Well, we had a nice tasting of a wonderful 1980 Colheita Port and a 20 year Graham Tawny Port as well as a Premier Cru Sauternes. The net is that while sweet they are quite different in how they are made…
So we were wondering what all this means:
- Ports are made in the Duoro Valley of Portugal and were originally exported out of Porto hence the name.
- Tawny. Is a style of poet that is lighter than the darker ruby.
- Colheita means the Port comes from a single vintage of grapes.
- 20-year means it’s a blend of different years and 20 is the average age of grapes.
- A Port (unlike a Sauterne) is fermented and then it is fortified with a neutral spirit. It’s typically less sugary than a Sauterne
Sauterne
A Sauterne is a completely different beast. It’s a sweet wine as well and is made from Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc and muscadelle
- It comes a region in Bordeaux and it gets its sweetness from a “Nobel rot” where a fungus actually consumes the grape on the vine. It’s obviously a pretty fickle process
- The classification of Sauterne comes from 1855. There is only d’Yquem which is a premier cut superieur and then premier cru and deuxieme cru. d’Yquem is insanely expensive but we’ve tried a host of premier cru like Guiraud, Rieussec (owned by Lafite Rothschild. (which had a remarkable run of good vintages from 2009-2022)
