Introduction to PORT Wines

Hi everybody, this is Agnes from No Sediment and today let's talk about port. Port wine. First things first, what really is port wine? Port wine is a fortified wine and in this case fortified wine means that fermenting must is stopped by adding high strength alcohol of 77%. The alcohol in must is increased to around 19-22% and it arrests the fermentation. Alcohol so high is toxic to most of the yeast organisms that are responsible for the fermentation process, leaving residual sugar unfermented, therefore sweet in taste. I talk a bit more about the fortified wine in one of my recent videos, so make sure to check it out. I will link it here. Port wine is made in Portugal, that's easy. The interesting part is that the grapes are grown in Douro Valley, which is located a little bit inland and sheltered away from the Atlantic winds that brings clouds and precipitation. However, historically port wine could be aged only in Vila Nova da Gaia, the twin city of Porto. Nowadays you can age port wine also in the Douro Valley. Historically port wine was made from field blends, that meant that different grape varieties were planted in one vineyard and they usually were harvested at the same time. Nowadays some grape varieties have been highlighted as being superior and better suited for port wine production. These grape varieties might even appear on the back label of wines. These are Tinta Rorish, Tinta Sao and Tinta Baroca, but nevertheless port wine has always been made from blend of different grape varieties. Today port wine can be white, pink and red. With few exceptions white and pink port wines are usually reserved for cocktails and can be served as an aperitif on the rocks or mixed with soda and other soft drinks. But when we talk about port wines for most of the time we think red and red port wine can be divided further. Generally speaking port wine can be divided into two categories, ruby and tawny ports. So guess what? Ruby ports are usually ruby in color and they will show range of ripe dark berries on the nose as well as some hints of chocolate. Tawny ports tend to be lighter in color and usually will show some brownish or bricky hues. On the nose tawny ports will show more dried fruits, toasted nuts, caramel, toffee and milk chocolate. Within these two categories you might have other subcategories such as tawny reserva and ruby reserva. Besides these two which are the port wine styles you should know? Some of the greatest and long-lived port wines are vintage ports. These wines will be made from a single vintage of exceptionally high quality. These wines are not aged long in the barrels usually two to three years only but they will reach their peak after 20 or more years spent in the bottles. As these wines are usually bottled unfiltered then decanting and removing the wine from the sediment pre-or serving is advisable. You might find LBV on the label. In this case it is also a single vintage port wine aged a bit longer in the barrels four to six years for most of the time and bottled filtered meant for most of the time for immediate consumption. There will be other port wines with a vintage on the label for example single Quinta and Correita port wines. Single Quinta are single estate port wines made in a similar style as a vintage port. The best examples of these single Quinta port wines can age as long and gracefully as vintage ports. Correita ports are rare. These wines will also have a single vintage on the label but they will be aged in the barrels for much longer than any other vintage port. The minimum is eight years but most port wines will be aged much longer. Basically it is a tonic port from the single vintage. Another category worth investing is tonic ports with indication of age. Bottle might show 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years of age. If not always there yet with 10 years old port, 20 and 30 years old tonic port wines are some of the greatest port wines out there. They are complex, rich and very very long lasting on the palate. They will show amazingly beautiful nose of toasted nuts, caramel, chocolate and hints of dried berries. These ports will be lighter in color, brown or brick and they should not need a decanting prior serving. Thank you for watching this video and for those who have not been in Douro Wally and have a possibility please visit. Port wine tastes beautiful not only sipped by the fireplace but also within the vineyards. And Douro Wally is one of the most beautiful and picturesque vineyards in Europe, no doubt!