Port Production Flashcards
What is added to Port to fortify it?
Grape Spirit
Which two twin coastal cities is the Port industry divided between?
Porto
Vila Nova de Gaia
Where are Port vineyards found in relation to Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia?
Further up the Douro River (70km)
What are three vineyard sub-regions for making Port?
Baixo Corgo
Cima Corgo
Douro Superior
In which Port-producing sub-region are the lightest style of wine found?
Baixo Corgo
In which Port-producing sub-region are the greatest number of top vineyard sites found?
Cima Corgo
Which Port-producing sub-region, despite being sparsely planted is also known as a source for top-quality wine?
Douro Superior
What is the general climate of Port vineyard areas, Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo and Douro Superior? What is the name of the mountains that block the cooling, rain-bearing, Atlantic winds?
Warm, continental
Serra do Marao
List the three Port vineyards from wettest and coolest to hotter and dryer AKA west to east (inland)
Baixo Corgo
Cima Corgo
Douro Superior
What are two major climatic risks in Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo and Douro Superior?
Spring frosts
Heavy downfall
Why is availability to water during the growing season not such a massive issue, despite the regions low rainfall?
Schist bedrock that fractures vertically, allowing roots access to water reserves beneath that are built up by winter rains
Briefly describe Socalcos vineyard design
retaining walls
Patamores (No walls, each terrace has a road)
Vinha ao alto (vineyards plan
Briefly describe Patamores vineyard design
Terraced, without walls, each terrace has a road
Briefly describe Vinha ao alto vineyard design
(not for steep slopes) What machinery is used here?
Vines planted in line with the slope
Winches
What kind of aspect might be taken advantage of here?
North-facing slopes are often used to avoid the full force of the sun
Are the vineyards of the Douro River on steep slopes? What is a benefit of these steep slopes?
Yes
Altitude brings a marked difference in temperature
What is one natural factor that makes maintaining vines in the Douro valley difficult to manage?
Steep slopes
What are common features of the five main black varieties used in the production of Port? (Tannin, 2 clusters)
High tannin
Black fruit
Floral
What are the five main black varieties used in the production of Port?
Touriga Franca Touriga Nacional Tinta Roriz Tinta Barroca Tinto Cao
When is fermentation stopped during the production of port?
When the base wine reaches 5-9% ABV
What level of sweetness is a port?
Sweet
How long does fermentation generally take to reach 5-9% ABV when making port?
What does this mean for the wine?
24 - 36 hours
There isn’t enough time for the level of extraction of tannin and colour expected in Port
What are the two black varieties used in the production of Port that begin with Touriga?
Touriga Franca
Touriga Nacional
What are the 4 extraction techniques used in Port production to extract ample tannin and colour?
Foot treading
Autovinifiers
Piston plungers
Robotic Lagars
What is a lagar or lagares?
Lagares are shallow granite troughs
For how long do large teams of workers tread grapes during the foot-treading process? What dictates them stopping? What happens after they stop stomping?
3-4 hours
They stop when fermentation is underway
Regular cap punch-downs
What is the name of the black grape used in the production of port thats name begins with Tinto?
Tinto Cao
Which extraction method was one of the earliest automated alternatives to foot stomping extraction?
Autovinifiers
What is one downfall of autovinifiers? What new development combats this?
No pre-fermentation extraction
Mechanical paddles
In an autovinifier, the Co2 from crushed grapes fermenting in a seal vat pushes wine up through pipes and into a holding tank. What releases the juice in the holding tank?
When the pressure of Co2 reaches a set level a valve is automatically released.
In an autovinifier, the Co2 from crushed grapes fermenting in a seal vat pushes wine up through pipes and into a holding tank. What releases the juice in the holding tank? What that juice do?
When the pressure of Co2 reaches a set level a valve is automatically released.
Juice floods down over the cap
(and the valve resets, process begins again)
What extraction technique does an autovinifier mimic?
How often will it repeat a cycle?
Pumping over
Repeats every 15-20 mins
What benchmark technique is imitated by piston plungers and robotic lagars?
Foot treading
Piston plungers work by pushing down the cap in …, …-topped vat via robotic pistons
shallow, open-topped
What might a robotic lagar be made of, rather than the traditional granite? They’re about the same size
Stainless steel
The machine imitates the stomping of feet against the base of the lagar until when? What does the robot do after that?
Fermentation begins
Carries out regular cap punch downs
Which three Port wine extraction techniques are used for premium wines?
Foot treading (rarely used at all)
Piston Plungers
Robotic Lagar
What is the maximum ABV of the fortifying grape spirit?
What is it called?
77%
Aguardente
What kills the yeast in the production of Port?
What is the final ABV?
Fortification
19-22%
Where are most Ports transported to for maturation?
Why?
Vila Nova de Gaia
Cooler coastal climate
What type of Port might remain upstream in the wineries to mature? How does this impact maturation and the final product?
Tawny Port
Higher temps result in faster ageing and a loss in colour.
Why is more and more Port being aged in the vineyard area?
Air-con
What 3 kinds of vessels are used for Ruby Port (and all it’s iterations) maturation?
What are producers looking to minimise?
Large old oak
Small old oak
Stainless
Contact with oxygen
What is the name of barrels used in the production of Tawny Port?
Pipes
When might Tawny Ports be blended prior to bottling?
At any point, it is an ongoing process
