Port wine

Did You Know?

• Port is commonly served after meals as a dessert wine in English-speaking countries, often with cheese, nuts, or chocolate; white and tawny ports are often served as an apéritif.
• The term "vintage" in vintage port means producers restrict year-labelled bottlings to only the best years, a few per decade.
• The Port and Douro Wines Institute (IVDP) is an official body of Portugal's Ministry of Agriculture.

History

In 1678, a Liverpool wine merchant sent two representatives to Viana do Castelo to learn the wine trade. While vacationing in the Douro, they visited the Abbot of Lamego, who served them a wine fortified with distilled spirit that was "very agreeable, sweetish and extremely smooth." They purchased the entire lot and shipped it home. Port became popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, when low duties and war with France made it a favored alternative to French wine.

British importers recognized that a smooth, fortified wine would survive the voyage to London. British involvement is reflected in names like Broadbent, Cockburn, Croft, Dow, Graham, and Taylor. Dutch and German shippers such as Niepoort and Burmester also became prominent. Native Portuguese families like Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto established port shippers; Ferreira pioneered Barca Velha in 1952, and Quinta do Crasto became a notable producer in the early 1990s.

Region and production

Port is produced from grapes grown and processed in the demarcated Douro region. The wine is fortified by adding a neutral grape spirit called aguardente, which stops fermentation, leaves residual sugar, and raises alcohol content. The spirit is sometimes called brandy but differs from commercial brandies. The wine is stored and aged, often in barrels in a lodge (cellar) in Vila Nova de Gaia, before bottling.

The name "port" comes from the seaport city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where much of the product was brought to market or exported. The Douro valley was defined as a protected region in 1756, making it the third oldest wine appellation after Chianti (1716) and Tokaj (1730). The region around Pinhão and São João da Pesqueira is the center of port production, with quintas on steep slopes. In 1756, the Marquis of Pombal founded the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro to guarantee quality and fair pricing, regulate export versus internal consumption, and manage the protected geographic indication. Under EU Protected Designation of Origin rules, only wines from Portugal may be labelled "port."

Styles

Port styles fall into two broad categories: wines matured in sealed glass bottles (reductive aging) and those matured in wooden barrels (oxidative aging). Reductive aging slows color loss and produces a smoother, less tannic wine. Oxidative aging, from barrel permeability, accelerates color loss and evaporation (angel's share), leaving a more viscous wine. The IVDP divides ports into normal ports (standard ruby, three-year-old tawny, white) and Categorias Especiais (special categories).

Ruby port is stored in concrete or stainless steel tanks to prevent oxidation, preserving bright red color and fruitiness; it is blended, fined, cold filtered, and does not generally improve with age. Premium rubies like LBVs are aged in wood for four to six years. Reserve ruby is a premium ruby approved by the IVDP's tasting panel; in 2002 the IVDP banned the term "vintage character" because reserve ruby is a blend of several vintages. Late bottled vintage (LBV) was originally wine destined for vintage bottling but left in barrel longer; it is bottled four to six years after the vintage.

Portuguese houses tend to produce unfiltered LBVs, British houses filtered ones; if unspecified, the LBV is likely fined and filtered.

Storing and serving

Port should be stored in a cool, dark location at a steady temperature, with the bottle laid on its side if corked or upright if stoppered. White port can be served chilled; other ports should be served at about 15°C. Tawny port may be served slightly cooler. Unfiltered ports (vintage, crusted, some LBVs) form sediment and require decanting, which also allows the wine to breathe. A traditional opening method for vintage port uses port tongs: the tongs are heated and applied to the bottle's neck, then cooled with cold water to create a clean break, avoiding a corkscrew that might break an old cork.

Once opened, port lasts longer than unfortified wine. Tawny ports may keep for several months; old vintage ports are best within days; young ruby ports can keep for weeks or months. In the United Kingdom, tradition calls for passing the port to the left without touching the table; failing to pass may prompt the question "Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?"