PORT
which mature in the Cask. They are always sold under
the year of their origin, usually in plain bottles,
unadorned by any labels. The only indication of the
shippers' name is on the cork and on the seahng wax
which seals the cork. Sometimes one may get the
name sand-blasted on the bottle. A whitewash mark
is usually placed on the punt end of the bottle to
indicate that when the bottle is moved it should be
replaced in position with the whitewjish mark upper
most. This prevents the formation of a second
"crust"on the side of the bottle. This crust is a
perfectly natural process undergone by the wine, and
does it no harm. With other wines this"Sediment"
is removed by racking, which cannot be done with
Vintage Port.
Late Vintage Port.—A similar wine, except that it is
bottled in its third year.
Crusted Ports.—Either younger blended wines of a
number of years, or wine made in other than vintage
years, but bottled in the same way as vintage ports.
Ruby, Medium and Tawny Ports.—It has been described
previously how the wine loses colour with maturity,
this used to be the method of denoting the difference
in these wines, but the more modern method is to
blend rubies with white port, thus accounting for the
colour and saving the long storage expense.
White Ports.—These are made from White Grapes but
the wine is not white in colour. There is no difference
in the manufacture of white and red ports.
181