Immediate Pleasure In Late-Bottled Port

Although I have a vested interest in noting this, wine writing may as well be written in disappearing ink. The wine scribblers of yesteryear are abandoned like so many empty bottles set out for the recycling bin.

Mind you, this is not because some wine writers can't swing a deft word. One of America's finest wine writers — who's still happily alive but has long since retired from the field — is Bob Thompson. A man who once wrote, "In certain fussy-eater circles, drinking Gewürztraminer is almost as low as eating coconut," Mr. Thompson has an ear as well as a palate. His writing is plumped with pithily poetic, self-deprecating observations. ("Will a normal human being like the same wine a nut likes? I cling to the hope.")

In the same way that, regrettably, you don't see Mr. Thompson cited — indeed, celebrated — anywhere near as much as he merits, the situation gets even worse with wine writers who have long since passed on in every sense.

My favorite among this sizable group is the British wine writer P. Morton Shand (1888–1960). A graduate of Eton and King's College, Cambridge, Shand was erudite, fiercely intelligent, and fearless in a starchily traditional upper-class milieu.

Wine was not even Shand's primary pursuit, never mind that he authored three substantial books on the subject in the 1920s. Instead, he specialized in writing about architecture.

Anyway, I thought about Shand while musing on the two lovely late-bottled vintage ports recommended below. Although Shand was an upper-class Brit to his polished Lobb boots, he nevertheless loathed port.

Describing port as a national institution in England, he observed that "a properly matured Port is rightly considered unequalled as the test of the pretensions of a county family to proper pride, patient manly endurance, Christian self-denial, and true British tenacity."

"The grim struggle," he said, "is fought to a sporting finish in a couple of generations or so, though the gamest and biggest wines … see out father, son, and grandson..."

Here's the (It's Ready Now) Deal

Taylor Fladgate Late Bottled Vintage Port 2000 — Late-bottled vintage port is from a single year's harvest and is aged in casks for four to six years to make the wine supple and drinkable immediately upon release. The idea is to replicate the qualities of true vintage port without the requisite "grim struggle" of waiting a generation or two for full maturity. To venerators of vintage port, the late-bottled version is like comparing Jeff Koons to Antonio Canova.

You can take up this matter with the folks of Taylor Fladgate, who consistently produce one of the greatest vintage ports. Yet they also invented "late-bottled vintage port" and christened it as such — it's now mercifully abbreviated by everybody as LBV — first offering it in 1970.

Late-bottled vintage port is based on the modern marketing notion that you really can have your cake and eat it too. Is this possible with traditional vintage port, which, in today's world of instant text messaging, is about as modern as a mastodon? After all, the real thing takes a good 20 years to come around.

Even in 1970, we had no such patience. Nevertheless, there's still a market for vintage port. The human spirit is invincible and modern collectors continue to dig in for the long cellaring haul.

In the meantime, the rest of us would like something based on a vaguely human time frame. The test of a late-bottled vintage port is simple: Does it taste like the real "test of tenacity" thing? Many LBVs do not. They're closer to ruby ports, which are sweet, simple, grapey wines that are nothing like a layered, dimensional vintage port. Taylor Fladgate Late Bottled Vintage Port 2000 does taste like vintage port. It's not equal to Taylor Fladgate's monumental 2000 Vintage Port. But the late-bottled version resembles the 2000 Vintage more so than not in its depth, scale, spice, and only slightly sweet finish. Taylor Fladgate LBV 2000 is an unusually rich, dense version with the requisite layers, if not the same plumb-the-fathoms depth, of their benchmark vintage port.

This is an ideal conclusion both to a winter meal and a year's end. Serve it with walnuts, hazelnuts, and a blue cheese such as Gorgonzola. (I've never cared for the traditional British pairing with Stilton cheese, but that's a personal choice.) It is widely available: $19.99 at Garnet Wines; $22.99 at Martin Brothers Wines & Spirits; $23.95 at Sherry-Lehmann.

Quinta do Noval Late Bottled Vintage Port "Unfiltered" 2000 — The 2000 vintage was a standout in Portugal's Douro region, where port is produced. One of the most successful 2000 LBVs that I've tasted comes from Quinta do Noval.

While Taylor Fladgate ports are famous for their monumentality, Quinta do Noval is notable for delivering an unusual degree of finesse — a word not often used in connection with port.

Yet, finesse is precisely what sets apart Quinta do Noval Late Bottled Vintage Port "Unfiltered" 2000. This is a really lovely LBV, a tenor to Taylor Fladgate's basso. It certainly resembles a real vintage port, as well as delivering an unusual delicacy, wafting spiciness and lovely, refreshing acidity. $19.99 at Garnet Wines.