WINE 101 | PORT WINE

‘True' Port wine has its origins in late 17th century Portugal. Port started off as a full bodied, dark, astringent and strong, dry red table wine which was at that time being shipped from the northern Douro Valley region of Portugal to England.

Merchants of the time who were shipping this wine were determined to have it arrive in England in good condition—in order to achieve this end they would add a measure of brandy to the wine before shipment in an attempt to render it stable. This method met with success.

The actual winemaking technique responsible for the style of wine Port was soon to evolve into is credited to an abbot in the town of Lamego in the same region of Portugal . Rather than simply fortify dry red wine with brandy, the abbot was instead adding the brandy to the partially fermented grape must and thus arresting its fermentation prior to it becoming dry red wine.

The result was a naturally sweet red wine (due to residual unfermented sugar) that became instantly fortified and stabilized through the addition of brandy. This vinification method was discovered in 1678 and is in use to this day. The sweet and highly alcoholic wine that Port had become would eventually evolve into a variety of styles including the unusual style of White Port which is produced from white grapes.

Today, the most well known styles of Port wine are:  

• Ruby
• Tawny
• Vintage
• Late Bottled Vintage
• Vintage Character
• Ruby Port

Ruby Ports are the least costly of all Ports in terms of production and pricing. Rubies are blends of young ports from different vintages which are blended and aged in bulk for two to three years, then bottled and sold. The aging vessels used may be of wood, stainless steel or cement. Rubies are usually fruit driven wines with a fresh flavor profile. Rubies take their name from the fact they are produced from young component wines of intense color with a ‘ruby' like hue. They are typically destined for immediate consumption upon release.

Tawny Port

Theoretically, Tawnies are wines similar to Rubies which have been aged in wood for a much longer period of time than Rubies. In the process, they go on to lose their ‘ruby' color and take on more of a ‘tawny' hue. In practice however, most Tawnies are in reality no older than most Rubies.

The ‘tawny' color comes as a result instead of the practice of using component wines of much lighter color produced from poorer grapes sourced typically from the Baixo Corgo vineyard district of the Douro Valley.

Occasionally, vinification methods are tweaked to produce wines lighter in color. Additionally, a measure of White Port is sometimes added to the final blend to lessen its color.

Tawnies are sometimes left to mature in the heat. This is referred to as ‘Douro Bake'. This ‘hot' maturation process causes the wine to lose its color even further thereby imparting to it a ‘tawny' hue. Much of the upfront fruit character of Ruby Port is absent in Tawnies as they tend to take on more of a ‘baked fruit' or ‘Christmas cake' flavor profile.  

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Vintage Port

Vintage Port commands the highest rescpect of any of the Port styles produced yet it represents less than 5% of total Port wine production. Vintage Ports are the most expensive of all Ports.

Only the finest grapes picked following an outstanding growing season from the best vineyards in the Cima Corgo district of the Douro Valley are used. These grapes are harvested at the peak of ripeness. In addition, enough grapes of the required quality level need to be harvested to produce sufficient quantities of wine for a ‘vintage' to be commercially viable.

Vintage Port is produced by blending component wines from the same vintage (year) produced from the aforementioned grapes. The final blend is aged in wood from two to three years, then bottled. This readies the wine for sale. The actual long-term aging process is expected to be undertaken by the purchaser of the wine.

Beginning one year after harvest, the final wines are tasted repeatedly by the producer. If the producer feels they have the necessary quality and quantity of wine with which to declare a ‘vintage', samples are then submitted in the second year following the harvest to the Instituto do Vinho do Porto or Port Wine Institute for assessment and approval. Once approval is granted by the IVP to the producer, the ‘vintage' may be declared. Vintage Ports are on average declared and released three times every decade.

Late Bottled Vintage Port

LBV Ports can be deceiving in terms of their quality and perceived value. LBV Port is wine produced in a single year which is then bottled during the fourth to sixth year after harvest. LBV Ports are typically produced during good years which go undeclared. Unfortunately, many LBV's are overprocessed to preclude them from throwing sediment and in reality, many are no better than an average quality Ruby Port.

‘Traditional' LBV Ports are subjected to much less processing and are usually of higher quality. Unfortunately, they represent the minority of LBV's produced. Most are instead of the ‘overprocessed' type meaning excessive filtration causes the wines to be stripped of not just their potential to throw sediment, but of much of their character as well. These ‘commercial' LBV Port wines tend to make inappropriate use of the word ‘vintage' on their labels in addition to inappropriately displaying a year or ‘vintage' on the label as well.

Vintage Character Port

Vintage Character Ports have in fact little or nothing to do with the concept of vintage Port. They are not wines produced in a single year or ‘vintage'. In reality, Vintage Character Ports are Rubies of higher quality which have been aged in bulk, typically in oak vats for five to seven years prior to being bottled and sold.

True Port & ‘Port Style' Wines

It is important to note that True Port wine is only produced in Portugal. Anything else produced elsewhere in the winemaking world is simply a ‘Port Style' wine regardless of what appears on the label. Magnotta's Ports are in reality ‘Port Style' wines. However, they are produced using very similar methods to those employed in the production of True Ports produced in Portugal and represent excellent value to the consumer.

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