Dear Little Bastardo,
In Volume V of the Bastardo Society Port Club, we’re going to explore the art of doing nothing.
One of the hardest lessons in winemaking is knowing when to step aside and let nature do its thing. Many winemakers are compelled to intervene. It’s how they justify their existence. That intervention may yield clean, stable wines, but it often strips wine of its real character. Winemaking, like parenting, is a balance between guidance and restraint. You want to help, but sometimes the best help is letting them fall, learn, and grow on their own.
So, what does that have to do with your port club? Quite a bit, actually. One of the questions I’m often asked is: what exactly is a Tawny Port? Let’s start at the beginning.
Fortified Wines
Ports and Madeiras are fortified wines. That means grape spirits are added during fermentation, raising the alcohol, halting fermentation, and leaving behind natural sweetness. From there, there are two basic styles of port, wood-aged or bottle-aged.
Wood-Aged Ports
These mature in barrels exposed to oxygen, concentrating the wine and building rich, nutty, caramelized flavors with a smooth, tawny color and silky texture. You’ll often see them labeled as 10-, 20-, or even 30-year-old Tawny Ports.
Bottle-Aged Ports
Bottle-aged Ports mature in the absence of oxygen, preserving their deep color and fresh fruit character while developing softer tannins and layered complexity over time. These typically age two to four years in barrel before bottling. Ruby Ports, Vintage Ports, and Late Bottled Vintage Ports fall into this category.
Madeira: Our Inspiration
At St. Amant, we take aging a step further, drawing inspiration from Madeira– a Portuguese island chain off Africa’s northwest coast where fortified wines have been crafted for centuries and once graced the tables of America’s founding fathers. After fortification, Madeira is heated and aged in wood barrels, resulting in some of the longest-lived wines on earth, with complex aromas and incredible flavors.
Both Bastardo (Trousseau) and Verdelho are traditional Madeira grapes. Bastardo, however, was rarely replanted after phylloxera devastated the islands in the late 1800’s. Its thin skins and rot sensitivity made it a real “bastard” in the humid climate.
“Madeira” is also a protected designation, so we can’t use that name. But since we’ve been producing fortified wines since 1981, we’re grandfathered in to use “Port.” Ironically, when my dad first submitted a label for our Vintage Port, he called it “fortified wine.” The federal government rejected it, claiming the term implied higher alcohol. Duh! Many of our labeling laws still carry the fingerprints of Prohibition-era logic.
The Art of Doing Nothing
After harvest, our Port wines are fortified, racked, blended, and returned to barrel. And then nothing! That’s where the real magic happens. Some barrels might spend a summer “baking” in one of our sheds, but beyond that, there’s no topping, no racking, and no sulfur added. They sit quietly, undisturbed, in dark corners of our cellar, slowly aging, oxidizing, and evolving into something truly remarkable.
This release showcases three barrels of Bastardo Port, aged 6, 12, and 18 years, to demonstrate how time and oxygen transform a wine.
2019 BASTARDO PORT – 6 YEARS
The youngest of the three, harvested August 18, 2019, at 22.8° brix. The lightest in alcohol (18.5%) and sweetness, it shows leafy aromas of dried fruit and tobacco with a reddish hue and subtle hints of our dry Trousseau. Fresh, vibrant, and youthful. – Produced 351 bottles (500 mL)
2013 BASTARDO PORT – 12 YEARS
After twelve years in barrel, this wine has shed its fresh fruit and crossed into Tawny/Madeira territory—darker, richer, and more aromatic. Higher residual sugar lends viscosity, balanced by bright acidity and 20.0% alcohol. Deeply expressive, with several more barrels still aging for future release.
Bottled 253 bottles (500mL)
2007 BASTARDO PORT – 18 YEARS
After eighteen years in barrel, roughly 35% of the volume has evaporated. The expanded headspace drives profound oxidation, yielding a wine that’s the most Madeira-like of the three. Deep brown, powerfully aromatic, and luxuriously nutty with caramelized notes and a finish that lingers for minutes. Bottled 320 bottles (500mL)
I hope you enjoy the wines and thank you for supporting our efforts to make one-of-a-kind wines.
Enjoy,
Stuart Spencer
The Grand Bastardo
