THE POETRY OF PORT

The tasting highlight in our Hong Kong workplace was taken by three extraordinarily uncommon Port bottlings from Van Zellers & Co, whose historical past dates again to 1620. The trio of XIX assortment tawny Ports – Crafted by Liberty, Crafted by Household and Crafted by Poetry – are from 1843, 1870, and 1888, respectively, in keeping with Fernando Van Zellers. The wines, blended by the 14^th-generation winemaker Cristiano Van Zeller, have been found growing older of their historic Douro cellars and have been meticulously preserved.

The colours of those historic Ports revealed how distinctive they’re, with the Liberty the lightest of the three with decrease sugar content material, and Household and Poetry each opaque and of a black mahogany tint, with excellent focus.

Essentially the most charming of them, nevertheless, is the Poetry bottling, whose classic – 1888 – is the beginning 12 months of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. Senior Editor Zekun Shuai discovered the sweetness and alcohol completely tucked up amid the ultra-complex flavors on a glossy but nearly painfully concentrated palate. But, the very elixir will blow your socks off with a brightness and vibrancy that retains it so vivid and vigorous earlier than an infinite end. The identical sort of brightness and agility could be discovered within the Liberty, which is equally nice however with a bit much less focus and extra nuance, finesse and dissolved layers.