Types of Port

Question 1

What two Port categories must be made from a single vintage?

Answer 1

Vintage Port

Late Bottle Vintage (LBV)

Question 2

What two Port categories can benefit from bottle ageing?

Why don’t Tawny ports also?

Answer 2

Vintage Port
Late Bottle Vintage
Tawny Ports are full developed upon release

Question 3

Why wouldn’t a true tawny port need to be filtered?

Answer 3

They throw their deposit during maturation in pipe

Question 4

What are the two categories of inexpensive Ports? What is the difference in their age?

Answer 4

Ruby Port
Tawny Port
No age difference

Question 5

How might an inexpensive Tawny be made?

4

Answer 5

Use of lighter wine (from Baixo Corgo)
Blending with white port
Hot maturation in the Douro
Heavy fining to remove colour

Question 6

How old is a typical inexpensive Ruby Port?

They will be lower in tannin and concentration than categorised Port

Answer 6

1-3 years old

Question 7

What does Reserve/Reserva indicate?

Answer 7

That an official tasting panel has determined the Port to be of a higher quality than more basic expressions

Question 8

What is the minimum amount of time a tawny Port labelled Reserva must have been aged in wood?

Answer 8

6 years

Question 9

What are the 4 ‘Special Categories of Port?

Answer 9

Reserve/Reserva
Late Bottled Vintage (LBV)
Tawny with indication of age
Vintage

Question 10

How long will a Late Bottled Vintage port have been aged for before bottling?
Most are unfiltered. What will happen in an unfiltered example with bottle age?

Answer 10

4 to six years

A deposit will form and the Port will need decanting

Question 11

What will a Late Vintage Port be matured in prior to bottle? What does this do to the wine?

Answer 11

Large old oak

Softens the wine, making them more approachable upon release

Question 12

What numbers can a ‘Tawny with indication of age’ be labelled with?
How do wines qualify for each label?

Answer 12

10, 20, 30 or 40 years old

Wines qualify if they exhibit characteristics in line with that age. Essentially the average age.

Question 13

Why must ‘Tawny with an indication of age’ be labelled with its bottling date?

Answer 13

Wines will lose freshness after bottling

Question 14

What is the category by which the best tawny ports are labelled?

Answer 14

Tawny with an indication of age

Question 15

Who can declare a year a ‘Vintage’ year?

Answer 15

Individual producers

Question 16

Are ‘Vintage’ Ports fined or filtered?

What might subsequently happen with bottle-age?

Answer 16

No

A heavy deposit will form and decanting needed

Question 17

In what kind of vessel will a ‘Vintage’ port be aged?

Answer 17

Large oak

Stainless

Question 18

How often in a ‘Vintage’ year declared on average in a decade?

Answer 18

3x

Question 19

When must a producer declare their intention to release a ‘Vintage’ Port?
When must it be bottled no later than?

Answer 19

In the second year after harvest

No later than the third year after harvest

Question 20

What labelling term can be used by large producers with more than one quinta (estate) when they wish to release the best wines from just one quinta?

Answer 20

Single Quinta Vintage Ports