork must be kept moist by storing the bottle on its side.
After some years the cork may become slightly crumbly and a little care is required when removing it from the bottle. Use the longest corkscrew that you have and thread it as far as possible into the cork before beginning to extract it. Ease the cork out very slowly and gently, a millimetre or two at a time, pausing if necessary between pulls. Use gradual force and avoid a tugging action. Try to pull the cork out vertically. A slight sideways pull may encourage the cork to break. If the cork breaks or defeats your attempts to remove it, you can push it into the bottle. This means that you may have to strain the wine to remove any cork particles, but will not affect the Port. The wine has, after all, been in contact with the cork for many years. The care and patience required to draw a tight-fitting Vintage Port cork will be repaid by the knowledge that it has done its job of keeping the wine in perfect condition.
As Vintage Port ages, a natural sediment will form in the bottle. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘crust’ and occurs only in the finest full-bodied wines. It is advisable to decant a Vintage Port to separate it from the sediment. Decanting is a simple process consisting of pouring the wine very slowly into a decanter or jug, leaving the sediment behind in the bottle. The secret is to pour steadily and gently, avoiding sudden movements, slowing as the bottle empties and stopping when the first particles of sediment are spotted. Decanting has the additional benefit of allowing the wine’s wonderful complex aromas to open up.