Late Bottled Vintage

According to the IVDP, Late Bottled Vintage is a ruby port from a single harvest year, chosen for its high quality and bottled after four to six years of maturation in wood. The IVDP counts LBV among the ruby family, in which the deep red colour of young port is preserved as much as possible. Within that family, LBV ranks in quality between Reserve and Vintage.

The regulation for the special categories sets out the timetable. Between 1 March and 30 September of the fourth year after the harvest, the producer submits samples to the IVDP. Only after approval and registration may the wine be called LBV and sold. The final bottling may take place no later than 31 December of the sixth year after the harvest.

The label of an LBV shows the harvest year, because the wine comes from a single harvest. Taylor’s, for example, released a Late Bottled Vintage 1965. The IVDP regulation states that mentions of the harvest year and of the bottling year may only be used under the conditions of the regulation or of the law. Other terms that are not listed there are not permitted.

Some producers also state when the wine was bottled. Quinta do Noval, for example, mentions on the product sheet of its LBV Unfiltered 2014 that the wine was bottled in April 2020. An LBV that matures in the bottle for at least three more years after bottling may, according to the regulations, carry the designation ‘Bottle matured’ or ‘Envelhecido em garrafa’. The producer must report this to the IVDP at bottling.

The difference is whether the natural sediment was removed from the wine before bottling. Graham’s writes of its LBV 2017 that the wine was filtered of its natural deposit before bottling, unlike vintage port, and that decanting is therefore not necessary. According to Taylor’s, LBV does not need to be decanted, because the sediment has already settled in the cask.

Unfiltered LBV exists too. Quinta do Noval releases an LBV with ‘Unfiltered’ on the label. Wine writer Jancis Robinson described in 2014 that Niepoort’s LBV is bottled unfiltered four to six years after the harvest, and that this style was once called ‘traditional’. An unfiltered bottle may form a deposit, so look closely at the label.

The main difference is the time in wood. According to the IVDP, vintage port is bottled two to three years after the harvest and then matures in the bottle for ten to fifty years before it is drunk. LBV spends longer in wood, four to six years, and is therefore usually ready to drink when you buy it. This site has a separate page on vintage port.

Colheita, like LBV and vintage port, comes from a single harvest year, but belongs to the tawny family. According to the IVDP, this port ages for at least seven years in cask. LBV is therefore a ruby, colheita a tawny.

The category itself is relatively young. According to Taylor’s, the first Late Bottled Vintage was released in 1970 by Alistair Robertson, with the LBV of the 1965 vintage.

The Late Bottled Vintage in the shop all comes from Portugal and from five port houses: F. Martins, Ferreira, Kopke, Niepoort and Ramos Pinto. From Kopke there is the L.B.V. 2018, from harvest year 2018. From Niepoort and Ramos Pinto there is the Late Bottled Vintage, from Ferreira and F. Martins the LBV.

This way you can compare houses side by side, each making its own choices in maturing and bottling. Not sure whether a bottle is filtered, or looking for an LBV for a particular dish or moment? Call the shop or drop by at Brink 2 in Bathmen.

The shop is at Brink 2 in Bathmen. Open Tuesday to Friday from 09.00 to 18.00 and Saturday from 09.00 to 17.00. For advice, call 0570 541 278 or email info@bockje.nl.