Fortified Wines Flashcards
Fortified wines are manipulated through the addition of neutral grape spirit, with what purpose?
To strengthen the base wines for the purpose of added body, warmth, durability or ageworthiness
What are examples of Fortified wines from all over the world?
France- VDN
Greece- OPE
Portugal- Setúbal, Carcavelos, and Pico
Spain- Tarragona Clásico, Rueda Dorado, Sherry’s close cousins: Málaga, Montilla-Moriles, Condado de Huelva
What are properly considered aromatized wines?
Vermouth and quinquinas
What is essential to the flavor of Quinquinas?
cinchona bark is essential to the flavor of quinquinas
What are Vermouth and quinquinas?
fortified wines flavored by maceration with additional herbs and spices (aromatized wines)
What are the 3 general methods of fortification?
- spirit added during fermentation (Port)
- spirit added when fermentation complete (Sherry)
- spirit added before fermentation
When a spirit is added before fermentation to the juice, what does this produce?
A “mistelle” rather than a fortified wine
What was “mistelle” once known as?
exclusively as vins de liqueur (liqueur wines), but the EU has extended its definition to include all fortified wines
What are examples of vin de liqeurs in France?
Champagne- Ratafia
Cognac- Pineau des Charentes
Armagnac- Floc de Gascogne
Jura- Macvin du Jura
What is one of the world’s oldest appellations?
the Douro was first demarcated in 1756
What is now a protected term in the EU?
“Port”
The production of Port is overseen and enforced by who?
The Douro Port Wine Institute, or Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP)
What regulatory body absorbed the powers of the Commissão Interprofessional da Região Demarcada do Douro in 2003, which in turn replaced the Casa do Douro in 1995?
The Douro Port Wine Institute
What is the Casa do Douro?
A syndicate of growers’ guilds established in 1932 that assumed control over the regulation of viticulture
Why did the Casa do Douro lose many of its regulatory functions?
B/c it bought controlling shares in Royal Oporto, a port shipper and the surviving remnant of the Companhia Geral dos Vinhos do Alto Douro, the original oversight “company” established in the Douro in 1756
The IVDP requires Port houses to maintain compliance with what law?
The lei do tergo(“law of the third”), a decree restricting sales of Port to one-third of a house’s total inventory annually. I
The IVDP grants each grower’s beneficio authorization—the maximum amount of wine that may be fortified in a given year—based on what?
A matrix of twelve factors
What are the 12 factors of the beneficio authorization matrix?
soil and climate factors are scored: 1. location 2. altitude 3. exposure 4. bedrock 5. rough matter 6. slope 7. shelter vine, itself, factors: 8. type of vine 9. planting density 10. yield 11. training system 12. vine age
What are the Maximum yields in the Douro for red grapes?
55 hl/ha
What are the Maximum yields in the Douro for white grapes?
65 hl/ha
For Porto, what are the preferred red grapes?
Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Cão, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Francisca, Bastardo and Mourisco Tinto.
The preferred red grapes for Porto must constitute a minimum ___% of the blend
60%
For Porto, what are the preferred white grapes?
Gouveio, Malvasia Fina, Viosinho, Rabigato, Esgana Cão, and Folgasão
Many of the Douro’s vineyards are planted on what?
steep, terraced slopes
What one new Douro planting system abandons traditional terraces in favor of planting vines in vertical rows leading directly up the slopes?
Vinhos ao Alta
What are Patamares?
wider terraces that can be navigated by tractor, most common in Douro
Porto grapes are harvested by ___
HAND
In Porto, traditionally, grapes were foot-crushed and fermented in what?
low, open granite troughs called lagares
What are Autovinifiers?
an Algerian vinification technology in which the fermenting wine would be pumped over the cap by virtue of its own buildup of gas, became more and more common during labor shortages in the 1960s and 1970s
__ ___ ___ designed in the 1990s, and open-top fermenters with pump-over systems are newer alternatives for Porto
Automated treading machines
Ultimately, what is the goal of the short, two-to-three day Port fermentation?
to maximize extraction of color and flavor in the limited available time
What is Beneficio?
the fortification of wine with spirit
When does Beneficio occur?
when approximately 1/3 of the sugar content has been converted to alcohol
Porto is fortified to what abv?
19-22% abv
What is added to Porto to halt fermentation?
aguardente, “burning water”, a 77% abv neutral grape spirit.
What is the process of beneficio known to the French as?
mutage
For most Port, aguardente will be added to the fermenting wine in what ration?
1:4 ratio, although lower alcohol (and drier) styles of white Port are produced
What category in Port was pioneered in the late 2000s by Croft?
rosé Ports
How are White and Rose Ports made?
with lesser degrees of maceration
What choices following fortification determine the final style of the Porto?
the length of aging and the type of vessel
What is the traditional barrel used for both aging and shipping Port wine?
A pipe
Pipes used in the Douro Valley usually hold __ liters
550
Pipes in Vila Nova de Gaia may often contain ___ liters.
620
The size of a pipe used for shipping Port is set at ___liters
534.24
Pipes used for shipping Madeira or Marsala are ___ than those used for Porto
smaller
What are the 2 broad, fundamental styles of Port?
Ruby and Tawny
Ruby Ports, which include Vintage Ports, are ____
bottle-aged
What are Ruby ports in character?
display darker color, more youthful fruit and spice tones, and a more aggressive, fiery character
What are Tawny Ports in character?
cask-aged, and develop more complex, mature tones of toffee, dried fruits, and toasted nuts with time
Tawny Port, naturally, develops what as it ages in wood?
lighter, amber tones of color
Aging has historically occurred where in Porto?
the Port lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia, a suburb of Oporto, although this ceased to be mandatory in 1986
While the cooler air of coastal Oporto is preferable to the warmer Douro DOP for long-term maturation, what makes this a moot point today?
modern climate control
Today, many smaller quintas choose to age their Port wines where?
At their facilities in the Douro Valley
Describe basic Ruby Port
often aged in bulk (in wood, cement, or stainless steel) for 2-3 yrs prior to bottling. Uncomplicated, deeply colored, and inexpensive, no vintage date.
What is Ruby Reserve/Premium Ruby Port?
replaced the term “Vintage Character”, offers more complexity and character than a basic Ruby Port
____ Port is the most expensive style of Port to purchase and constitutes approximately 1-3% of production.
Vintage
A Port house will usually declare a vintage year only in exceptional harvests—often a given house will, on average, declare a vintage ___ years out of every decade.
3
Vintage Port must be authorized by the IVDP, and is aged in cask before being bottled when?
by July 30 of the third year after harvest
What is a Single Quinta Vintage Port?
the product of one estate’s harvest
Often, if a Port house cannot confidently declare a vintage, it may nonetheless do what?
showcase the fruit of one of its better estates as a vintage wine
What are examples of some Port Houses best estates?
Warre’s Quinta da Cavadinha
Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas
Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim
What is a Late-Bottled Vintage Port:?
A ruby port that spends between 4-6 years in cask prior to bottling
What are the characteristics of a Late-Bottled Vintage Port?
wines obtain some of the mellowed tones of a Tawny Port, while retaining the youthful fruit and directness of a Ruby Port
LBV Port is always the product of what?
a single vintage
The majority of LBV wines are filtered prior to bottling and do not usually what?
improve with additional bottle age
What are higher quality styles of LBV Porto?
unfiltered, labeled as “Envelhecido em Garrafa,” indicating an additional min 3 years of bottle aging
Many wines labeled as Tawny Port do not undergo what?
the extensive cask aging that is critical to the style, but are simply paler wines—due to the provenance of grapes, a less-thorough extraction, or the addition of white Port to the blend.
What are Reserve Tawny Ports?
age for at least 7 years prior to bottling, blended from several vintages, retain some youthful freshness while gaining a hint of the creamy, delicate nature of a true old Tawny
Tawny Port will not improve with ____
additional bottle age
Tawny Port may be labeled with an indication of what?
Age- 10, 20, 30, or 40 Years Old.
Tawny Portos with Indication of Age show a progressively more concentrated and developed character, reaching what by 40 years of age?
A pronounced oxidative, rancio state
The age indication on a Tawny Porto is what?
not an average age of the blended wines in the bottle, but rather an approximation
The IVDP deems a Port labeled “10 Year Old Tawny” to __ like a 10 Year Old Tawny, regardless of the wine’s___ ___
taste, actual age
Many Port connoisseurs prefer what age of Tawny Port?
20 years of age, when the balance of fruit and mature characteristics is even, the spirit is finely integrated and the wine is not overtly oxidized.
What is a Colheita Tawny Port?
a vintage-dated Port that spends a min of 7 years in cask—many stay in cask for decades
What house that specializes in the Tawny style will not bottle it’s Colheita Tawny until an order is received?
Calem
What are among the longest-lived wines in the world?
The fortified wines of Madeira
Where is Madeira?
A subtropical island rising sharply from the Atlantic nearly 625 miles off the coast of Portugal
The wines of Madeira originally developed their distinctive character from what?
lengthy ocean voyages through the tropics, where the wines would be subjected to repeated heating and cooling.
What is approximated today by heating Maderia during the production process?
The torna viagem(“round trip”)
Madeira DOP wines may be produced on Madeira and where else?
the neighboring Porto Santo, the only other inhabited isle in the Madeira archipelago
What ring the island of Madeira’s perimeter like steps on the nearly vertical mountainside, and support viticulture on the vertiginous incline?
walls of basalt stone sustain terraces known as “poios”
What is Madeira’s soil?
fertile volcanic soils
On Maderia, most of the vineyards are trained on what?
a pergola system
On Madeira, vines are suspended on low trellises known as latadas, in order to combat what?
dangers of fungal disease in the damp subtropical environment
Madeira rises to a high altitude, the perpetual cloud cover over its mountainous interior results in abundant rainfall on the higher peaks which feeds what?
A system of levadas, or canals, and makes agriculture possible
The obstacle of terraces and the small size of vineyard holdings render ____ harvesting unworkable
mechanical
The average grower’s estate is 0.3 hectares, often separated among several plots; thus, production is concentrated in the hands of what?
several large companies
What regulates harvesting and production methods of Madeira wines?
Embroidery and Handicraft Institute of Madeira (IVBAM)
What are the 3 types of companies involved in the Madeira wine trade?
- Production Companies
- Shipping Companies
- . Partidistas
What do the production companies do in Madeira?
make the wine, most are based in Funchal, Madeira’s capital.
How many production companies are currently registered with the IVBAM?
8, but only 6 actively export wine
_____ is the largest company today in Madeira, and is responsible for half of the island’s exports
Vinhos Justino Henriques
What is The Madeira Wine Company?
formed as an association of exporters and producers in 1913, commands the second largest market share and produces recognizable brands such as Blandy’s and Cossart Gordon
What is the largest independent producer in Madeira?
Henriques & Henriques, also the only company that owns a significant amount of vineyards
What are Shipping companies?
They trade wine, rather than make it, and are usually based in London
A Madeira shipper will select wines from a producer, who will then bottle the wine under the _____
shipper’s brand
What is an example of a Madeira trader?
Broadbent Selections, a Shippping company founded by Bartholomew Broadbent (son of Michael) selects wines produced by Justino’s
What are Partidistas?
they store wine and sell it at maturity to other traders for a profit
Partidistas are similar to what of the sherry trade?
the almacenistas
What are the Madeira Production Companies?
- H.M. Borges (founded 1877)
- Henriques & Henriques (founded 1850)
- Madeira Wine Company (originally formed in 1913 as Madeira Wine Association, changed its title in 1981)
- Pereira D’Oliveira (founded 1850 as a partidista)
- Vinhos Barbeito (founded 1946)
- Vinhos Justino Henriques (founded 1870)
- Faria & Filhos (founded 1949)
What are the principal noble white grapes of Madeira today?
- Sercial (Esgana Cão)
- Verdelho (Gouveio)
- Boal (Bual, Malvasia Fina)
- Malmsey (originally Malvasia Candida, now more commonly Malvasia Branca de São Jorge)
What is Madeira’s workhorse, accounting for nearly 85% of its total production?
Tinta Negra (formerly called Tinta Negra Mole)
What is Tinta Negra capable of?
has been vilified in the wine press, but it is capable of producing good quality wines across a wide range of sweetness levels
Madeira regulations are a tacit acknowledgement of Tinta Negra’s poor reputation, as the DOP prohibits what?
using the name of the variety on labels
Old or new, Madeira wine without a variety on the label is likely the product of what?
Tinta Negra
If a variety (aside from Tinta Negra) is included on the label, the wine must contain a minimum ___ of the stated grape if it’s a multi-vintage blend, or ___ of the stated variety if a vintage is indicated
85%, 100%
What served as a precursor to many significant and long-lasting changes to the Madeiran viticultural landscape?
The incursion of phylloxera in 1872
Tinta Negra displaced ___ as the island’s most planted grape in the decades after Phylloxera
Verdelho