Port wine, or Porto wine, refers to the genre of fortified wines, since eau-de-vie is added during fermentation. These are wines with a high alcohol content, intense aromas, sweetness and sometimes also high tannins.
Origin of Port
The city of Porto, in the north of Portugal, is the second biggest city after Lisbon, and its name, like that of its famous wine, means “The Port”.
Fortified wines were first made in Portugal in the 16th century as a result of looking for ways to preserve wine from the adverse conditions it was subjected to during transport so that it would reach its destination (most often the British Isles) in a drinkable condition.
Climate, soils and varieties
Portugal is one of the countries with the highest number of native strains. Port wine is made from coupages that can include a wide variety of different grapes. More than 80 are authorised, with Malvasía Dourada, Malvasía Fina, Gouveio and Rabigato being used most commonly for white port wines which, unlike the reds, are produced in a very small quantities; red port is mostly made with the Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Franca, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Cāo varieties.
The vines used to make Porto come from the Alto Douro Wine Region, which is an area in northeastern Portugal with more than 26 thousand hectares and that has been classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, where heroic harvests have been carried out for centuries on the steep shale, granite and slate slopes that overlook the Duero pass with views of one of the most spectacular landscapes in international winemaking.
And it is in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, located just in front of Porto, on the other side of the Douro where many of the great wineries or ármazens and exporters of port wine are located and where the grapes from the Alto Duero used to be vinified. Nowadays the wine is made near the vineyards, in the Quintas, which is the name given to winemaking houses.
Making Port wine
After harvesting, the clusters used to be taken to the wineries where traditional grape treading was carried out, which is a full ceremony for port wines. The clusters, tread or not, are poured into granite containers called lagares where a group of workers tread the grapes for 12 hours to extract colour and tannins with dancing interspersed with the treading. This method is an efficient and more gentle way to get the must. Many Quintas still use it to make their high-end port wines and others have modernised this procedure, replacing the traditional treading with automated pumping over.
The must obtained is allowed to ferment and one part spirit, which must be grape-based, is added to four parts wine to stop fermentation before it finishes naturally, at the right moment to reach the desired amount of residual sugar in the final product. This process creates wines with an alcohol content of between 17 and 25%, wines that are sweet or very sweet depending on the amount of sugar. The wine then ages in barrels to prevent the high alcohol content from increasing the presence of more potent tannins.
Types of Port wines
Port wines come in different styles depending on how they are made and aged. Each type offers different sensory qualities that make up their unique personality, character and longevity. Here are some of the best known to help you decide which to try.
White Porto is a young port wine that is made with white grapes and is classified by its amount of residual sugar (from medium dry to sweet). They are wines without a vintage, which means they are made with a variety of wines from different vintages that are aged in wood for an average of three years before being released to the market for consumption.
Ruby Porto is a young port wine, with no vintage and a beautiful ruby red color, hence its name. They are usually full-bodied and fruit-filled wines, with well-integrated alcohol. They age in wood for two or three years before being bottled and released to the market for consumption.
Tawny Port is a porto wine that is often the most successful and certainly one of the best known. Its name “Tawny” comes from its “tawny” colour, a kind of amber brown that is more or less intense depending on its aging. It offers aromas of nuts, coffee, chocolate and caramel. The best are Reserve Tawny Ports that age for an average of seven years in barrels before being bottled.
Late Bottled Vintage Port (LBV) is a port wine from a specific vintage selected for its quality and aged in the barrel for an average of four to six years. It is bottled later than a Ruby port. The most modern styles are filtered before bottling so they are ready for consumption without having to be decanted. They offer more intense fruit than Rubies and can be stored up to two weeks after opening.
Colheita Porto is a very popular style of port wine in Portugal. It comes from individual crops and is aged in barrels for an average of 8 years. They are very fine and old Tawny ports with the labels stating that they have aged in a barrel, the harvest and bottling date.
Vintage Porto is a style of port wine that is among the longest-living wines worldwide. It is made from exceptional crops of a particular year from the best vineyards. In its youth, a Vintage port is complex, rich and tannic. It is bottled when it is two years old. Unlike Colheita or Late Bottled Vintage ports, Vintage ports age in the bottle, mature slowly and can reach their peak at around 20 years old. They are so long-living that they could even reach one hundred years old or more.
Similar products
If you like wines from Porto, you might also like wines from the D.O.P Madeira, in Portugal, and the semi-sweet and sweet kinds made with the Pedro Ximénez variety in the D.O. Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and in the D.O. Montilla-Moriles, in Spain.
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