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Port wine (, ; ), or simply port, is a Portuguese wine fortified wine produced in the Douro of northern Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert wine, although it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.
Other port-style fortified wines are produced outside Portugalin Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, India, Italy, South Africa, Spain, and the United Statesbut under the European Union Protected Designation of Origin guidelines, only wines from Portugal are allowed to be labelled "port".
The reaches of the valley of the Douro River in northern Portugal have a microclimate that is optimal for horticulture of , , and especially grapes important for making port wine. The region around Pinhão and São João da Pesqueira is considered to be the centre of port production, and is known for its picturesque quintas – estates clinging on to almost vertical slopes dropping down to the river.
Grapes grown for port are generally characterized by their small, dense fruit which produces concentrated and long-lasting flavours, suitable for long aging. While the grapes used to produce port made in Portugal are strictly regulated by the Instituto do Vinho do Porto, wines from outside this region that describe themselves as port may be made from other varieties.
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. In continental Europe, all types of ports are frequently consumed as apéritifs.
The former, without exposure to air, experience what is known as "reductive" ageing. This process leads to the wine losing its color very slowly and produces a wine that is smoother on the palate and less tannic.
The latter, being matured in wooden barrels, whose permeability allows a small amount of exposure to oxygen, experience what is known as "oxidative" aging. They too lose color, but at a faster pace. They also lose volume to evaporation (angel's share), leaving behind a wine that is slightly more viscous.
The IVDP ( Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto) further divides ports into two categories: normal ports (standard ruby, three-year-old tawny, and white) and Categorias Especiais, special categories, which include everything else.
When a port is described as tawny, without an indication of age, it is a basic blend of wood-aged port that has spent time in wooden barrels, typically at least three years.
Reserve tawny port (produced by Borges, Calem, Croft, Cruz, Graham, Kopke, and other houses) has been aged about seven years.
Above this are tawny with an indication of age, which represent a blend of several vintages. The target age profile, in years in wood, is stated on the label, usually 10, 20, 30, or 40 years. These ports are produced by most houses.
It is also possible to produce an aged white port in this manner, with some shippers now marketing aged white ports.
In some places, such as Canada and Australia, 'tawny' may also be used to describe any port-style wine that is not produced in Portugal, in accordance with an agreement with the EU.
Confusingly, the word Garrafeira may also be found on some very old tawny labels, where the contents of the bottle are of exceptional age.
The accidental origin of late bottled vintage has led to more than one company claiming its invention. The earliest known reference to a style of port with this name in a merchant's list is to be found in The Wine Society's catalogue from 1964, which includes Fonseca's Quinta Milieu 1958, bottled in the UK, also in 1964. By the 1962 vintage, LBV was being produced in Portugal and bottled as LBV.
LBV is intended to provide some of the experience of drinking a vintage port but without the need for lengthy bottle ageing. To a limited extent, it succeeds, as the extra years of oxidative ageing in the barrel does mature the wine more quickly.
Typically ready to drink when released, filtered LBV ports tend to be lighter-bodied than vintage ports. Filtered LBVs can improve with age, but only to a limited degree.
Crusted port is bottled unfiltered and sealed with a driven cork. Like vintage port, it needs to be decanted before drinking.
Vintage port is made entirely from the grapes of a declared vintage year. While it is by far the most renowned type of port, from a volume and revenue standpoint, vintage port accounts for only about two percent of overall port production. Not every year is declared a vintage in the Douro. The decision on whether to declare a vintage is made early in the second year following the harvest. The decision to declare a vintage is made by each individual port house often referred to as a "shipper".
Much of the complex character of aged vintage port comes from the continued slow decomposition of grape solids in each bottle. These solids are undesirable when the port is consumed, and thus vintage port typically requires a period of settling before decanting and pouring.
If a port house decides that its wine is of a quality sufficient for a vintage, samples are sent to the IVDP for approval and the house declares the vintage. In very good years, almost all the port houses will declare their wines.
In intermediate years, the producers of blended vintage ports will not declare their flagship port but may declare the vintage of a single quinta, e.g., the 1996 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim and Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas. Some houses declare their wines in all but the worst years: Quinta do Vesuvio has declared a vintage every year with the exceptions of 1993, 2002, and 2014.
Improved wine-making technologies and better weather forecasts during the harvest have increased the number of years in which a vintage can be declared. Although there have been years when only one or two wines have been declared, it has been over thirty years since there was a year with no declarations at all.
2016 was declared a vintage year by most producers, as was 2011. The quality of the grape harvest was attributed to ideal rainfall and temperature. Other recent widely declared vintage years were 2007, 2003, 2000, 1997 and 1994.
In 1756, during the rule of the Marquis of Pombal, the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro (C.G.A.V.A.D., also known as the General Company of Viticulture of the Upper Douro or Douro Wine Company), was founded to guarantee the quality of the product and fair pricing to the end consumer. The C.G.A.V.A.D. was also in charge of regulating which port wine would be for export or internal consumption and managing the protected geographic indication.
In 1678, a Liverpool wine merchant sent two new representatives to Viana do Castelo, north of Oporto, to learn the wine trade. While on a vacation in the Douro, the two gentlemen visited the Abbot of Lamego, who treated them to a "very agreeable, sweetish and extremely smooth" wine, which had been fortified with a distilled spirit. The two Englishmen were so pleased with the product that they purchased the abbot's entire lot and shipped it home.
Port became very popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, when merchants were permitted to import it at a low duty, while war with France deprived English wine drinkers of French wine. British importers could be credited for recognising that a smooth, already fortified wine that would appeal to English palates would survive the trip to London.
The continued British involvement in the port trade can be seen in the names of many port shippers and brands: Broadbent, Cockburn, Croft, Dow, Gould Campbell, Graham, Osborne, Offley, Sandeman, Taylor, and Warre being amongst the best known. Shippers of Dutch and German origin are also prominent, such as Niepoort and Burmester. The British involvement grew so strong that they formed a trade association that became a Factory House. A few port shippers and producers were also established by native Portuguese families: Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto are among the best. Both Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto can be credited for pioneering the Douro as a table-wine-producing region, Ferreira making Barca Velha since 1952 and Quinta do Crasto becoming the second producer of note, starting in the early 1990s.
Port wines that are unfiltered (such as vintage ports, crusted ports, and some LBVs) form a sediment (or crust) in the bottle and require Decanter. This process also allows the port to breathe (allowing the wine to mix with oxygen).
A traditional method of opening a vintage port is with port tongs. The tongs are heated over a flame and applied to the bottle's neck. The bottleneck is cooled with cold water, causing a clean break. This avoids the use of a corkscrew on an older cork, which would otherwise break apart and crumble into the wine.
Once opened, a port generally lasts longer than unfortified wine, but it is still best consumed within a short period of time. Tawny, ruby, and LBV ports may keep for several months once opened; because they are aged longer in barrels, these ports have already been exposed to some degree of oxidation. Old vintage ports are best consumed within several days of opening, but young vintage ports can be kept open for several weeks, if not months when very young.
Tradition in the United Kingdom calls for the port being served at a formal dinner to be passed to the left ("pass the port to port") and for the bottle or decanter not to touch the table on its way around, though some cultures reject this tradition. If a diner fails to pass the port, others at the table may ask "Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?"the question acts as a reminder to pass the port, for those who know the story, and an opportunity to tell the story to those who have not heard it.
Porto, a World Heritage Site, is home to many famous port houses located near the Douro River, making the shipping of port wine easy. Some of these port houses are private, while others are open to public tours and visits.
A recurring theme in the novels of Anthony Trollope is the partiality of respectable elderly ladies for port, which they excuse on the grounds that it is "medicinal".
History and tradition
The wine-producing Douro region is the third oldest protected appellation in the world after Chianti, in 1716, and Tokaj, in 1730.
Storing and serving
Port, like other wine, should be stored in a cool but not cold, dark location (as light can damage the port), at a steady temperature (such as a cellar), with the bottle laid on its side if it has a cork, or standing up if it is stoppered. With the exception of white port, which can be served chilled, the port should be served at between . Tawny port may also be served slightly cooler.
Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto
The Port and Douro Wines Institute is an official body belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture of Portugal and is a key institution in promoting the industry and knowledge of making port wine. It was previously known as the Instituto do Vinho do Porto.
Port houses
Producers of port wine are often called "shippers". In the early history of the port wine trade, many of the most powerful shipping families were British (English and Scottish) and Irish; this history can still be seen in the names of many of the most famous port wines, such as Samuel Dow, Graham's, Sandeman, Churchill's, Cockburn's and Taylor’s. Over the years Portuguese, as well as Dutch and German-owned shippers have also become prevalent in the port industry.
As a historical remedy for illness
Port has been used in the past as a healing agent in earlier remedies. The British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger was given port for gout as a boy. He began at the age of 14 (1773) with a bottle a day according to J. Ehrman (1969), The Younger Pitt. Heavy alcohol consumption is known to exacerbate gout.
Chemistry
Aged port wine contains a family of bluish phenolic pigments called (vinylpyranoanthocyanins) and oxovitisin A, an oxovitisin, a type of pyranoanthocyanin with a 2-pyrone component.
See also
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