For The Love Of Port

I recently picked up a 2016 Magalhaes VP and it had a cardboard collar on it trumpeting that RobertParker.com (Mark Squires) had awarded it 95 points. That's all well and good, but what got my attention was Squire's quote. It was something along the lines that this might be the best unoaked Port that he's ever had. That really surprised me. I thought all Vintage Port and in my mind really all Port from Portugal spent some amount of time in a barrel. What's the story on unoaked Port? I assume the IVDP must allow it not being barreled? What's it stored in? Stainless steel or concrete? This is really surprising.

Doesn't he just mean "best non tawny port" he has had?

Most Port does in fact spend at least some time in barrels*, but the barrels are deliberately neutral. I suspect that referring to "unoaked Port" is just his dry wine bias showing through, because for most intents and purposes all ruby Port is effectively "unoaked".

Even tawny Port, which can spend decades in barrel, isn't "oaked" in the same way that that term means in the dry wine community. The "wood" notes that we find in tawny Port are a product of oxidation, not the wood itself, because the "oaky" notes that one might find in a Chardonnay have long ago leached out of the barrels used to make Port.

edit:
*barrels - I meant toneis and balseiros by this, not pipas. Some of the "barrels" used for this kind of aging/storage are 20,000 to 50,000 liters.

Most Ruby Port does not ever see the inside of a wood barrel. The inexpensive Ruby Ports are either in stainless steel or concrete, at least for the larger companies. For VP it's taking a stab in the dark due to lots of various factors. Perhaps they wanted it all in large old oak barrels (not the 550L ones, the really big ones), perhaps they wanted some component(s) of it that stayed really fresh in stainless or concrete or perhaps they stored it in 550l barrels (such as Niepoort's Bioma). No way to generalize with VP.

Magalhaes' website is really out of date, the last VP listed is 2004. But that says it's 2 years in temperature control. Doesn't say in what, but if it's temperature controlled that's probably going to be a stainless steel vat of some sort.

Thanks for that education guys. I always assumed that all Port spent some period of time in the barrel. I always learn something new here.

I am still slightly confused though. I just looked at his quote and he said "...This may well be my highest-rated 100% unoaked Port yet." So either this is the greatest Ruby he's ever had or else just about everything else he's tried among Ruby Ports has touched "oak" at some point along the way. The third possibility is that I don't know what the hell he's talking about, lol.

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 4:39 pm I am still slightly confused though. I just looked at his quote and he said "...This may well be my highest-rated 100% unoaked Port yet." So either this is the greatest Ruby he's ever had or else just about everything else he's tried among Ruby Ports has touched "oak" at some point along the way. The third possibility is that I don't know what the hell he's talking about, lol.

The fourth possibility is that he's had (and rated) other "unoaked" Ports before but the producers of those Ports didn't think it was significant and so didn't mention it. Port wine pipas (and toneis, and balseiros) are neutral oak, so the term "unoaked" really doesn't mean anything for Port. I assume it's much more meaningful in the dry wine world where they're using young, new oak deliberately to impart flavors into the wine. It's a pretty meaningless term for Port.

(Not to mention that the wood used for Port barrels is often not even oak.)

This is something most of the Port companies will never admit clearly, the amount of stainless steel aged Port in their VP blend. Since the 1990's there is a trend to age your VP in stainless to keep more freshness/purity/power. It is easier to make a young impressive VP from stainless as opposed to aging in big tonnels with minimal oxidation. That little oxygen makes a huge difference and it especially requires higher quality grapes and vinification to achieve quality and expression.

Just like in any wine region, the last 40 years have seen a change in style, some say it is climate change. Critics and economy of scales changed everything! you can probably store 2000 liters of Ports in barrels for the same space a 50 thousands liters tank takes. The style resulting is easier to drink when young and more impressive.

Unfortunately we'll only see in 50 years who was right, the old generation or the new one. But I know for sure some houses are going back to some traditionnal aspect of winemaking and farming but they will not say it openly.

I find the Squires' quote to be somewhere between meaningless and misleading. It is my understanding that he knows Portuguese wines and Port pretty well, and this is consistent with my limited reading of him; but "100% unoaked Port?"

Well, I'd say that Quinta do Vesuvio is unoaked--their toneis are made of chestnut as I recall