The Production Of The Vintage Port Wine And The Different Types Of Ports

The port wine also known as port is the Portuguese fortified wine (wine with added distilled beverage) and is produced in the Douro Valley (Northern provinces of Portugal).  This Vintage Port Wine is usually a sweet and red wine generally served as a dessert wine. These fortified wines are in the style of a port and are also produced in Canada, Australia, United States, South Africa, India and Argentina too. 

 

Production of the Port Wine

 

This port wine is produced from grapes grown and processed in the demarcated Douro region. This produced wine is then fortified by adding a neutral grape spirit for stopping the fermentation. It leaves a residual sugar in the wine and thereby boosts up the alcohol content. The fortification spirit is referred to as brandy sometimes but it does not resemble commercial brandies. This port wine is stored and aged in barrels stored in a cave before bottling.

 

Different types of Port Wine

 

The Vintage Port Wine

 

The Vintage Port Wine is the premium port which is made absolutely from the grapes of a declared vintage year.  Once the vintage wine is produced, it is allowed to age in barrels for almost three years and it is usually bottled without filtering. These port wines are full-bodied wines which develop into full and rich wines with flavors of liquorice (sweet and chewy, aromatic black substance giving a sweet taste) pepper, plums and black currant. These wines are declared only three times in a decade and the reputation of the owners is usually dependent on the quality of the declared vintage.

 

The White Port

 

This Vintage Port Wine is made from white grapes and it is made in a wide variety of styles. These white grapes produce both dry and sweet styles of port and it is usually consumed as aperitif (an alcoholic drink taken before a meal for stimulating the appetite) and it is best served when chilled slightly.

 

The Tawny Port

 

This Port Wine is a blended port which has received further aging in the barrel. The added aging of this wine can range from three to forty years. The wine is red in color but develops a brown shade and has flavors of raisin and nuts as it ages. These tawny ports are sweet or medium dry and are usually consumed as dessert wine.

 

Colheita

 

The colheita is a tawny port which is made from a quinta or single vintage. The actual vintage year is mentioned in the bottle rather than indicating the age of the port.  This Colheita may have spent twenty or more years in wooden barrels before it is being bottled and sold. 

 

The Single quinta Port Wine

 

Single quinta vintage ports are the unique Vintage Port Wine that originated from a single estate. There has been a raise in the manufacture and selling of the single quinta vintage port as high-end wines. The complex character of the aged port wine comes from the slow decomposition of the grapes continuously in each bottle. Visit Us for more information.