Port Flashcards
What is the typical Douro climate?
- warm continental
- 40°C in summer to freezing in winter
- Serra do Marāo shelters from weather, keeping warm
Baixa Corgo:
- 900mm rain
- coldest/ wettest
- inexpensive grapes
Cima Corgo:
- 700mm rain
- water and drier
- Age indicated and vintage ports
Douro Superior:
- 450mm
- fewer plantings
What soil types are in Douro?
- Underlying schist with vertical layers for deep root penetration
- Stony, shallow surface soil
- free draining and poor nutrients
What are the most common forms of vineyard layout?
Socalcos:
- narrow terraces with dry stone walls
- 6,000 vines/ ha, may allow for some mechanisation
- protected by UNESCO
- expensive to build and maintain, so no new ones are created
Patamares:
- narrow terraces with steep earth ramps
- small tractors can use
- suffer erosion and weed growth
- 3,000 to 3,500 vines/ ha
- originally wide enough for 2 vines, the second row suffered
- newer ones narrower because smaller bulldozers available, only 1 vine wide
Vinho ao Alto:
- vertical rows up the slope
- 5,000 vines/ ha
- 40% incline max
- suffer run off and erosion
How are vines trained?
Cordon trained with spur pruning
or head-trained with cane pruning
Summer pruning for exposure
Drought tolerant rootstock (100R)
Maximum yields for port?
55 hl/ha (in practice, more like 30 hl/ ha)
Hazards for port growers?
- late spring frosts
- cool wet weather in fruit set
- downy mildew and botrytis bunch rot in wetter Baixo Corgo
use canopy management and spraying
Farming techniques used in Port?
- fertilisers due to poor nutrients
- weeds controlled by herbicides; mowers; cover crops
Give an overview of Port grapes
over 100 varieties
5 are prescribed for replanting: Touriga Franca; Tinta Roriz; Tinta Barroca; Touriga National; Tinto Cão
Historically planted as a field blend
Set out port grape maceration
large shallow tanks (lagares)
Intensive robotic lagares or foot treading for 2 days
pumping over is used, but not as effective. Often used with stainless steel punching down pistons
List port fermentation choices/ requirements to fermentation
Ripe grapes (flavours and tannins)
typically stainless steel, but also granite and concrete common
Stems may be in or out (good for pressing, bad for bitterness)
17-22°C for whites
28-32°C for reds to aid extraction
how is port fortified?
add aguardente (spirit) 77% (+/- 0.5%)
add about 1l for every 4l must
add when ferment is 5-7% and bring up to 19-22%
80-120 g/l sugar in the final wine
List port production steps after fermentation
No MLF as stopped by fortification
drain and press (much of the press is blended back into free run)
Matured in Douro for first winter, then shipped to lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia
Blending at any point, normally for style consistency by house
How is port matured?
Historically in Vila Nova de Gaia due to Atlantic cooling wind, but as tourism increased, temperature controlled warehouses in the vineyard areas
Some old oak, for oxidative
Racking to remove lees and increase oxidation (as ullage is also adapted) depends on the producer
List ruby ports
- Basic ruby
- ruby reserve
- single Quinta
- crusted
- late bottled vintage (LBV)
- vintage
list tawny ports
- basic tawny
- reserve tawny
- tawny with an indication of age
- colheita
What defines a basic ruby?
- medium bodied
- medium tannin
- simple red and black fruit
- acceptable to good quality
- stainless/ concrete
- maximum three years maturation
What defines a basic tawny?
- lightness and browning from light extraction (not long oxidation)
What defines a reserve port?
- reserve tawny aged for min. 6 years
- reserve ruby goes through a tasting panel (IVDP)
what defines a tawny with an indication of age?
- aged in 620-640l barrel (‘pipes’)
- more integrated alcohol
- dried fruit and oxidative aromas
- 10, 20, 30 or 40 years - based on characteristics, rather than actual age
- some do very old ports (Taylors Scion is 150 years)
What defines a Colheita port?
- single vintage (must be named)
- min. 7 years in barrel
- producer can top up the barrel
What defines a vintage port?
- ‘declared’ vintages
- register second year after harvest and have wine approved by IVDP
- both ‘Touriga’ grapes normally key
- max. 3 years in barrel (18-20 months typical)
- bottled unfiltered/fined
What defines a single quinta port?
- single vintage
- single estate
- normally years when a vintage is not declared
What defined a crusted port?
- max. 2 years in barrel
- bottled unfiltered/fined
- needs 3 further years to be labelled ‘bottle matured’
What defines an LBV port?
- single year
- bottled between 4-6 years after harvest
- matured in large oak or stainless steel
- mostly filtered on bottling. Unfiltered tend to be better quality
What defines a rosé port?
- macerated for a few hours only
- invented by Croft in late 2000s
- 15-16°C ferment to retain red fruit
- neutral aguardente
- released within 12 months
What defines a white port?
Fruity, unoxidised with Muscatel:
- maceration 1-2 hours
- fermented 16-17°C
- stone fruit/ floral
Oxidised with Malvasia:
- 20-22°C ferment
- honeyed, nutty, dried fruit, peel
- can have indication of age if at least 7 years in barrel
List key port wine business considerations
- highly fragmented land ownership means most producers sell grapes to a co-op or a larger producer
- 80% of sales dominated by 5 main producers (e.g. Symington Family owns Cockburns, Dow’s, Grahams, Warre’s)
What is the regulatory body for port?
IVDP
Instituto dos Vinhos do Porto e do Douro
- maintains register of vineyards, producer and shippers
- limits sales volumes
How are port volumes regulated?
The Beneficio is the system
Each vineyard is rated on a number of factors (location, soil, variety, etc) from A (high) to I (low)
Below F - unfortified or distillate only
Volumes are agreed annually between IVDP/ growers/ shippers
Prices are set annually and lots of trading of benefice cards takes place
List key port market developments
production of about 75m litres a year
declining sales since 2000
82% by volume is exported
Still wines are growing in popularity
Rosé used for cocktails
