What

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What's Port?
28/07/01. Changed 30/12/01;07/09/02;04/01/03;06/12/03;05/03/05;02/09/06;03/01/07;15/03/08.

Port is a fortified wine. For a normal wine the fermentation, which starts after the flattening of grapes, is let to be totally completed. That results in a dry wine with an alcohol proof of approximately 12%.
During the production of Port the natural fermentation process is stopped at an alcohol level of about 7% by addition of aguardente (pure wine alcohol) of 77% in a ratio of around 1 : 4. This stops the fermentation process leaving many rest sugars and developing a sweet wine with an alcohol level between 19 and 22%. By varying the quantity of alcohol and the supply moment, Port a little more sweet or dry develops.

Port is produced in a legally fixed geographical and internationally recognized area along the river Douro in North-Portugal. This Região Demarcada do Douro was created by Marquis de Pombal in 1756.
Often the Douro region is cited as the oldest demarcated wine region in the world. This is however not correct. The authoritative Portuguese historian and director of the Museu do Douro professor Gaspar Martins Pereira says on page 47 of the IVDP book Port Wine of 2004 that two regions were demarcated earlier: Chianti in Tuscany in 1716 and Tokay in Hungary in 1737.
However, many people stick to their views, often on the basis of the quality of the demarcation. Luís Lopes and João Paulo Martins, for example, write in "200 dicas sobre vinhos" (apendix to the 200th issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos):
"In 1716 the Chianti region in Italy was the first geographically demarcated wine area, but in 1756 the Douro/Porto was the first with exact borders, own legislation and controle."

The only other place where it is allowed to deal with Port Wine is Vila Nova de Gaia, the dual town of Oporto on the south bank of the river Douro. Here it is allowed to store, bring up, blend and bottle Port Wine.

The products from for example South-Africa, Australia and California, which are made to resemble Port, are therefore fake.

The demarcated region begins - as the crow flies - at about 60 km. east of the center of Oporto and goes on to the Spanish border. The total length is some 100 km. The largest breadth of around 55 km. is found near Vila Flôr.
The total area measures about 250,000 hectares of which some 42,000 hectares with vineyards, split up into around 104,000 lots. On average owners possess some 2.24 lots or 0.9 hectare.

The area is divided in the Baixo Corgo (below the Rio Corgo), the Cima Corgo (above the Rio Corgo) and the Douro Superior (upper Rio Douro).
The production in the Baixo Corgo is by far the most voluminous, but generally not the best. The best Port comes from the region round the village of Pinhão - the Cima Corgo, and especially from the north bank of the Douro river.

From exactly the same demarcated region also come the not fortified Douro table wines.

The climatic differences in the area are large. The temperature rises strongly towards the Spanish border. And the rainfall becomes substantially less in the same direction, although there are large differences everywhere between estates low and high on slopes (Vila Real 1130 mm. - Pocinho 400 mm. a year).

Quality control in the Port industry is performed by the IVDP, the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (formerly IVP) - www.ivdp.pt This control is a permanent process from the production to the bottling. Each lot of Port Wine, the Standards as well as the Special Categories (see: Files/Types 1b), has to be approved in all laboratory tests and by the Câmara de Provadores within the norms determined for a certain type.
The 7 members who constitute the permanent Câmara de Provadores test some 20 lots almost daily of which 10 are new ones. The others are earlier judged samples. By testing these again, the consistency of the tasters is controlled permanently.
The IVDP ratifies the end approval with the Selos de Garantia (numbered guarantee seals), the characteristic gray strips between cork and capsule (see picture).

Port knows many types, which can however be well divided into groups:
The quality gradings have been established in the Regulation no. 36/2005 of the IVDP.

- White: Standard White (5), Reserva/Reserve White (very good - 7), Colheita White (super - 8), Aged White (super - 8).

- Ruby style: Standard Ruby (5), (Ruby) Reserva/Reserve (very good - 7), Crusted (super - 8), Late Bottled Vintage - LBV (super - 8), Vintage (exceptional - 9).

- Tawny style: Colheita (red) (super - 8), Garrafeira (super - 8), Standard Tawny (5), Reserva/Reserve Tawny (very good - 7), Aged Tawny’s (super - 8).

For more see: Files/Types.