South Jersey Winemakers Sunday, January 14, 2006 Port Wine And Using Pearson’s Square By Jack...

South Jersey Winemakers

Sunday, January 14, 2006

Port Wine

And

Using Pearson’s SquareBy Jack Anders

Port Wine

• History

• Region

• The Wine

• Production

• Drinking

Port Wine - History

• First called “Oporto” in 1675 in shipping wine to Holland.

• Britain declared war on France in 1678.

• Bordeaux wine nearly impossible to get.

• Britain and Portugal were allies.

Port Wine – History (cont.)

• Portugal wines were inferior in quality compared to French wines.

• British merchants set up port “houses”.

• Methuen Treaty of 1703 guaranteed preferential tariffs on Portugal wines.


• Portugal wines were still red, dry, coarse, and ~12 to 13% abv.

• Unstable for long sea voyages.

• Practice of “stabilizing” the wine by adding brandy began.

• British port shippers formed the “Factory House” as a negotiating organization.

• Factory House became a well-guarded social club; still stands today.


• Scandal in the 1730s - unscrupulous vintners began to add sugar and elderberry juice to “stretch” the wine.

• Marquês de Pombal created the Old Wine Company (OWC).

• OWC regulated production and prices, and arbitrated disputes.

• OWC also demarcated the port growing region in 1756. This was the first wine growing demarcation ever established.


• All vineyards (“quintas”) outside of the official Douro Valley were uprooted – along with all of the elderberry trees in northern Portugal.

• In 1820 – particularly ripe vintage – extraordinary sweet and rich wine was produced (not all sugar was fermented).

• Britain was “wowed” – clamored for more. Producers began halting fermentation early.

Port Wine – History (cont.)Phylloxera - Aphid-like insect that attacks the roots of the grape vines.•In 1878, phylloxera

that had been devastating European vineyards infested the Douro Valley.


• By 1890, most of the Douro Valley vineyards had been replanted by grafting vines to American root stock.

• By mid-1900s, 3,000,000 cases of Port were being shipped to England annually.

• Port houses had been formed - Warre, Croft, Taylor, Sandeman, Offley Forrester, Kopke, van Zeller, Burmester, Graham, Guimaraens, Cockburn, and Dow.

Port Wine - Region

Port Wine – Region (cont.)

Oporto

or

Porto.


Serra do Marão mountain range.

618,000 acres.

Harsh, rugged mountainsides.

82,000 acres in vineyards.

Virtually no soil.

Vines planted on terraces of schist.

Hot, dry summers; cold winters.


Terraced rows of vines.


Labor intensive – no machinery here.


• 33,000 winegrowers in the Douro Valley

• 80% own less than 1.25 ac

• Three subregions in the Douro Valley– Baixo Corgo – Cima Corgo– Douro Superior


• Baixo Corgo– Western most area of the Douro Valley– More annual rainfall, most fertile– 50% of all port produced– Approx. 111,000 acres


• Cima Corgo– Central portion of the Douro Valley– Significantly less annual rainfall– 36% of all port produced– Approx. 235,000 acres


• Douro Superior– Eastern-most area on the Spain border– Very arid– 14% of all port produced– Approx. 272,000 acres

Port Wine – The Wine

• Port is a fortified red or white wine made with the grape varieties that grow specifically in the Douro River Valley in northern Portugal.

• The wine ferments at the farms where the grapes grow, called “quintas”.

• For the most part, port is blended and aged in the cellars at Vila Nova da Gaia, a city at the mouth of the Douro River, opposite the city of Porto.

• The taste of port ranges from fruity and sweet to complex and dry.

Port Wine – The Wine (cont.)

• Vineyards are graded by the Instituto do Vinho do Porto (IVP).

• Six categories – “A” through “F”.

• 12 physical characteristics considered.

• IVP controls production amounts.


• 90 different grape varieties are approved for growing in the Douro Valley.

• Five varieties are most common and considered exceptional for making port: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão, and Touriga Francesa.

• White port is commonly made from Viosinho, Malvasia Fina, Gouveio, Cédega, and Rabigato.


• Ruby Port– Most basic and least expensive style.– Blend from the produce of several harvests.– Two to three years in stainless steel or wood

before it is bottled.– May not see the term Ruby on the label as

most shippers prefer to use a house brand.


• Tawny Port– Aged a few years longer than ruby – at

least six years – in the cask before it is bottled.

– Some tawny is simply a mixture of ruby and white ports.

– The best tawny Ports have acquired their pale color – an amber brown or tawny hue from longer wood ageing.

– The flavor becomes drier and nuttier from the oxidation.


• Colheita Port– Tawny from a single vintage.– Minimum of seven years in wood, but most

are aged much longer. – The wine should be drunk within a year of

the bottling date. – Rarest of all Port (less than 0.5% of all Port

made).


• White Ports– Range from very dry to very sweet.– The sweetest is designated as Lagrima– Served straight up or on the rocks, most

often as an aperitif.

• Crusted Port– Blend of several vintages; bottled after

three years in cask. – Named for the crust of sediment it forms in

the bottle.


• Vintage Character Port– Also referred to as Super or Premium Ruby.– Blend that has been aged from four to six

years before it is filtered and bottled.– Characteristically have more body and fruit

than a tawny, but they lack the concentration and complexity of a true vintage Port.


• Vintage Port – Finest and most expensive of the Port

styles. At most, it accounts for about 2% of all production.

– A single harvest of exceptional quality, as stated on the bottle.

– Bottled after two to three years of cask ageing.


– The wine then spends many years maturing in the bottle. It may take 15 to 50 years for a good Vintage Port to be ready for drinking.

– Each shipper must decide within two years of a harvest year if that particular year will be of enough quality to be released as a Vintage Port. This is known as "declaring the vintage".


• Late Bottled Vintage or LBV Port– Product of a single vintage that is not

deemed good enough to make a Vintage Port.

– Left in wood for four to six years, then fined and filtered before bottling.

– It is ready to drink earlier than Vintage Port and it does throw little sediment in the bottle.


• Single-Quinta Port– Made in both tawny and vintage styles.– They come from only one vineyard. – They are generally produced in years that

are not declared. – In declared years, their grapes often form

the backbone of the Vintage Port blends.

Port Wine – Production

• Harvest in late September in both the Douro Superior and Cima Corgo, and about two weeks later in the Baixo Corgo.

• The Douro Valley produces ~42 million gallons of wine; 55% is port; 45% is unfortified table wine.

• Villagers pick and carry the grapes in baskets from the steep terraces to the press-houses.

Port Wine – Production (cont.)

• Wine is crushed in large vats called “lagers”; 18 ft x 18 ft x 3 ft stone vats.

• Modern quintas use mechanical means to crush, and separate grapes from stems.


• Some still stomp


• Wine is fermented as any other wine would be.

• When approximately 50% of the sugar is fermented, the wine is pumped into vats containing brandy to fortify and stop the fermentation.

• Brandy is approximately 75% abv; not the 40% abv brandy in US liquor stores.


• The wine may be stored at the quinta for a brief period before being shipped.

• Some unusual vessels are called “mamas”…for obvious reasons.


• Wine is shipped down the Douro River to the port houses for storing, aging, blending, and bottling.


• Once in the port houses of Vila Nova de Gaia, the wine is evaluated by the master blender to decide what style of port it will become.


• A wide variety of vats, barrels, casks, and bottles are used to store and age the wine.


• Until 1986, all Port was by law, aged and bottled in the lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia.

• Now Port may be grown, aged and bottled anywhere in the Douro Valley.

• Some growers are now producing their own Estate-Bottled, Quinta Ports

• Most still ship their wines to the coast, in part because they always have, but also the cooler climate and much higher humidity are thought to be beneficial for slow cask ageing.

Port Wine – Drinking

• White ports – chilled

• Red ports – room temperature or slightly cooler; never over 65o F.

• Remove cork.

Port Wine – Drinking (cont.)

• Most ports can be poured from the bottle.

• Crusted ports or LBV must be decanted.

• Pour your glass and pass the bottle or decanter to the left (clockwise).

• Most ports served after dinner.


• Port is traditionally served with Stilton cheese, but cheeses like Cheddar and Glouster are also good.

• Walnuts, chestnuts, cashews, and hazelnuts help bring out the best in port. Many variations on this theme are worth trying.

• Desserts based on strawberries, raspberries, cherries, currants or similarly full-flavored fruits, are a natural ally of port.

• IMHO, chocolate goes with ANYTHING.


• Is your passport out of order?• Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?• True port Connoisseurs never recork a

bottle. The words, "No heel-taps!" exhort another to drink the last of the wine so that a second bottle might be opened.

• Some port decanters have rounded bottoms so they cannot be set down until they are empty.

References

• www.portwine.com

• www.intowine.com/port.html

• www.thewineguy.com

• Various others I forgot to write down.

http://www.portwine.com/

http://www.intowine.com/port.html

http://www.thewineguy.com/

South Jersey Winemakers Sunday, January 14, 2006 Port Wine And Using Pearson’s Square By Jack...

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