Once the drink of “man’s men” everywhere consumed with great bravado over cigars after all the women had left the room, Port is Portugal’s most famous wine. This sweet, deliciously powerful wine can be intimidating for this reason. Meticulously hand crafted using centuries-old methods, the category is worth a closer look: Port isn’t just for the good old boys anymore.
History
Port is simply sweet wine fortified with un-aged brandy made in the Douro River Valley in Northern Portugal. This remote and difficult to farm area lines the banks of the famous Douro River (“River of Gold”) which begins in Spain and dumps into the Atlantic at the town of Oporto. Port has long been associated with the British, who helped innovate the style and have been ardent advocates and robust consumers since the beginning. The famous Port firms were started by English families, as evidenced by their names: Cockburn, Graham’s, Warre’s, etc.
Port as we know it today developed in response to the particularly wonderful vintage of 1820. At the time it was common to fortify wine with grape spirits to stabilize it during the long voyage from Portugal to England. 1820 was an amazing year for the region, which produced a ripe, naturally sweet wine that sold like gangbusters. The following year Port shippers attempted to mimic these flavors by adding a higher quantity of brandy to the new vintage earlier in the process, arresting fermentation and resulting in a sweeter wine. Over time, more and more neutral grape spirits were added during fortification as the category developed. Several different styles of Port are available today.
Climate
The Douro River Valley is known for merciless summers that are long and often excruciatingly hot. Temperatures routinely reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit and can climb as high as 120, so dry and hot that the vines will even shut down production and wait until nightfall to transfer nutrients to the grapes. The Douro River carves a curvaceous path, leaving varied elevations and changing orientations towards the sun in its wake that allow for hundreds of independent microclimates.
Soil
The Douro Valley is so notoriously difficult to work, one wonders how they began to grow grapes there in the first place. To cultivate vines, the rocky hillsides had to be chipped by hand with hammers and pointed poles, or blasted with dynamite, then mixed with soil, shaped into step-like terraces, and planted with vines. The schist and granite soil allows for good drainage, which means grape roots must dig deep for nourishment here, becoming more stable as they burrow for sustenance.
Varietals
The five red grape varietals considered most important for making Port are: touriga nacional, tinta barroca, tinto cão, torriga francesca, and tinta roriz. These varietals may be blended in any combination and proportion, and blending is what gives this wine it’s finesse, subtly, and character.
To make Port, winemakers crush red grapes then macerate them for 24 hours as sugar converts to alcohol and fermentation begins. After half the natural sugar in the wine has been converted to alcohol, neutral grape spirit (un-aged brandy) is added to the wine, killing yeasts, halting fermentation and leaving sweet wine behind. The sweet wine is then matured and aged in a unique style, depending what kind of Port it will be.
Port Styles
There are several unique styles of Port, all of which can be grouped as those aged predominantly in wood and those aged predominantly in bottles. Wood-aged Ports are to be consumed within two years of bottling and shipping. Bottle-aged Ports can are meant to mature over time and can sometimes age for decades.
White Port: This basic, straightforward wine accounts for just a small amount of Port production. The majority of white Ports are a little sweet, though a light, dry leve seco Port and a sweet Port called lagrima also exist.
Ruby Port: This blend of young wines is the least complex, most inexpensive style of red Port, typically aged in barrels or tanks for 2-3 years. Fruity and straightforward with almost no bottle aging before release.
Young Tawny: Basic and uncomplicated, much like ruby Port. Young tawny grapes yield a light-colored wine, to which white Port is occasionally added to lighten things up.
Aged Tawny: Typically sold in 10, 20, 30, or 40 + year denominations, aged tawny is a blend of Ports from several different years aged in the barrel until they take on characteristics from the oak, transforming from bright red to tawny with a silky texture. The year designation is applied according to flavor, meaning a ten-year-old tawny tastes as though it is made from 10 year old wines. Colheita tawnies are a special, rare reserve tawny that come from a single harvest and must age 7 years in the bottle.
Vintage Character Port: Vintage character Port is made from good quality wines aged 4-6 years in oak. They are boldly expressive but less expensive than true vintage port.
Late Bottled Vintage Port: This type of wine hails from a single good vintage aged 4-6 years in oak then bottled. They are ready to drink immediately and cost about half as much as the finer, more sophisticated vintage Port.
Traditional Late Bottled Vintage Port: Made by very few shippers, traditional late bottled vintage Port ages for 4 years in oak and is then matured in the bottle by shipper until it is ready to drink. It can age for decades.
Vintage Port: The most rare and expensive kind, Vintage Port is made only in exceptional years. All grapes come from the same vintage from top vineyards in the Douro. The wine ages for 2 years in the barrel and can mature for several decades in the bottle.
Single Quinta Vintage Port: Single quinta vintage Port all comes from a single vineyard in a single year. They are not usually made in years declared for vintage port, the idea being that certain microclimates can produce a great vintage where the region on the whole might not be as spectacular. These are made like vintage Port, unfiltered, aged 2 years in barrel, then for a decade or more in bottle.
Notes on consumption: Any Port that throws sediment should be decanted before serving. Always decant vintage Port, single quinta vintage Port, traditional late bottled vintage Port.
