Port

OUR PORTS

From as early as the middle of the fourteenth century, there were trading treaties between, Lisbon, Oporto and London and by the time of Henry VIII the English had established Merchants Associations with legal status and diplomatic privileges in some of the ports. Portuguese wines were often traded for woollen goods from England. The English preferred French wines but in times of warring with France they turned to Portugal for their supply. In 1703 the Methuen Treaty was signed between Portugal and England, which greatly increased trading possibilities.

Port is wine which has had grape spirit added to it during fermentation to kill the yeast which causes the fermentation to stop leaving some residual sugar within the wine, therefore making it slightly sweet. The monks actually created Port and the English took the concept of adding Brandy to the wines from them but rather than doing it during fermentation they did it after the wines had finished fermenting in order to make them stable for their journey to England. It was in the early 1700's that the spirit was added during fermentation and led to the creation of the styles of Port that we know today.

The Port Region
The Port region stretches from the Atlantic Coast across the width of Portugal along the Douro Valley to the border with Spain. The trade in Port centres around Oporto on the coast whilst the actual vineyards lie 70 kilometres away between Regua and the Spanish border. The best Port comes from the area to the east of Pinhao. As you move inland the high annual rainfall experienced on the coast falls as the influence of the Atlantic lessens and the Serra do Marao mountains protect the area from the prevailing westerly winds. Temperatures reach 40 centigrade in the summer months.

The Douro Valley is a deep, steep-sided ravine made largely of granite rock. It is certainly a challenging area in which to grow grapes. Originally terraces (socalcos) were made and the soil retained on them by the use of dry-stone walls but as little as two or three rows of vines could be fitted on them making life very difficult, now bulldozers and dynamite are used to create more commercially viable contoured vineyards (patamares).

 
PORT
Grapes Varieties
There can be few vineyard areas where such a variety of grapes are permitted, forty eight types are authorised whilst it is thought that at least twice as many are actually present. The final wine is always a blend of varieties and six black varieties have assumed pre-eminence, these are :

1. Tinta Roriz - The Tempranillo of Spain giving low yield and adding finesse to the blend
2. Touriga Nacional - The finest grape of the Douro with low yield it gives very deep coloured, tannic juice with a powerful aroma
3. Touriga Francesa - Similar to Nacional but with higher yield
4. Tinta Cao - This variety had all but died out but with thanks to EC funded grants it is now being replanted. It gives a complex wine with good tannin and colour
5. Tinta Barroca - In good years this gives good yields with high sugar content, plenty of colour and big, powerful aromas.
6. Sousao - This is becoming less widely used as it tends to produce coarse wine with low acidity. Unusually it has red flesh.

White Port - Although much less common White Port is also made mainly from Rabigato, Codega and Malvasia Fina grapes.

Port Making
Maximum and fast extraction of the colour and tannins from the grapes is essential in the making of Port. This was originally done by traditional treading of the grapes followed by the manual mixing of the skins into the juice during fermentation. Whilst this practice is still followed in the best wineries it has mostly been superseded by labour-saving, more cost effective mechanisation. When the sugar in the grape juice has been converted to between 6 and 9% alcohol by volume during the fermentation process, the liquid is run off the skins and spirit at 77% is added in the proportion of one part spirit to four parts wine. This addition kills the yeast and stops the fermentation process. The decision as to when to fortify depends on the sweetness required in the final port.

In the spring following fortification the wine is transported to the shippers warehouses on the coast opposite Oporto where the climate and temperatures are better suited to the maturation of the wine.

Port Styles
The different styles of wine on the market depend on the quality of the wine, whether it is the product of a single year or a blend of several, and how and for how long the wine has been aged. The three basic commercial Port styles are:

White Port
Golden in colour and either dry or sweet in style. They are non vintage, wood-matured and usually sold at two or three years old.

Ruby Port
Young, non vintage, full bodied wines which have been wood matured and are normally sold at three years old. There are some special reserve ruby ports which have been aged for around six years

Tawny Port
These fall into a variety of qualities. At their cheapest they are a blend of ruby and white ports where as the more expensive Tawnies develop after an extended period of ageing in oak casks They are a blend of different years and are very soft and smooth. Other styles of Port that you might come across are Tawny Port with an Indication of it's age Under the regulations wines can only be labelled as 10,20,30 and over 40 years old. To qualify to use this label a shipper must show that he has stock of sufficient wine of that age. The age stated is an average rather than a minimum. The label must state which year the bottling took place and that the wine was aged in wood. Tawny Ports do not have sediment and so therefore do no need decanting. They will last for a few weeks after opening.

Vintage Port
One of the longest lived wines produced. It is an exceptional product of one particular year, typically only from the best vineyards. It is bottled when only two years old and matures slowly probably only reaching its peak at around twenty years old. It will throw a heavy deposit in the bottle and will therefore need decanting and should be consumed within a few days. Each company can decide whether it wants to declare the year as a vintage year.

Single Quinta Vintage Ports
These are full Vintage Ports that are the product of one single vineyard (quinta)

Vintage Character Port
This is a blend of high quality wines from one or more vintages that is matured in wood for up to five years before bottling. It is full bodied with rich fruit and is ready for drinking when bottled.

Late Bottled Vintage Port
This is wine from a specific vintage, but not necessarily a declared year, that has been aged in cask for between four and six years before bottling. The modern style need not be decanted and will keep for a few weeks after opening.

Colheita Port
A wine of a single vintage that has been aged in cask until shortly before sale. The minimum ageing period is eight years but in practice it is aged for much longer. Effectively it is a very fine, old tawny and therefore does not need decanting.

Kopke
Our range of Ports feature several from the oldest Port house Kopke which was established in 1638. It provides excellent quality port representing very good value.

Port
Fonseca - www.fonseca.pt
Taylor,Fladgate &Yeatman - www.taylor.pt