Description

2000 was a stunning year for Vintage Port. Ripe, powerful but with some finesse. The familiarity of dark fruits, chocolate, raspberry and florals makes this instantly appealing. The long finish and evolution in the glass keeps you hooked. It’s great because it is drinking now rather than needing a full 25-50 years to come around. Pair it with blue cheese.

Warres Vintage Port 2000, and all wines are eligible for at least 5% off any six bottles. And 10% off any 12 bottles. Some wines will be at a more significant discount and not subject to further discounts.

Owned by the famous Port barrons the Symington family, Warres is one of the classic old Port houses.  Warre’s makes the quintessential black fruit, firm tannin, clean alcohol style of Port. With access to many great Port growing sites and the ability to shuffle substandard grapes into other revenue streams there is no reason for these wines are always rewarding and tasty.

Warres Vintage Port 2000 Winer Review

Charles Metcalfe
Wine International
February 2004
96 Points
“Black purple in colour, the nose has floral as well as savoury tones. The palate is amazingly seductive for Warre’s. Tannins are high and ripe, and the cistus gumscented fruit is sweet and fragrant.”

Port

Port is a style of wine but also the name of the region that sits on the terraced hills  that over look the River Douro. They are most famous for the barrel aged red grape based fortified wines that can be aged for 50 years depending on style. The grapes used are the native Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão and Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo). White Port is also seen around but not lauded like the Red styles and don’t age. The Douro is capable of making some stylish and modern reds and whites too.

Vintage Port

Only about 2% of the total production as the big houses only release a VP in ‘declared’ (ie great) years. This means the fruit quality is outstanding. Some of the houses do release a ‘Single Quinta’ VP every year to celebrate the diversity off vintage. Unlike Tawny Port, VP is generally aged for only 2 – 2.5 years in the cellar before bottling for sale, the bulk of the evolution takes place in the bottle. VP ages and evolves a lot like great Bordeaux, slowly and rewarding patience and great cellaring conditions.

Port Varieties

Touriga Nacional is the most desirable for quality Port but proves difficult to grow and offers small yields. That means Touriga Franca is the greatest plantings and can be seen as the Cabernet Franc compared to Nacionals Cabernet Sauvignon. Tinta Barroca can withstand the cool conditions on the North facing slopes, Tinta Cão offers finesse and complexity and Tinta Roriz aka Tempranillo offers its own perfume and charm.

Portugal

Talking of Portuguese wine, most people would just think of Port. And for good reason, it is a style that took over the world. But to only think of Port is to miss out on the fantastic table wines that come out of the Douro Valley (where Port is made). The Douro is capable of producing world-class, complex reds and whites that are not fortified too.

Moving from the Douro, you will find charming whites and reds of Vinho Verde to the North. Vinho Verde borders Spain and only the Minho (Mino) River separetes VV and Rias Baixas. The grapes grown are almost identical, although spelt and pronounced differently.

Two other wine regions worth noting are the reds of Dao. We don’t see many here in Australia, but they are something special for sure. And, of course, the island of Madeira and their slightly cooked fortified wines. These are real treasures and often forgotten.

The Atlantic Ocean influences most of Portugal’s growing regions. This helps keep the climate from getting too hot and from the air being too still.

Portugal has many indigenous grapes as well as sharing many of the grapes from Spain.

Wine

Wine is the result you get from fermented grape juice. There is proof of wine production dating back 8000 years ago. Fashions, innovations and many other factors have influenced the way wine has evolved over the years.

The wine grape is impressive. It contains everything you need to make grape wine except for the yeast, which lives on the outside of the skins.

Human inputs can influence the final product, including the viticulture (growing) choices. And the winemaker can shape the wine to a point too.

The best wines of the world often refer to terroir. Terroir is a French term that refers to all the climatic, geological and topographical influences on a specific piece of land. And it is true that neighbouring vineyards, grown identically, can taste noticeably different.

Fortified Wine

Fortified wine is grape juice (ferment fully, partially, or note at all) that has had a spirit added to it. The spirit can be a high strength neutral spirit. Or it can be almost Cognac-like. The fortification process is a highly effective way to preserve wine. And it was a process the English adopted to get all of these lovely international wines back to England.

Often fortified wines are aged for an incredible amount of time in the barrel, making them complex, and charming. There is a fortified wine for every occasion, and I have hosted dinners in which we served only fortified wine.

Fortified wine can be dry or sweet or anywhere in between. They can use red grapes or white grapes. And often end up brown due to the aging process. The alcoholic strength can run from 15%, like a strong table wine, all the way to over 20%. Best to read the label before going back for the second glass.

The most famous fortified wine is Port. Almost as well known is Sherry, Madeira, Muscat and Topaque (formerly Tokay) from Australia. There are countless other unique and quirky styles.

The Wine Depository

I, Phil, have been running The Wine Depository since 2011. The Wine Depository exists to make sure you are drinking the good wines. You can browse and pick what is interesting to you. Or you can make contact with me. I’ll make sure you get what you want, to your palate, to your budget and to your door.