Port Flashcards
How are Ports made?
Adding grape spirit to a fermenting juice
What are the two twin cities of the Port industry?
Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia
Where are the two Port cities located?
Lie on the opposites sides of the mouth of the river Douro
What are the three sub-regions of the Port vineyards?
Baixo Corgo (lightest wines), Cima Corgo (largest number of top vineyards, Douro Superior (top quality wine)
What is the climate of the Port vineyards?
Broadly speaking it is warm continental. But not uniform
What is the topography like in the Port sub regions?
Very tall and very steep but also varied
What are the five varietals in premium port production?
Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, and Tinta Cao
What is the general style of Port?
complex blends of many different varieties that are thick-skinned, high tannin, black fruit and floral aromas
How is fermentation handled when making Port?
Fermentation is stopped by fortification when abv level reacheds 5-9% to create a sweet wine.
How long does Port fermentation last?
Only 24-36 hours
Since the Port fermentation is so short, how do they extract deep colors and tannins?
Foot treading, autovinifiers and piston plungers and robotic lagares
What is a lagares?
In the production of port, they are the shallow granite troughs where the workers foot tread
What is an autovinifier?
Automatic extraction technique that is similar to pumping over but creates more contact with skin
What are piston plungers and robotic lagares?
Automatic systems used to replicate foot treading
How is fortification different than Port than it is for Sherry?
Port starts out with very low alcohol so it is fortified to up to 20% of grape spirit whereas Sherry only has about 3.5% grape spirit
Where are Ports usually matured and why?
They are transported downstream to Villa Nova de Gaia because the coastal climate is well suited to slow maturation of ports
What type of vessels are Ports matured in and why?
old oak vessels, new oak is not a flavor profile wanted in ports
What two broad styles of Port are there due to the type of vessel used?
Ruby styles and Tawny styles
What is the diff between Ruby Port and Tawny Port?
Ruby have intense primary fruit character, minimized oxygen and shorter period of time in large old oak, deep colored. Tawny ports undergo long oxidative maturation in barrels called pipes. Wines are made in same way the only difference is the time in maturity
All Ports are non-vintage with the exception of which two?
Late bottled Vintage and Vintage Ports
What are two categories of inexpensive Port?
Basic Ruby and Tawny ( no ageing)
What are the special categories of Port?
Reserve/Reserva, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), and Tawny with an Indication of Age
What is the Reserva category of Port?
Labelling term that can be applied to both Ruby and Tawny that are higher quality. A tasting panel choosing and minimum ageing requires 6 years
What is Late Bottled Vintage Port?
Vintage wines that have aged between 4 and 6 years before bottle. The extra ageing makes them more approachable upon release compared with Vintage Ports.
