Porto

Question 1

Port

Answer 1

the famous fortified wine of Portugal’s Douro Valley

Question 2

Porto DOP location

Answer 2

-within The Duriense IGP a slender region that encompasses the eastern, mountainous Douro River Valley south of Transmontano

Question 3

Porto DOP climate

Answer 3

-warm to hot climate

Question 4

Port basics

Answer 4

• fortified during fermentation
• occurs when approximately one-third of the sugar content has been converted to alcohol. The wine is fortified to 19-22% abv by the addition of aguardente a 77% abv neutral grape spirit
• bottled-aged or wood-aged

Question 5

What is Beneficio?

Answer 5

• the fortification of wine with spirit
• known to the French as mutage
• halts fermentation, killing the yeasts and preserving sweetness in the Port

Question 6

what is a Pipe when talking about Port?

Answer 6

The traditional barrel used for both aging and shipping Port wine,

• pipes used in the Douro Valley usually hold 550 liters
• pipes in Vila Nova de Gaia may often contain 620 liters.
• for shipping Port is set at 534.24 liters, although pipes used for shipping Madeira or Marsala are smaller.

Question 7

The preferred red grapes are for Porto are?

Answer 7

Touriga Nacional 
Touriga Francesa
Tinta Roriz 
Tinta Cão
Tinta Barroca 
Tinta Amarela
Tinta Francisca
Bastardo 
Mourisco Tinto
-They must constitute a minimum 60% of the blend

Question 8

Preferred white Port grapes include?

Answer 8

Gouveio
Malvasia Fina
Viosinho
Rabigato
Esgana Cão
Folgasão

Question 9

Styles of Port

Answer 9

• Ruby

- Tawny

Question 10

Ruby Ports

Answer 10

-Vintage Ports
-bottle-aged
With the exception of well-aged, venerable Vintage Ports, Ruby Port wines will display darker color, more youthful fruit and spice tones, and a more aggressive, fiery character.

Question 11

Tawny ports

Answer 11

• cask-aged
• develop more complex, mature tones of toffee, dried fruits, and toasted nuts with time.
• Tawny Port, naturally, develops lighter, amber tones of color as it ages in wood.

Question 12

Ruby port styles

Answer 12

• Ruby Port
• Ruby Reserve Port
• Vintage Port
• Single Quinta Vintage Port
• Late-Bottled Vintage Port

Question 13

Ruby Port

Answer 13

• often aged in bulk (in wood, cement, or stainless steel) for two to three years prior to bottling.
• The wine is uncomplicated, deeply colored, and inexpensive.
• Ruby Port does not carry a vintage date.

Question 14

Ruby Reserve Port:

Answer 14

-Ruby Reserve, or Premium Ruby, replaced the term “Vintage Character” and offers more complexity and character than a basic Ruby Port.

Question 15

Vintage Port

Answer 15

• the most expensive style of Port to purchase and constitutes approximately 1-3% of production.
• A Port house will usually declare a vintage year only in exceptional harvests—often a given house will, on average, declare a vintage three years out of every decade.
• Vintage Port must be authorized by the IVDP, and is aged in cask before being bottled by July 30 of the third year after harvest.
• Mature Vintage Port requires decanting
• Quality is a chief factor in determining a vintage year, and a house will utilize the best vineyards available to it when creating a vintage blend, yet market concerns also play a role.
• Back-to-back, or “split” vintages are rare, as few shippers want to flood the market lest prices plunge.

Question 16

Single Quinta Vintage Port:

Answer 16

• A single quinta Vintage Port is the product of one estate’s harvest.
• Often, if a Port house cannot confidently declare a vintage, it may nonetheless showcase the fruit of one of its better estates as a vintage wine.
• In a vintage year, such an esteemed estate would usually provide the backbone of a shipper’s Vintage Port.
• Examples include Warre’s Quinta da Cavadinha, Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas, and Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim.
• Single quinta wines are made in the same fashion as other Vintage Ports, and will improve with additional bottle age.

Question 17

Late-Bottled Vintage Port:

Answer 17

• (LBV) spends between four and six years in cask prior to bottling.
• the wines obtain some of the mellowed tones of a Tawny Port, while retaining the youthful fruit and directness of a Ruby Port.
• LBV Port is always the product of a single vintage, but quality may vary greatly.
• The majority of LBV wines are filtered prior to bottling; they will not require decanting and do not usually improve with additional bottle age.
• However, superior styles may achieve quality nearer that of a true Vintage Port and improve with bottle age, although they will always reach full maturity sooner than a Vintage Port. Such styles are often unfiltered, and may be labeled as Envelhecido em Garrafa, indicating an additional minimum three years of bottle aging.

Question 18

Port: IVDP

Answer 18

Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto

Question 19

Tawny port styles

Answer 19

• Tawny Port
• Reserve Tawny
• Tawny with Indication of Age
• Colheita Tawny

Question 20

Tawny Port

Answer 20

• Many wines labeled as Tawny Port do not undergo the extensive cask aging that is critical to the style, but are simply paler wines—due to the provenance of grapes, a less-thorough extraction, or the addition of white Port to the blend.
• Lesser vineyards and vintages constitute these wines, which are a popular aperitif in France.

Question 21

Reserve Tawny

Answer 21

• ages for at least seven years prior to bottling.
• wines are blended from several vintages, and retain some youthful freshness while gaining a hint of the creamy, delicate nature of a true old Tawny.
• will not improve with additional bottle age

Question 22

Tawny with Indication of Age

Answer 22

• may be labeled as 10, 20, 30, or 40 Years Old
• wines show a progressively more concentrated and developed character, reaching a pronounced oxidative, rancio state by forty years of age.
• Tawny Ports that display an age indication result from high-quality fruit, and are matured in seasoned wood.
• The age indication is not an average age of the blended wines in the bottle, but rather an approximation: for example, the IVDP deems a Port labeled “10 Year Old Tawny” to taste like a 10 Year Old Tawny, regardless of the wine’s actual age.
• Many Port connoisseurs prefer Tawny Port at 20 years of age, when the balance of fruit and mature characteristics is even, the spirit is finely integrated and the wine is not overtly oxidized.

Question 23

Colheita Tawny

Answer 23

• vintage-dated Port that spends a minimum of seven years in cask—many stay in cask for decades.
• Some producers, such as Calem, a Port house that specializes in the Tawny style, will not bottle Colheita Tawny Ports until an order is received. Thus, Colheita Tawny Port from a particular vintage may vary in character from bottle to bottle.