Port Flashcards
Give 3 examples of Colhieta Port ( house / vintage)?
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Many houses make Colheita Port including, Warres, Dows, Delaforce, Niepoort. I even found a white Colheita from Krohn’s.
Three good producers are: Niepoort (1991) Kopke (1977) Krohn (1989) 1972 Dows 1983 Niepoort 1964 Krohn's White Colheita
Port, famous fortified wine of Portugal’s Douro Valley, enjoys protection of one of the world’s oldest appellations—the Douro was first demarcated in what year? Port has become one of the world’s most co-opted wine styles.
1756
For Porto, the preferred (9) red grapes are? They must constitute a minimum 60% of the blend.
Touriga Nacional Touriga Francesa Tinta Roriz Tinta Cão Tinta Barroca Tinta Amarela Tinta Francisca Bastardo Mourisco Tinto
Preferred (6) white Port grapes include:
Gouveio Malvasia Fina Viosinho Rabigato Esgana Cão Folgasão
True or False:“Port” is a protected term in the EU; the production of Port is overseen/enforced by the Douro Port Wine Institute, or Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP) a regulatory body that absorbed the powers of the Commissão Interprofessional da Região Demarcada do Douro in 2003, which in turn replaced the Casa do Douro in 1995.
True
Government-run IVDP supervises the promotion, production, trade of all Porto/Douro DOP wines. Both growers/shippers must submit to its authority. IVDP requires Port houses to maintain compliance with lei do tergo(“law of the third”), a decree restricting sales of Port to one-third of a house’s total inventory annually. IVDP guarantees label integrity, age designations, samples all appellation wines for authenticity.
Traditionally, grapes were foot-crushed and fermented in low, open granite troughs called _____.
lagares
What is the name of the fortification of wine with spirit—occurs when approximately one-third of the sugar content has been converted to alcohol.
Beneficio
The wine is fortified to 19-22% abv by addition of ______—“burning water”—a 77% abv neutral grape spirit.
aguardente—“burning water”—the spirit is raw and uncomplicated; it is a young, fiery alcohol that contributes nothing to the character of the wine, rather it imparts the robustness necessary for the new Port to reach a proper maturity.
The process of _____ (known to the French as mutage) halts fermentation, killing the yeasts and preserving sweetness in the Port.
beneficio
The winemaker relies on a complex series of calculations to determine amount of aguardente to add to the base wine. For most Port, aguardente will be added to the fermenting wine in a 1:4 ratio, although lower alcohol (and drier) styles of white Port are produced. True or False
True
A _____, the traditional barrel used for both aging and shipping Port wine, varies in size: pipes used in the Douro Valley usually hold ____liters, whereas in Vila Nova de Gaia may often contain _____liters.
pipe=550 liters;
Vila Nova de Gaia-pipe=620 liters
Size of pipe used for shipping Port is set 534.24 liters, although pipes used for shipping Madeira or Marsala are smaller.
What style of Port is often aged in bulk (in wood, cement, or stainless steel) for two to three years prior to bottling. The wine is uncomplicated, deeply colored, and inexpensive. Does not carry a vintage date.
Ruby Port-Does not carry a vintage date.
________, or Premium Ruby, replaced the term “Vintage Character” and offers more complexity and character than a basic Ruby Port.
Ruby Reserve-is a premium ruby port approved by the IVDP’s tasting panel, the Câmara de Provadores. In 2002 the IVDP prohibited the use of the term “Vintage Character”, as the wine had neither a single vintage (usually being a blend of several vintages of ruby port) nor the typical character of vintage port.
This is the most expensive style of Port to purchase and constitutes approximately 1-3% of production.
Vintage Port-must be authorized by IVDP, aged in cask before being bottled by July 30 of the 3rd yr after harvest. Vintage Port will continue to develop in the bottle for decades, a Port house will usually declare a vintage year only in exceptional harvests—often a given house will, on average, declare a vintage three years out of every decade.
Often, if a Port house cannot confidently declare a vintage, it may nonetheless showcase the fruit of one of its better estates as a vintage wine. In a vintage year, such an esteemed estate would usually provide the backbone of a shipper’s Vintage Port. What is the product of one estate’s harvest?
A Single Quinta Vintage Port-Examples include:
Warre’s Quinta da Cavadinha
Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas
Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim
Many smaller quintas release their own vintage wines as well. Single quinta wines are made in the same fashion as other Vintage Ports, and will improve with additional bottle age.
What style of Port spends between four and six years in cask prior to bottling. Obtaining some of the mellowed tones of a Tawny Port, while retaining the youthful fruit and directness of a Ruby Port. It is always the product of a single vintage, but quality may vary greatly.
Late-Bottled Vintage Port (LBV) -filtered prior to bottling; does not require decanting; Do not improve with additional bottle age. Superior styles may achieve quality nearer of a true Vintage Port and improve with bottle age, although they will always reach full maturity sooner than a Vintage Port. Such styles are often unfiltered, and may be labeled as Envelhecido em Garrafa, indicating an additional minimum three years of bottle aging.
True or False:Many wines labeled Tawny Port do not undergo extensive cask aging that is critical to the style, simply paler wines—due to less-thorough extraction, or addition of white Port to blend. Lesser vineyards/vintages constitute these wines, popular aperitif in France.
True
What Port ages for at least seven years prior to bottling. They’re blended from several vintages, and retain some youthful freshness while gaining a hint of the creamy, delicate nature of a true old wine that will not improve with additional bottle age.
Reserve Tawny Port
What Port may be labeled as 10, 20, 30, or 40 Years Old?These wines show progressively more concentrated developed character, reaching oxidative, rancio state by 40yrs of age as result from high-quality fruit, are matured in seasoned wood. Such Ports are racked once annually, often freshened with additional spirit or wine as evaporation takes its natural course, and are finally blended together prior to bottling.
Tawny with Indication of Age-The age indication is not an average age of the blended wines in the bottle, but rather an approximation: IVDP deems Port labeled “10 Year Old Tawny” to taste like 10 Yr Old Tawny, regardless of the wine’s actual age. Port connoisseurs prefer Tawny Port at 20 yrs, when the balance of fruit, mature characteristics is even, the spirit is finely integrated and the wine is not overtly oxidized.
What is a Colheita Tawny Port?
Colheita Tawny Port is a vintage-dated Port that spends a minimum of seven years in cask—many stay in cask for decades. Some producers, such as Calem, a Port house that specializes in the Tawny style, will not bottle Colheita Tawny Ports until an order is received. Thus, Colheita Tawny Port from a particular vintage may vary in character from bottle to bottle.
The IVDP grants each grower’s beneficio authorization—explain what beneficio authorization is?
beneficio authorization—the maximum amount of wine that may be fortified in a given year—based on matrix of 12 factors. Each factor has a min/max point score associated with it, and there are a total of 2,361 points available. 7 soil/climate factors; 5 factors of vine scored.
Vintage Port is considered a type of Ruby Port.
• True
• False
True
What is the traditional barrel used for aging and shipping Port wines? • Pipe • Demimuid • Foudre • Barrica • Butt
Pipe
When are Port wines fortified?
• Before Fermentation
• During Fermentation
• After Fermentation
During Fermentation
