White Crane Winery

There are so, so many ports to be found in Livermore. It seems like the land where people with sweet taste buds have come to relive their childhood of Orange crush, Yahoo! (the original over-caffeinated soft drink), root beer fizzies and cream soda floats. But fear not, although every winery with a port or dessert wine might hit a sweet spot with the general public, few have something that is truly worthy of mention, or purchase.

The White Crane 2004 Vintage Reserve Port is so nice, I though it deserved your attention. Now, put away your notions of a fat and sticky port, as well as those of a taut and tawny: this is something different. Its nose of blueberries and figs immediately tells you there is more going on here than your typical “oops, we got the grapes too ripe and we had to do something!!” excuse for port. You won’t find any overripe raisiny flavors here: instead, delightful dark black raspberry and cherry notes are so pleasant, and the bit of lithe acidity makes this a port worth seeking out. While a goodly amount of the ports from this region are flaccid in the middle, and require chocolate to even make them worth consuming, this stands proudly on its own. It has a delightful long finish of baked dark fig and date bars, plus the confidence to handle truffles, and still be remembered in the end.

While the 2003 took Best of Show at the Orange County Fair Competition in the ultra premium division, this 2004 has already won a Silver at the Indy International Competition, and will be entered in Orange County next year, so we’ll see how it fares.

(Alc: 19%, Retail: $40)

Reviewed February 9, 2007 by Laura Ness.