Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto , Portuguese pronunciation: Ã, Porto , and usually only port ) is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the province north of Portugal. Usually red wine is sweet, often served as a dessert wine, although it also comes in dry, semi-arid, and white varieties. Port-enriched wines are also produced outside Portugal, including in Australia, France, South Africa, Canada, India, Argentina, Spain, and the United States. Under European Union Protected Designation of Origin guidelines, only Portuguese products may be labeled as port or Porto . In the United States, wine labeled "port" can be from anywhere in the world, while the names "Oporto", "Porto", and "Vinho do Porto" have been recognized as foreign names and are not common for port wines originating from Portugal.
Video Port wine
Region and production
Ports are produced from grapes that are grown and processed in the restricted area of ​​Douro. The resulting wine is then enriched by the addition of a neutral wine spirits known as aguardente to stop fermentation, leaving the remaining sugar in the wine, and to increase the alcohol content. Fortifying spirits are sometimes referred to as brandy but have little resemblance to commercial brandies. The wine is then stored and grown, often in casks stored in the Lodge (meaning "basement") as it is in Vila Nova de Gaia, before being bottled. The wine received its name, "harbor", in the latter half of the 17th century from the port city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where many products were brought to market or for export to other countries in Europe. The Douro Valley in which port wine is produced is defined and defined as a protected area, and the name of Douro is the official name, in 1756, making it the third oldest, after Chianti (1716) and Tokaj (1730).
The range of the Douro River valley in northern Portugal has an optimal microclimate for olive, almond, and especially vine planting that is essential for making port wine. The area around PinhÃÆ' Â £ o and SÃÆ' â € <â € <â € "JoÃÆ'Â £ o da Pesqueira is regarded as a harbor production center, and is known for its beauty - quintas - a plantation attached to an almost vertical slope down to the river.
Wine region
Demarcation of the Douro River Basin includes a large swath of a hunk and a pre-Cambrian granite. Beginning around Barqueiros village (about 70 km (43 mi) upstream from Porto), the valley extends eastward almost to the Spanish border. This area is protected from the influence of the Atlantic Ocean by the Serra do MarÃÆ'Â ° o mountains. The area is divided into three official zones: Corgo Baixo (lower), Corgo Cima (higher) and Superior Douro.
- Baixo Corgo - The westernmost zone located downstream of the Corgo river, centered in the municipality of the Peso da RÃ © c caves. This region is the wettest harbor production zone, receiving an annual average of 900 mm, and has the coolest average temperature of three zones. The grapes grown here are used primarily for the production of ruby ​​ports and cheap tawny.
- Cima Corgo - Located in the upper reaches of Baixo Corgo, the area is centered in the town of PinhÃÆ'§Â (municipality of AlijÃÆ'³). Summer temperatures in the area are slightly higher on average, and annual rainfall is about 200 mm. Grapes grown in this zone are considered to be of higher quality, used in Vintage bottles, Reserve, old Tawny and Vintage Bottle End Port.
- Douro Superior - The easternmost zone, stretching almost to the Spanish border. This is the least planted Douro region, partly because of the difficulty navigating the river past the CachÃÆ'Â ° o Valeira rapids. This is the driest and warmest Douro region. The overall field is relatively flat, with mechanical potential.
Wine
Over a hundred varieties of wine ( castas ) are subject to sanctions for port production, though only five (Barroca Ink, Tinto CÃÆ' Â £ o, Roriz Inks (Tempranillo), Touriga Francesa, and Touriga Nacional) are widely cultivated. and used. Touriga Nacional is widely regarded as the most desirable port wine but the difficulty in growing it and the small results leads Touriga Francesa to become the most widely planted wine. The white ports are produced in the same way as the red ports, except that they use white wine - Donzelinho Branco, Esgana-CÃÆ' Â £ o, FolgasÃÆ'Â £ o, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina, Rabigato, and Viosinho. While some senders have experimented with Ports manufactured from a single variety of grapes, all commercially available Ports come from a mix of different grapes. Since the crisis of Phylloxera, most of the vines have grown in grafted grafted stems, with the exception of the Nacional region at Quinta do Noval, which since planted in 1925, has produced some of the most expensive antique ports.
Grapes grown for ports are generally characterized by their small dense fruits that produce a concentrated and durable flavor, suitable for long aging. While the wine used to produce ports made in Portugal is strictly regulated by Instituto do Vinho do Porto, the wines from outside this area that describe themselves as harbors can be made from other varieties.
Sales
In 2013, there were 8.7 million cases of port sales, 3.6% less than a year earlier, with a value of $ 499 million. Port sales have declined since 2005 and down 16% from that year. The decrease in sales is due to some price increases, due to the rising cost of alcohol used in the production process. Decreased sales are also attributed to a global rise in alcohol levels from table wines. In 2014, the leading brand in Portugal is CÃÆ'¡lem, which sells 2.6 million bottles per year.
Transportation
Ports are produced from grapes grown in the Douro valley; until 1986 could only be exported from Portugal from Vila Nova de Gaia near Porto, the second largest city of Portugal. Traditionally, the wine was brought up and down in flat boats called 'barcos rabelos', to be processed and stored. In the 1950s and 1960s, several hydroelectric dams were built along the river, ending this traditional transport to the river. Today, wine is transported from vineyards by tanker trucks and barcos rabelos is only used for racing and other exhibitions.
Maps Port wine
Properties
Port wine is usually richer, sweeter, heavier, and higher in alcohol content than unfortunate wine. This is due to the addition of distilled spirits of spirits to fortifying the wine and stop fermentation before all the sugar is turned into alcohol, and produces wine which is usually 19% to 20% alcohol.
Ports are usually served after meals as dessert wines in English speaking countries, often with cheese, nuts or chocolate; white ports and tawny are often presented as apÃÆ' Â © ritif. In Europe all kinds of ports are often consumed as alcoholic beverages.
Styles
Portuguese ports come in several styles, which can be divided into two major categories: Wine that is mature in closed glass bottles, without air exposure, experiences what is known as "reductive" aging. This process causes the wine to lose its color very slowly and produces finer grapes on the ceiling and less tannic.
The mature wine in the wooden barrel, whose permeability allows a small amount of oxygen exposure, experiences what is known as "oxidative" aging. They also lose color, but at a faster pace. They also lose the volume of evaporation (the angelic part), leaving behind a slightly thicker wine.
IVDP ( Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto ) divides further ports into two categories: normal ports (standard rubies, three year old flax and white port) and Ruby
Ruby Port is the cheapest and most widely generated port type. After fermentation, stored in a concrete or stainless steel tank to prevent oxidative aging and maintain a bright red color and full fruiting fruit. Wine is usually mixed to match the style of the brand to be sold. The fined and cold wines are filtered before bottling and generally do not improve with age, although premium rubies are aged in wood from four to six years.
Backup
The backup port is a premium ruby ​​port approved by the IVDP tasting panel, CÃÆ'Â ¢ mara de Provadores . In 2002, IVDP prohibited the use of the term "vintage characters", because the backup ports did not have antiques (usually a mixture of some vintages of ruby) or typical characters of the vintage port.
Rose
Rose port is a very new variation on the market, first released in 2008 by PoÃÆ'§as and by Croft, part of Taylor Fladgate Partnership. Technically, this is a ruby ​​port, but fermented in a manner similar to rosà © wine, with limited exposure to the grape skin, thus creating the color of roses.
Tawny port
The old tawny port is a wine usually made of red wine aged in a wooden barrel that exposes them to oxidation and evaporation gradually. As a result of this oxidation, they gradually mellow into a golden brown color. Oxygen exposure instills a "crazy" flavor to the wine, which is mixed to match the style of the house.
The watery port is sweet or dry tawny and is usually consumed as a dessert wine, but can also be paired with a main dish.
When a port is described as a tawny, with no age indication, it is a basic mix of aged harbor wood that has been spent in wooden casks. On top of this is a brownish yellow with an age indication that represents a mixture of some vintages. The target age profile, within a few years in wood, is declared on the label. It is also possible to produce an old white port in this way, with multiple senders now marketing aged white ports.
Colheita
Port Colheita is a single-vintage tawny harbor aged at least seven years, with a vintage year on bottles instead of age categories (10, 20, etc.). Port Colheita should not be confused with the ancient port: an antique port will only spend about 18 months in a barrel after harvest and will continue to ripen in a bottle, but Colheita may spend 20 years or more in a wooden keg before being bottled and sold. White Colheitas has also been produced.
Garrafeira
Unusual and rare vintage Garrafeira combines oxidative maturation of years in wood with further reductive ripening in large glass demijohns. It is required by IVDP that wine spends some time in the wood, usually between three and six years, followed by at least eight years more in a glass, before bottling. In practice the time spent in glasses is longer. This style is very closely related to the Niepoort company, although others do exist. Their dark green demijohns, known as bon-bons, have about 11 liters (2.4 gal each, 2.9 US gal each). Some connoisseurs describe Garrafeira as having little bacon, although many people will not notice or understand such descriptions; the reason is that, during the second phase of maturation, certain oils can settle, causing the film to form throughout the glass surface that can be sampled by those accustomed to the difference between Garrafeira and other forms of port.
The puzzling thing, Garrafeira said might also be found on some old chocolate labels, where the contents of the bottle have an incredible age.
Port white
The white port is made of white wine, like Maliana Fina , Donzelinho , Gouveio , Codega and Rabigato , and can be created in a variety of styles, although to date some senders have produced something other than standard products. The regular white port is an excellent base for cocktails while older ones are better served cold by themselves. Sweet white ports and tonic water are the usual drinks consumed in the Porto region. There are various styles of white ports, from dry to very sweet. Taylor introduced the Dry Chip, a new style of Port alcoholic beverages, in 1934. Made from traditional white wine varieties, fermented longer than usual to deliver a dry finish. Lagrima, which means "Tears", is the name for the sweetest style of the White Port. In addition to this type of wine, there is a White Port Colheita, obtained from a single harvest and ages in a large tank that obtains straw colors, has a mature and elegant aroma and taste, displays fruit and wood notes, and White Port with an age indication, which is the Harbor which is elegant, full bodied and rich, is derived from a blend of different wines with the same average age. When the white port matures in the wood for a long time, the color becomes dark, finally reaching the point where it is difficult to distinguish (from the look itself) whether the original wine is red or white.
End of vintage bottle (LBV)
The end of the vintage bottle (often referred to simply as LBV) was originally a wine that had been destined for bottling as a vintage port, but due to lack of demand remaining in the barrel longer than planned. Over time it has become two different wine styles, both packed between four and six years after the antique, but one style is fined and filtered before bottling, while others are not.
The accidental origin of the final vintage bottle has led to more than one company claiming its invention. The earliest known reference to port styles by this name in the merchant list can be found in The Wine Society's catalog from 1964; which included Fonseca's Quinta Milieu 1958, a bottle in England, also in 1964. In 1962, LBV was produced in Portugal and bottled as LBV.
LBV is meant to provide some experience of drinking vintage ports but without the need for long bottle aging. To some extent succeed, because the additional years of oxidative aging in the barrel do not rip wine more quickly.
Unchecked
Unfiltered LBV is mostly bottled with conventionally-driven cork and needs to be poured. After decanting they should be consumed within a few days. The latest bottling is identified by the label "unfiltered", or "mature bottle", or both. Since the 2002 regulation, bottles carrying the word "mature bottle" should enjoy at least three years of bottle ripening before it is removed. Prior to 2002, this style was often marketed as "traditional", descriptions no longer allowed. Unfiltered LBV will usually be upgraded with an additional year in the bottle. It can aging along the Vintage Port and is very difficult to identify as LBV when put into blind turing from Vintage Ports.
Filtered
The filtered wine has the advantage of being ready to drink without decanting and usually a bottle in a stopper bottle that can be easily sealed back. However, many wine experts feel that this comfort comes with pricing and believes that the screening process wipes out a lot of wine.
Usually ready to drink when released, filtered LBV ports tend to be lighter bodied than vintage ports. Filtered LBV can increase with age, but only to a limited extent.
Crusted
Crusted ports are usually a blend of some vintages. Unlike vintage ports, which must be sourced from wine from an antique one, the crusty port gives the blender port a chance to make the most of the varied characteristics of different vintages.
Crusted port is an unfiltered bottle, and sealed with a moving cork. Like a vintage port, it needs to be poured before drinking.
Antique port
Vintage ports may be aged in vats or stainless steels for a maximum of two and a half years before bottling, and generally require ten to four years older in a bottle before reaching the age that is considered worth drinking. Since they are potentially aged in casks in just a short time, they retain the ruby ​​color of dark and fresh fruit flavor. Excellent vintage ports can continue to gain complexity for decades after they are bottled. Not infrequently 19th century bottles are still in perfect condition for consumption. The oldest known vintage harbor still available from the shipper is Ferreira 1815. A tasting in 1990 described it as having "a very spicy aroma - cinnamon, pepper and ginger - hints of exotic wood, iodine and candles".
The vintage harbor is entirely made of declared antique grapes. Although by far the most popular type of port, from the point of view of volume and revenue, the vintage port accounts for only about two percent of the total port production. Not every year is declared vintage in Douro. The decision whether to declare vintage is done at the beginning of the second year after the harvest. The decision to declare a vintage is made by each port house, often referred to as a "sender".
Most of the complex character of the old vintage port comes from the decomposition of the continuous wine solids in each bottle. This solid is not desirable when ports are consumed, and thus vintage ports usually require a precipitation period before casting and pouring.
Single quinta antique port
The single quinta vintage harbor is a wine derived from a single plantation, unlike the standard bottling of port wine houses that can be sourced from a number of quintas. Single quinta bottling is used in two different ways by different manufacturers. Most large port wine houses have single quinta bottlers that are only produced within a few years when the usual antique port homes are not declared. In those years, the wine of his best quinta was still bottled under an antique designation, rather than being used for a simpler port quality.
Vintages
The term vintage has a different meaning in the context of the vintage port. While vintage is just the year in which the wine is made, most vintage port manufacturers limit the year-labeled bottling production only to the best years, several per decade. Contrast with the second winery, where (mainly) Bordeaux producers release the top-year wine labeled almost every year, but also low-quality wines in a few years.
If a port house decides that the wine is of sufficient quality for vintage, the sample is sent to IVDP for approval and the home declares vintage. In very good years, almost all port homes will declare their wine.
In subsequent years, the producers of mixed-antique ports will not declare their main port, but can declare the vintage of a single quinta, such as Taylor de Vargellas in 1996 and Quinta do Bomfim of Dow. Some homes declare their wines at all except the worst year: Quinta do Vesuvio has vintage declared every year with the exception of 1993 and 2002.
Improved wine-making technology and better weather forecasts during harvest have increased the number of years in which vintage can be expressed. Although there are years when only one or two wines are stated, it has been more than thirty years since there was a year without a declaration at all.
2011 is expressed as a vintage year by most manufacturers. The quality of the grape harvest is associated with ideal rainfall and temperature. Other modern antique years that are widely stated are 2007, 2003, 2000, 1997 and 1994.
2016 is expressed as a vintage year by most manufacturers.
History and traditions
The Douro wine-producing region is the third oldest protected wine region in the world after the Tokaj-Hegyalja region of Hungary, founded in 1730, and Chianti, in 1716.
In 1756, during the reign of the Marquis of Pombal, Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas did Alto Douro (CGAVAD, also known as the Public Company of Douro Top Veterinary Company or Douro Wine), was established to ensure the quality of the products and the fair price to the final consumer. The C.G.A.V.A.D. it is also the job of arranging which port wine to be used for export or internal consumption and managing protected geographical indications.
The port became very popular in Britain after the Methuen Agreement of 1703, when merchants were allowed to import it with low duty, while war with France deprived French wine drinkers by English wine. British importers can be credited for acknowledging that the delicate and strongly fortified wine that will appeal to British tastes will survive from a trip to London. In 1678, a wine merchant of Liverpool sent two new representatives to Viana do Castelo, north of Oporto, to study the wine trade. While on vacation in Douro, the two men visited Lamego Monastery, who treated them with "a very pleasant, sweet and very fine wine", which has been enriched with distilled spirits. The two Englishmen were very pleased with the product they bought throughout the Abbot and sent him home.
Continuous British engagement in port trade can be seen in the names of sender and brand ports: Broadbent, Cockburn, Croft, Dow, Gould Campbell, Graham, Osborne, Offley, Sandeman, Taylor and Warre are among the best known. The Dutch and German senders also stand out, such as Niepoort and Burmester. British involvement grew so strong that they formed a trade association that became a gentlemen's club. Several shipmakers and port manufacturers were also established by the original Portuguese families: Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto are among the best. Both Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto can be credited for pioneering Douro as a wine-table-producing region, Ferreira made Barca Velha since 1952 and Quinta do Crasto became the second record manufacturer, beginning in the early 1990s.
Save and serve
Ports, like other wines, should be stored in a cool but not cold, dark location (because light can damage the port), at a stable temperature (like a dungeon), with a bottle placed on its side if it has a cork, or stands if it stops. With the exception of white ports, which can be served cool, ports must be serviced between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius (59 Â ° to 68 Â ° Fahrenheit). Port Tawny can also be served a little cooler.
Unfiltered wine ports (such as vintage ports, crusty ports and several LBVs) form sediment (or crust) in bottles and require decanting. This process also allows the port to breathe.
Once opened, the port usually lasts longer than unfortified wine, but is still well consumed in a short time. Tawny, ruby, and LBV ports can be stored for several months after opening; because they are older in barrels, this port has been exposed to some degree of oxidation. Old Vintage ports are best consumed within days of opening, but young Vintage Ports can remain open for several weeks, if not months when it is very young.
Tradition in the UK called for ports to be served at official banquets to be forwarded to the left ("via port to harbor") and bottles or bottles did not touch the table on its way, even though some cultures refused this. tradition. If a restaurant fails to pass the harbor, others at the table may ask, "Do you know Bishop from Norwich?"
Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto
Port and Douro Wines Institute is the official body of the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture and is a key institution in promoting industry and knowledge of port wine making. It was formerly known as Instituto do Vinho do Porto.
Port house
Wine port manufacturers are often called "senders". In the early history of port wine trade, many of the most powerful shipping families were the British (English and Scottish) and Irish; this history can still be seen in the names of many of the most famous port wines. For many years the Portuguese, as well as the Dutch, German senders also became prevalent in the port industry.
Porto, a World Heritage Site, is home to many famous harbor houses located near the Douro River, making easy port wine delivery. Some of these port homes are private, while others are open for visits and public visits.
Port as a historic medicine for disease
Ports have been used in the past as a healing agent in previous treatments. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger was given a port for gout as a boy. He started at age 14 (1773) with a bottle of a day according to J. Ehrman (1969): "The Younger Pitt". Heavy alcohol consumption is known to worsen gout.
The recurrent theme in Anthony Trollope's novels is the partiality of the respectable old lady for the harbor, whom they excuse on the grounds that it is "medicine".
Port wine chemistry
Agener port wine contains a family of bluish phenolic pigments called portosins (vinylpyranoanthocyanins) and oxovitisin A, an oxovitisin, a type of pyranoanthocyanin with a 2-pyrone component.
See also
- List of Portuguese wine regions
- Sherry
- Madeira wine
- Portello, a non-alcoholic soft drink based on the flavor of the wine.
References
External links
- Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto Port and the official website of Douro Wines Institute, Ministry of Agriculture of Portugal
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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