The answer is: a very long time, generally longer than table wine. Port, the fortified wine from Portugal, has lots of sugar and more alcohol than dry table wine. Both ingredients help shield the wine against the ravages of time if only they could do the same for humans.
Most sealed ports will survive well for decades. Like all wine, Port is fermented and during the fermentation process, adding a neutral grape spirit similar to brandy called Aguardente prematurely stops fermentation leaving a sweet dessert wine known as Port.
After production, the dessert wine is either stored in the Port Lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia across the river from Oporto or up in the Douro Valley the latter since at wine estates known as Quintas. Port is typically enjoyed as a dessert wine, but there are countries which serve it as an aperitif or choose to use it for cooking. It pairs beautifully with a variety of dessert dishes and cheese, or can be enjoyed all by itself as dessert.
In turn it also gave its name to the fortified wine known as Port. The Port wine industry originated in Porto and its cross-river sibling Vila Nova de Gaia in the early part of the 17th century when the earliest known Shipper set up shop. Although wines had been produced in Portugal for many centuries, Port wine as we know it today was first produced in the early s. The region was established in by decree of the Marques de Pombal, the Portuguese Prime Minister at the time. But it is the oldest in the world to be demarcated and regulated!
At the direction of the Marques de Pombal, nearly large stone markers were set around the newly defined Douro wine region to mark its boundaries. While there is some debate about who was actually the first Port wine shipper, in a German ambassador named Cristiano Kopke founded what is currently acknowledged as the first Port shipping company in Porto. In the latter half of the 17 th century, the British had set up a colony of merchants not far from Porto.
During the many skirmishes with France around that time, the British and Dutch levied heavy tariffs against the prized wines produced in France, especially Claret which was highly sought after in England. Wine production in the Douro, which made richer and more flavorful wines than anywhere else in Portugal, was dramatically increased and the Port trade began in earnest.
The first Port shipper established by the British was Warre, which began their trading business in Throughout history the Port wine business has remained an integral part of everyday life in Portugal and one of its most prolific industries and employers.
Simply put, Port must come from the demarcated and regulated Douro Valley region in northern Portugal. By law, the grapes must be grown and the Port vinified within the appellation. It is the 3 rd oldest demarcated wine region in the world, and the oldest to be both demarcated and regulated. The Douro River is in the northern part of Portugal and spans from the Atlantic Ocean at Porto eastward approximately miles to Spain, where it continues as the Ribera del Duero for another miles.
The Port growing region, also known as the Alto Douro, begins near the village of Barqueiros about 40 miles upstream from Porto and continues all the way to the Spanish border. Of course there are many other grapes that can and are used in the blend and each grape adds a unique component to the final assemblage. Up until the past two decades, many vineyards were a mix of those approved varieties.
Winemakers and master blenders often had no idea which exact varieties were used in their Vintage Ports. Even many vineyard owners and their vineyard managers were mostly clueless about which grapes were growing on their properties. Until the late s, most vineyards consisted of "field blends" with plantings of varying grape types mixed together. Now many vineyards have been replanted into sections of just one grape varietal, called "block planting.
After the grapes are picked, they are either foot trodden in stone tanks, called lagares, or placed in large stainless steel or concrete tanks where they are crushed by mechanical means. They are then left in the tank or lagar for days for fermentation during which the naturally occurring sugars are converted to alcohol. It is then transferred to large stainless steel or wooden tanks or casks to age for a minimum of two years. After that the Ports are selected for quality and it is determined what types of Port they will become.
Obviously, this is a much simplified overview, but it will provide the basics, which could lead to further exploration and reading.
It is issued by the IVDP after they have approved a wine for bottling. This practice begun circa , as the Port Wine Institute was created in It assures the consumer that the contents of the bottle came from the demarcated Douro region in Portugal. In the law was changed and now instead of the Selo over the top of the bottle, a sticker can be placed on the back label. Both can now be found on bottles of Port wine. There are many ways to parse Port, including the legal classifications as laid out by Portuguese law, but the easiest way to think about them is by color.
White Ports are made from white grapes. Ruby and Tawny Ports are generally made from red grapes, though Tawny Ports do sometimes have some white grapes in their blends. The difference between a Ruby Port and a Tawny Port is that Ruby Ports are generally aged primarily in bottle, while Tawny Ports are generally aged primarily in wood casks.
The wood casks — and the oxidation that they allow — are where Tawny Port gets its tawny color. It should be mentioned here that Tawny Port, not Ruby Port, is the most popular after dinner wine consumed in Portugal.
It is very easy to find excellent Tawny Port all around Portugal, but it can be difficult to find top notch Vintage Port especially from older vintages. That may seem surprising, but from many restaurants to the majority of retail shops it is definitely the case the Port Lodges and IVDP not included. This is the most basic of wood-aged Ports and the youngest. A Ruby Port is a blend of several years, typically averaging years old.
They are simple and fruit driven given their young age and are less complex than a Reserve Ruby or Late Bottled Vintage Port which progressively move towards a Vintage Port in style. Ruby Port is vinified to be consumed upon release and is not meant to be aged at all, with primary, vibrant fruit character. A lot of people use these to cook with, e. Poached pears or for a Port reduction as they are less expensive than other types and very fruit forward.
Lightly chilled, these make a wonderful drink on a warm evening. Almost all Port producers make a reasonably priced bottle of Ruby Port and they are easy to find in a wine shop or on the shelves of your local grocer. Once opened, they last reasonably well, so there is no rush to finish the bottle quickly. A Reserve Ruby is typically a Port which is made by blending a variety of vintages, with an average age of years. They are still fruit forward Ports, but have more complexity and structure than a Ruby Port due to the extra time in cask.
The year of bottling will also appear, typically on the back label of the bottle. LBVs are bottled between the 4th and 6th year after harvest and typically spend those years in very large oak barrels, which are called Tonnels. Don't miss a drop! Get the latest in beer, wine, and cocktail culture sent straight to your inbox. Beppi has a master's degree in the philosophy of science from the University of Toronto and was a Knight fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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