26 Port

Question 1

Port GI

Answer 1

Portugal (Upper Douro)

Question 2

Is Port wine usually a single varietal or a blend?

Answer 2

Blend

Question 3

Is Port wine usually a single vintage or a blend of vintages?

Answer 3

Usually a blend of vintages.

Question 4

Ports are fortified ___ fermentation.

Sherries are fortified ___ fermentation.

Answer 4

Ports = during fermentation

Sherries = after fermentation

Question 5

Regarding sweetness vs. dryness:

Port is always ___.

Answer 5

sweet

Question 6

Why is Port is always sweet?

Answer 6

Port is always sweet because fermentation is interrupted and stopped by the addition of alcohol (neutral grape spirit) which kills the yeasts, leaving the wine very sweet and high in alcohol.

Question 7

Styles of Port

Answer 7

・Vintage Port

・Ruby Port

・Reserve Ruby Port

・Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) Port

・Tawny Port

・Age stated

Question 8

What determines the style of Port?

Answer 8

Maturation process

Question 9

Ruby-style Ports

Ruby-styled Ports are ___ coloured and ___. ___ fortification, they spend a period of time aging in ___ before they are bottled ready to drink.

Ruby-style wines typically have flavurs of ___.

Answer 9

deeply

fruity

After

large old-oak casks, stainless steel tanks (sometimes)

cooked black fruit (Blackcherry, Blackberry) and sometimes black pepper

Question 10

Ruby Port

Ruby Ports are generally ___, ___, ___ wines with lower___ than other ruby-style Ports.

Answer 10

sweet, simple, fruity

tannins

Question 11

Reserve Ruby Ports

Reserve Ruby Ports use ___ quality wines with ___ flavour intensity.

They are sometimes matured for ___ than Ruby Port to soften and integrate the ___.

Answer 11

better

greater

longer

added alcohol

Question 12

LBV Port

LBV Port is similar in style to a ___ but contains wines from ___.

Answer 12

Reserve Ruby

a single vintage

Question 13

Are Vintage Ports made every single year?

Answer 13

No

Vintages have to be “declared” by Port producers in the Douro and are declared only in exceptional vintages.

Question 14

Vintage Port

2,6,8(Age)

Answer 14

2 Over times, the colour turns from ruby to garnet

6 High

8 Age = Dried fruit

Leather

Coffee

Question 15

Vintage Port

Aging potential

Answer 15

Vintage Port has a potential to mature in bottle for at least 20 years and sometimes much longer.

Question 16

Vintage Port will form a ___ and will need to be ___ before serving.

Answer 16

thick sediment

decanted

Question 17

Tawny-style Ports

The best of these wines develop their colour from ___ in ___.

Over time, the colour changes from ___ to ___ and the wine develops complex notes of ___ and ___.

However, inexpensive wines labelled Tawny Port are ___, ___, low in ___.

Answer 17

oxidative aging

small barrels

Ruby

Tawny

dried fruit

deliberate oxidation (Walnut, Coffee, Caramel)

simple

fruity

tannin

Question 18

What are some of the age indications seen on Tawny Ports?

Answer 18

・10 Year

・20 Year

・30 Year

・40 Year

The older the age indication, the more complex, brown in color, and oxidative it will be.