KEY POINTS:
It's been in the wilderness for a few years. About a decade or so ago, every Christmas, I received a bottle from my friendly bank manager. Then one year I got a card but no bottle, with a handwritten note saying the bank was not sending gifts to clients that year, but a donation had been made on my behalf to some worthy Third World project in Oomgumbalawaylo.
Nice touch. No bottle of port for me but relief for a village which now had a well and access to fresh water. As my bank manager would later explain, research showed clients appreciated the gift of port, but hardly anyone drank the stuff. There appears to be no rational reason why port has made a sudden comeback.
I put it down to the cyclical nature of fashion, and the fact that port has subtlely re-positioned itself with a nod to sophistication but in an endearing, unpretentious manner. It's gone for the point of difference, no longer hiding behind what some would see as the handicap of being a fortified as opposed to table wine. Port has stood up, acknowledged and embraced the fact it's not like other wines and re-invented itself.
Done properly, it's a wonderful, staggeringly serious taste sensation. It goes well with food types that give most table wines the jitters, namely a wide variety of cheeses and overtly sweet desserts. Port comes into its own during winter with its warm, smooth, rich, elegant, fruity flavour.
It has a luscious texture and exudes flavours of blackcurrant, plum, licorice and hints of earth and oak. One of the best (from Portugal naturally), is Taylors. Founded in 1692, Taylors is still a family operation with its grapes grown in the hallowed Douro Valley.
Recently a friend opened a bottle of Taylors Port from the year of his birth - 1926. It was like a liquid Christmas cake; rich, full, divine.
Port should be served in a red wine glass so the nose and flavour can be enjoyed most when the wine breathes. And port should always be passed to the left. A little pretentious tradition never hurt anyone.
Recommended
Taylors Fine Tawny Port
As you would expect, smooth and versatile with a pronounced fruity character and the slightest hint of wood.
Price: $35
2005 Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot "Trinders"
A Margaret River, Western Australian beauty. Perfect winter wine with red meat. Big and savoury.
Price: $33