Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/65124
Declaring Warre's George Sandeman is the seventh generation of the House of Sandeman, which was founded in 1790 and was the first to vintage-date ports. Their Vau Vintage is meant to be drunk younger than most vintages, and George is a big fan of his Founder's Reserve vintage-style port. Founded in 1670, Warre's is truly unique. Not only is it the oldest British port shipper in Portugal, it was the first to build lodges for aging ports at Vila Nova de Gaia. Warre's is also one of the few port houses that maintains the traditional art of foot-treading grapes in stone lagars. But while preserving its 342-year heritage, Warre's is not mired in the past. In 1996, to offset a growing lack of manpower, they pioneered robotic treading machines. In addition, unlike other ports in the Symington Family Estates (handled by Premium Port Wines in San Francisco), Warre's is distributed by Vineyard Brands, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. This represents a relationship that began with the founding of Vineyard Brands in 1971 by Robert Haas, and James Symington (father of Rupert Symington, current joint CEO of this port dynasty). Of their four quintas on the Upper Douro, plus two others owned by the Symington family, Warre's state- of-the-art Quinta da Cavadinha includes a vineyard dedicated to viticultural research. The result is a portfolio of wines rich in color, texture and taste. "All of the major Symington Port Brands fall into the same general price, taste profile and demographic positioning, " says Jerry Neff, President of Vineyard Rupert Symington, fourth generation and joint CEO of the founding Symington Family Estates, with a bottle of vintage character Graham's Six Grapes. "It's a massive, overextracted fruit bomb," he says, "a ruby port on steroids!" which course," says Cameron Russell, Director of Wines for Gordon Ramsay at The London, West Hollywood. "That means I can have these ports open and not worry about them going bad, especially the vintage ports. In fact, on a busy night where I might do as many as 15 wine pairings I might even suggest a vintage port for a table of two, because we do so many wine pairings here. And on a high-end wine pairing, I can package in a port with a cheese plate or with certain desserts." As one of the most elegant, full-bodied and flavorful wines, vintage-style ports can easily serve as a before dinner cocktail, as well as an accompaniment to a full-flavored main such as short ribs or osso buco, in which case I've always felt it should be served in a red wine glass. After all, it is a big, heavy red. But typically port is Brands since 1990. "The difference among them is subtle stylistic characteristics and some of the individual offerings of non-vintage ports identified with each brand. Warre's is a traditional style. Of course, the iconic Warre's Warrior, as well as the more recent Otima 10 Year Old and Otima 20 Year Old tawnies, are highly regarded and widely known for quality and value." Indeed, the luxuriously rich Warre's Warrior was once the favorite of the Duke of Wellington and remains the brand's best-selling port. On the other hand, sleekly packaged Otima 10 and 20 Year Old tawnies are lighter in style than traditional tawnies. And Warre's Late Bottle Vintages are one of the few "traditional-style" LBVs that will continue to age in the bottle—uncorking the 2001 vintage unleashes volumes of tart cherries and spicy cedar. On the other hand, the current Warre's 2007 Vintage port, while thick with plums, is still young, but holds an enticing promise of what another ten to 15 years will bring. —R.C.H. thought of as a digestif, or is suggested to complement a dessert. "Our vanilla budino dessert," says Darius Allyn, MS, Sommelier at Scarpetta at the Montage, Beverly Hills, "has a caramelized, toffee undertone, which really associates itself with the tawny styles of port that we pour, such as Grahams 20 Year Old, as well as their 30 and 40 Year Old. Likewise, when it comes to our chocolate-based desserts, it's one of those classic things to easily sell one of the more vintage- based or ruby-style ports." While port—specifically with cigars, chocolate or cheeses—is traditional, sometimes it is the tradition of port itself that is intimidating to the uniniti- ated, getting in the way of port's wider acceptance and greater potential sales before and during dinner, in addition to after the meal. Demystifying Port: The Symington Approach "Port shippers in the past have may 2012 / the tasting panel / 127