What is White Port?

[Michael Hann]

I know what white port IS -- port made with white wine grapes, port that is not red or rose. Does white port admit of excellence? Or is it that in the best case white port is a pleasant drinking regional wine not worthy writing home to mom about and in the worst case white port is no more than a simple, sweet, cheap wine suitable for drinking out of a brown paper bag in a dark, dank, greasy alley three blocks away from the docks? Why do we have white port? Did the growers historically plant some white wine varieties so they could have some regional white wine available for drinking with fish and fowl? White wine grapes are not used in making ruby, LBV, VP, or tawny ports, are they?

[Glenn E.]

White Port can be fabulous - the infamous 1952 Dalva Golden White Colheita, for example - but mostly think of it as a different style.

Aged white Ports are somewhat similar to very old tawnies and Colheitas.

[Ricky Lee]

I actually enjoy white port, though I am just at the learning stages.

My favorite is the a Lagrima white port. I tried white port for the first time at a port tasting. The person leading the tasting was Portuguese and a distributor of Krohn products. He said that their Lagrima is a muscoto wine based port that is aged for 7 years in oak. I don't know if the 7 year aging is just for Korhn or for all Lagrima. We tried it straight out of the bottle, chilled, with one ice cube and with club soda + ice. The Portuguese guy claimed that white port is extremely popular in Portugal. I really like white port. Lagrima is nicely priced at about $12-16 per bottle.

I bought a bottle of the Porto Pocas Lagrima. I have not opened it yet. I am holding it and a few other bottles of port for a port party I want to have. Just don't seem to have the time to pull that together.

Recently I bought a bottle of the 1964 Krohn White Colheita. It is a white port and cost me about $80. Though it was good, I cannot say that it was much better than the Lagrima. However, I have not done a side by side comparison yet. Maybe this weekend!

Although I do like white port I still prefer a good LBV. If you like tawny port, then you should enjoy a white port.

[Glenn E.]

Recently I bought a bottle of the 1964 Krohn White Colheita. It is a white port and cost me about $80. Though it was good, I cannot say that it was much better than the Lagrima. However, I have not done a side by side comparison yet. Maybe this weekend!

That's a pretty good price for that Port - 1964 is my birth year, so I've done quite a bit of searching on the subject.

The '64 Krohn White isn't quite up to the quality level of the '52 Dalva, but it's very good. I think it's worth $80, but of course your mileage may vary. I also think the '64 is significantly better than the Lagrima, but they are similar so I can see how it might be hard to tell them apart if not tasted head-to-head.

[Moses Botbol]

The only other white port besides the '52 Dalva I have had more than a sample of is Dow's white port- and that was like 12 years ago... Many flock to Ramos Pinto for white port and it's not expensive.

[Mahmoud Ali]

I had no idea that there were any vintage white ports out there. Since only a '52 Dalva and '62 Krohn were mentioned does that mean that vintage white ports are no longer made?

My belief has always been that white ports are somewhat simple, sweetish drinks better suited to ice and mixers. They haven't held my interest.

With one exception: Churchills White Port. This white port is aged in oak barrels for 10 years and develops a degree of complexity not found in other white ports. Complex, and copery in colour, this is an absolute delight. Perhaps the best white port available today. When I first saw a bottle of this I was initially suspicious because of the dark colour and the sediment in the bottle. However, after trying a bottle I was reassured and went back to the store and picked up the rest of the case.

If you see a bottle I recommend giving it a go. I would chill it slightly and serve it much as you would an off dry sherry.

Cheers......................Mahmoud.

[Glenn E.]

I had no idea that there were any vintage white ports out there. Since only a '52 Dalva and '62 Krohn were mentioned does that mean that vintage white ports are no longer made?

I think they're still being made, but my impression is that they typically need more time to mature so the next wave to be released will probably be from the 60s or 70s. Dalva's next Golden White Colheita is a 1963, as I recall. They're also considerably more rare than even Colheita - not that many producers have ever made them.

My belief has always been that white ports are somewhat simple, sweetish drinks better suited to ice and mixers. They haven't held my interest.

With one exception: Churchills White Port. This white port is aged in oak barrels for 10 years and develops a degree of complexity not found in other white ports.

If a 10-yr old White Port is the oldest white that you've had, then that probably has a lot to do with why they usually seem simple to you.

At the base level, which is what a Lagrima is, you're right. White Ports are pretty simple. But then again, so are base-level rubies and tawnies. I don't drink any of them. (We usually can't even get basic rubies in the US - the lowest level we can normally find here are Ruby Reserves.)

But at 10 years old (or older), White Ports start to pick up complexity and depth just like a Vintage Port, LBV, or Colheita.

[Derek T.]

I have had both the 64 Krohn and 52 Dalva that Glenn mentions above and both are stunning wines, although the Davla is distinctly brown in colour so is difficult to think of as a white port.

It is also now permissable to produce white ports with an indication of age, in the same way as Tawny ports. So far I think the only one to be released is the Neipoort 10 Year Od White, which is a great bottle of port ad something I would recommend to anyone who can lay their hands on one.

For me, I think it would be far better for the trade to put time and effort into making good quality premium white ports than investing in anything pink.

[Andy Velebil]

I had no idea that there were any vintage white ports out there.

Please keep in mind these are NOT Vintage Ports. They are White Colheita's. It's easy to confuse the two with interchanging a few simple words. These White Colheita's are not bottle aged, like a Vintage Port is. They are aged in neutral casks of approximately 550 liters.

The 1964 Krohn is an excellent bottle and far better, and very different, than any Lagrima out there. Lagrima's are the sweetest of the inexpensive white Ports. Although there is at least one red Lagrima I know of, as Ramos Pinto doesn't want to call it a Rose.

[Al B.]

In the 10 years since this thread was started, we have seen a real explosion of white Port offerings. I've seen NV white in sweet, medium and dry styles - and agree that Churchill's is some of the best and I love the Graham No. 5 blend. There are also some very old white Ports which are released as NV white Ports but which are truly very old blends or single harvest wines.

I've seen 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old white Ports from Andresen, Dalva, Quinta de Santa Eufemia, Ferreira, Alves de Sousa, Kopke, Quinta das Lamelas, Niepoort, Barão de Vilar under the Palmer brand, Quevedo, São Leonardo / Quinta do Mourão and Vieira de Sousa.

There are white Colheitas from 2008, 2007, 2003, 1989, 1971, 1964, 1963, 1952, 1940, 1935, 1927, 1890, 1884 and probably loads more years I've not yet seen or tasted.

And there's the famous NV White Port from Casa de Santa Eufemia which is reputed to be exclusively from the 1973 vintage and is one of the few Ports that people born that year can quietly acquire to celebrate their birthdays with.

But I know of only one vintage white Port, a white port made from the 1947 harvest and bottled in 1949.

Is white Port the style of Port where we will see the growth coming in the next 10 years?

[John M.]

I have in my cellar the following:

Quinta do Portal 10 year
Andersen 10 year
Dalva 2007 Colheita
Barros Old White... no date but a blend some of which is directly from the 1930s.

The first 3 were all purchased in the past 6 months in B&M stores in New Jersey. I really enjoy these for casual drinking and buy anything at the 10 year level or better. They are always well received and seem to show well in pop and pour situations, too. Pricing so far has been reasonable.

The simple whites I just pass on... not my taste..YMMV. I do note that in regular tawnies my base line is 20 year old.... for whites it is 10 ... although except the the C.S.Eufemias have not have much aged further.

[Roy Hersh]

Lots of great answers here. While we have Adrian Bridge here, if you'd like to ask him a question about White Port, get deeper info or ask about any other topic, you can find the CEO of The Fladgate Partnership, (Taylor, Fonseca, Croft, Krohn, Skeffington) answering the most basic questions by beginners to detailed and nuanced questions by people who work on this forum and website. He is just as happy to answer a very simple question, as he is one of the more difficult ones. Maybe even happier!

In all seriousness, I just want to insure you that you need not be nervous to ask him a question. When else will you get an answer from one of the key players in the entire world of Port?

[Andy Velebil]

"What is white Port?" It is a fortified wine made from grapes grown in the Douro Valley...