Garrafeira I’m guessing a producer accidentally left their port outside in jars under the sun later called it “Garrafeira.” Good problem solving.Rose Port Same as other ports, but made in a rosé style.White Port Same as other ports, but made with white grapes.
The styles of Port are a bit more nebulous than you’d think.įor instance, if a producer doesn’t release their wine in time to be a Vintage Port, then that same wine will get released as a Late Bottled Vintage (LBV). List of Port StylesĪfter visiting the IVDP in Portugal we realized that guaranteeing all the Port in the world is not an easy task. Tawny ports all typically go through longer periods aging in pipas. Winemakers rotate their wines to achieve their ideal balance of character. The Pipas do this by increasing the amount of oxygen exposure to the wine. Aging in smaller oak barrels called ‘pipas’ makes Port taste more nutty. Age Port in Large Oak “Balseiros” or Small Oak “Pipas”?Īging Port in large oak balseiros or steel containers maintains the initial winey (or ‘vinus’) flavor of Port. This means that Port wine producers are legally “encouraged” to age their wines for extended periods of time. Even then, it’s illegal for a Port producer to sell more than 30% of their vintage. Legally, all Port wines must be aged for a minimum of 2 years before release. Port is stable after the brandy is added but it still needs time to develop. Taylors vintage port aging in Balseiros (large oak barrels) Aging Port Wines Most Port producers use about 30% brandy to reach the legal minimum of 17.5 ABV.ĭid you know? Almost all of the brandy used in Portugal is imported from South Africa. Winemakers add the brandy evenly into the Port wine so the yeasts “go to sleep” calmly. The addition of spirits stops the fermentation by creating an environment where the wine yeasts can’t survive. Instead, the fermentation is stopped when the ideal sugar level is reached. Port wine doesn’t go through a complete fermentation. The measure of sugar level is called Baumé. This process takes up to 3 days and then the wine is transferred into fermentation tanks where they continue to ferment until the optimal sugar level is reached. The process of crushing the grapes is either by mechanization or foot treading. In the Douro, lagars are made of granite. Lagars are wide, open-top wine fermenting tanks made from stone or neutral concrete. The wine grapes go into lagars where they are crushed. It was the only way to transfer crushed juice from the lagars into barrels. Buy Nowīefore it was fashionable, Portuguese wine cellars had to use gravity to make wine. Quickly identify flavors in wine using the printed version of the aroma chart. The only thing that really matters is that they are picked at the right moment. The ancient terraces are protected by UNESCO and are too narrow for tractors.Įven though there are many unique grape varietals in the Douro, most are picked together, destemmed together and fermented together. The one thing that machines can’t do is pick the grapes. Over the last 2000 years, most of the Port winemaking process has been mechanized: from automated lagars to destemming grapes. While all Port wines start out in the same manner, each style (ie Tawny vs Ruby) have different aging methods. The use of lagars is an ancient method that is rarely used anywhere else in the world. This method includes the use of lagars which are shallow open vats used to crush the grapes and intensify the extraction of color from the grape skins.
While there are many newer methods to make Port wine, we’ll be discussing the classic method of making Port wine. b.) Port has added spirits (77% ABV brandy) to stabilize the wine for long term aging.a.) Port is a sweet red wine this seems rudimentary, but it’s actually very rare.There are 2 major factors that make Port wine unique: Grape quality is measured by sugar level with this core sample. Port became wildly popular when English merchants started adding brandy to preserve the wine for export. While the term demarcation sounds confusing, it basically means the quality of Port wine is protected. The wines of the region were officially demarcated in 1756. The people of Portugal have been growing grapes along the Douro River since the time of Jesus. Get the feeling of making port wine in the Douro in this short film collected during the rugged 2012 vintage.
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