porto
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Much like Sherry, Port is another famous fortified wine with historical links to Great Britain. The beautiful tiled town of Porto, in north Portugal, sprawls up steep slopes from the banks of the river Douro. The riverside district (Ribeira) is a Unesco World Heritage site, and you will probably come home with tiles and lace gifts for loved ones.
Port takes its name from this city and the vineyards lie further away in the Douro Valley. On this weekend trip we will cross the dramatic Dom Luis Bridge and focus on the other bank of the Ribeira-Rio Douro (Douro River) - Villa Nova de Gaia, which is where the Port houses are located.
Whilst strolling along the river you can spot (or even take a trip on) the ‘Rabelos’ (boats) bobbing along. Before the advent of road and rail, in the spring following the grape harvest these flat-bottomed boats would navigate the treacherous rapids of the Douro, carrying young Port from the vineyards to cool, dark lodges in Villa Nova de Gaia to be blended, matured and shipped. Many lost their lives doing this, and nowadays Port is transferred by road, with the boats adding to the river’s aesthetics
Here's the best part: You’ll come here for the Port, but you may leave with a new love for Portuguese red wines…
the info
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Porto has a local dish that could be named the PERFECT HANGOVER CURE. Instead it is called Francesinha, and is found in many restaurants. This iconic dish is essentially a meat sandwich covered in melted cheese and drizzled with a hot beer and tomato sauce. I said it was perfect hangover cure right? For the more health conscious, I recommend trying a cod dish with a cold glass of Alvarinho.
For something sweeter, you cannot leave Portugal without enjoying a Pastel de Nata. A wobbly custard tart, burnt and topped with cinnamon.
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I would not wear, or even pack, heels. The hills in Porto are extremely steep and you will only make life difficult for yourself if you attempt them in unsteady footwear.
If eating along the river, watch out for the enormous seagulls. They will unashamedly peck at your dinner plate the same time as you are. And they will win.
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Ready to live the #weekendwinelife in Porto?
You can find a suggested travel itinerary with recommended hotels and restaurants and a reservation check list right here;
what is port?
There are over 80 varieties of grapes that are allowed to be made into Port. Ports are always a blend of some of these grapes to ensure
the right level of body, flavour, colour and tannin is achieved. The most widely planted grape is Touriga Franca, which is a high colour
and high tannin grape, perfect for producing dark Ports. The finest grape grown is Touriga Nacional, however this is quite low yielding
meaning it is expensive to grow lots of.
It is also possible to have white and pink Port. White Port is usually made from Malvasia Fina, Gouveio and Viosinho. Pink Port uses the same varieties as red.
How it's made
When we imagine of Port production, we think of families linked arm in arm treading the grapes, singing, having fun. But why are they doing this? Do they still do this? Why doesn’t this happen for all wine?
To answer these questions, let us learn that Port is a sweet wine, and remember that we get alcohol by yeast eating sugar in the grapes (fermentation). In Port we do not want the yeast to eat all of the sugar - some of it needs to be left for our enjoyment. Once the yeast get to work they are stopped a few days later by the process of fortification (by the addition of up to 77% abv spirit, known as ‘aguardente’) so some sugar and sweetness is left in the must.
So, we have our sweetness, but now we have a different problem. A few days is not long enough to extract all of the tannin and colour from the red grapes to make a wine which is deeply coloured and full of flavour. We need to speed this process up, and one of the ways to do this? Yes, the famous foot treading!
Foot treading is gentle enough to encourage contact between the grape skins and the grape must, without breaking any of the grape seeds that can add bitterness to wine. The foot treading is done methodically, and in shallow lagares to increase the surface area contact of the grape must to the skins. Sadly, labour costs and availability mean this process is now really only done for tourism. Instead robotic lagares which mimic foot stomping are used to rapidly extract colour and tannin from the grapes.
Port is then taken to the town of Villa Nova de Gaia where it is aged until sale.
How does it taste?
There are many different styles of Port, some that are ready to drink as soon as you buy them, and others that are designed to be kept to mature for as long as you can resist the temptation of opening for. You will easily be able to find them all in Porto, for very reasonable prices. Below I have listed the styles of Port, and what flavours you can expect from each one.
useful terminology
Ruby – This is a basic style of Port, which is fruity, affordable and designed to be drunk whilst young. It is aged for less than three years in the barrel by the producer. This style of often mixed with lemonade for a refreshing cocktail.
Reserve Ruby – A premium style of Ruby Port, made with better quality grapes. Like basic Ruby, Reserve Ruby is also aged in barrels by the producer (for about six years) and is bottled ready to drink.
Vintage – A Port from grapes harvested in a single year. It is aged in a barrel for 2-3 years, and then bottled to be aged by the consumer for years to come, ideally around 20-40 years. It is bottled without being filtered, and this is why it is important to decant Vintage Port before you drink it, otherwise you may be left with a mouthful of yucky sediment! (I have had the displeasure of this happening …no matter how fine the quality of the Port this sure does ruin the experience.) Not every year is deemed good enough to be a Vintage year, only the best are, and not all Port houses will declare the same years as vintages.
Late bottle Vintage (LBV) – This is a ready to drink, cheaper alternative to Vintage Port, made for those who do not have the patience to age Vintage Port. It will have been aged for 4-6 years in a barrel, and then it is ready to drink once it’s bottled, so consumers can enjoy it straight away. All of the grapes would have come from the same year, or vintage, however it is unlikely to be from an excellent year.
Single Quinta Ports – These are made in the same way as Vintage Ports however the grapes all come from one ‘Quinta’, or farm.
Crusted Port – This is a fine Ruby Port designed for bottle ageing (unlike regular Ruby that is aged by the producer and bottled when ready to drink). As it ages in the bottle, it will form sediment (hence the name ‘crusted’) so much like a Vintage Port, it will need decanting.
Tawny Port – This is a very different style of Port from those listed above. Oxidation is a key part of the production process, and other than basic styles of Tawny, most undergo long periods of oxidative aging (10, 20, 30 or 40 years) in wooden barrels. This means they are slightly browner in colour (or tawny – hence the name!) and they are softer, smoother and nuttier than vintage Port.
Colheita Port – This is an aged Tawny Port, made from grapes harvested in the same year. The ageing will be done in wooden casks for at least seven years. It is often mistaken for vintage Port as there is a date on the label, but the year of harvest (the vintage) is not the most important thing on this bottle! You want to look out for a second date; the bottling date. Colheita Port will not improve in the bottle after this date, so there is no point in keeping it unopened. A vintage Port however is designed to be aged in the bottle.
White Port – This will be made from white grapes, and likely to be bottled when it is young.
Pink Port – A fairly new style to the Port scene, and Croft have been leading the way with this bublegummy drink. It is a made by allowing the grape must to have a small amount of contact with the red grape skins.
History tells us that during wars with France in the 17th and 18th century, Britain boycotted French wine imports and needed to go elsewhere for their tipple. Portuguese wine could be a replacement, but it wouldn’t survive the long sea journey. So, the wine was fortified, and whether intentionally or by accident, Port was made.
In the mid 1700’s the Marquês de Pombal demarcated the Douro region, meaning this was now the only region Port wine was allowed to be made from. British people bought wine from Portuguese farmers and landowners, and took it down the treacherous Douro River to age it in Villa Nova de Gaia.
You will notice that, much like Sherry, many of the large Port houses have British names.
