The other day I was sent an enticing box that contained a bottle of Cálem White & Dry Port together with some bottles of tonic, elderflower cordial and a pink grapefruit.
I have enjoyed White Port occasionally in the past, but I think that as a drink it really comes into its own on a hot day when mixed with tonic – it’s a fun drink that offers some of the excitement of a cocktail, while being really easy to prepare – as with Gin & Tonic, you don’t even have to be too fussy about the proportions. Certainly it was wonderful to have a lively and refreshing drink in the recent hot weather, so I have made it my Wine of the Week.
The Cálem cellars in the heart of Villa Nova de Gaia – photo courtesy of the winery.
Cálem White & Dry
Cálem Porto
Port
Douro
Portugal
I have always had a soft spot for Cálem Port, it was founded in 1859 by António Alves Cálem, who initially had a simple aim – to export Portuguese table wines to Brazil. However to avoid the ships coming back empty they would bring back wood, which eventually made them start a cooperage company in Villa Nova de Gaia, a suburb of Porto where many of the Port houses are situated. This in turn led them to mature Port wine in their barrels and then to sell Port, again to Brazil. Today, like Burmester, Kopke and Barros, they are most famous for their wonderful Colheita Ports – a sort of single vintage Tawny that is often aged for decades in barrels – I will be writing about this style in the Autumn. Again, like those other Port houses they are now also part of the Sogevinus group of wineries.
This is a very modern White Port, crisper, fresher and drier than some, but still don’t expect it to be properly dry – Port is fortified with the addition of grape spirit during the fermentation, so Port is by definition sweet, as the sugar that would have been converted into alcohol stays as sugar instead. I am told that this is made from the Malvasia Fina grape variety and the nose is richly floral and a little tropical too and it is that which follows through onto the palate. The fruit is rich and exotic with ripe pear, banana, unctuous peach, even some pineapple and a twist of ripe citrus. The acidity is not bad for a White Port, but still on the low side, so chilling it makes it feel fresher and livelier – as does the slice of grapefruit – while the long, rich, finish shows the sweetness and the high alcohol.
The official photograph of Cálem White & Dry with elderflower cordial and tonic, garnished with grapes here rather than pink grapefruit – the grapefruit works very well – photo courtesy of Cálem.
It’s actually a pretty nice drink on its own – chilled, but add 10cl of elderflower cordial to 50cl of the Cálem White & Dry Port, top up with tonic water and add a slice of pink grapefruit, then you have something wonderfully refreshing, deliciously different and great fun. The tonic cuts through the richness, the elderflower accentuates the freshness and the grapefruit adds that touch of the exotic and more zing – it works even better if you put the grapefruit in first and squeeze it a little.
I had meant to photograph the drink that I made, but I drank it so quickly that I forgot, so the official photograph above will have to do, it certainly makes you thirsty looking at it, doesn’t it? I enjoyed it very much – 87/100 points on its own and 92/100 points as a long drink.
Cálem White & Dry Port is available in the UK at £13 a bottle, from Amathus and Ministry of Drinks.
Quentin Sadler's Wine Page 