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What is Port Wine?

What is port wine? Port wine is a fortified wine from the Douro region of Portugal. A fortified wine is a wine with alcohol added. With Port wine, a neutral grape spirit is added half way through fermentation to bring alcohol content to about 20% by volume. When the alcohol is brought to that level it causes the yeast to die off that were actively turning the sugars into alcohol. This results in a sweet high alcohol wine. At this point if the wine is bottled right away it is called a ruby port. There is a tasting panel in Portugal which is able to elevate the status of ruby port to reserve if it is deemed of high enough quality. It is a subjective designation with no actual qualifications other than passing the taste test. Tawny Ports are less common than ruby and they usually come as 10, 20, and sometimes 40 years aged. There are more than those for tawny, but 10yr and 20yr is the most common you will find. These wines are aged in barrel an average age of the amount of years on the bottle. Because of this extended barrel age the resulting wine is usually lighter and nuttier from the oxidation that occurs in the barrel. A colheita is a tawny from a single year. Vintage Ports are from a single year, spend a couple of years in barrel, but then are bottled unfiltered with intention to continue ageing in the bottle. Vintage Ports are considered collectible because of their very long life spans. A vintage Port can easily last 50 years and in some cases much longer. The high alcohol, tannins, and residual sugar of vintage Ports helps it age longer than most other types of wine. There are a few grapes utilized in Port, but the most desirable is Touriga Nacional.

2 Replies to “What is Port Wine?”

    1. Daniel Braun says:

      Hi Steve,

      We currently have Kopke 10yr ($39) and Graham’s 20yr ($77) in stock as of 12/30/2015. We are also happy to special order something for you.

      Best Regards,
      Daniel
      daniel@princevillewinemarket.com

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