Vintage Port & Sherry
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Vintage Port and Sherry are fortified wines produced in two of Iberia's most storied regions - Port from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal, Sherry from the Jerez triangle in southern Spain - where grape spirit is added during or after fermentation to arrest sugar and raise alcohol. Tawny Ports, the dominant style here, undergo extended oxidative aging in small oak casks, with age statements marking meaningful stylistic distance: Graham's 10 Year delivers fresh dried fruit and toffee, while Taylor Fladgate's 40 Year Old and Rozes Over 40 Years Old reach extraordinary complexity of walnut, orange peel, and rancio. Cockburn's 2017 Vintage Port represents the opposite path, bottle-aging rather than cask-aging to preserve dark fruit intensity. Sherry ranges from Valdespino's intensely concentrated Pedro Ximenez to the lighter, cream-blended style of Harvey's Bristol Cream.
Description
Vintage Port and Sherry are fortified wines produced in two of Iberia's most storied regions - Port from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal, Sherry from the Jerez triangle in southern Spain - where grape spirit is added during or after fermentation to arrest sugar and raise alcohol. Tawny Ports, the dominant style here, undergo extended oxidative aging in small oak casks, with age statements marking meaningful stylistic distance: Graham's 10 Year delivers fresh dried fruit and toffee, while Taylor Fladgate's 40 Year Old and Rozes Over 40 Years Old reach extraordinary complexity of walnut, orange peel, and rancio. Cockburn's 2017 Vintage Port represents the opposite path, bottle-aging rather than cask-aging to preserve dark fruit intensity. Sherry ranges from Valdespino's intensely concentrated Pedro Ximenez to the lighter, cream-blended style of Harvey's Bristol Cream.
