The Port Lodges

While the grapes are grown in the Douro Valley, most of the port is still being made in the shippers’ lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia across the river from the city of Oporto, or Porto in Portuguese, where the name of the wine came from.

Port is made by running partially fermented wine into grape spirits, which stop the fermentation. With the residual sugar so it is sweet. Because of insufficient time for the pigment and tannin to come from the must, treading is needed, which is to macerate the grape skins in the juice to extract the phenolics. Human foot is the perfect tool to avoid damaging the pips which release bitterness to the must.

Now because of improving living standard many shippers turn to mechanical substitute, typically autovinifier that automatically pumps wine over the skins. But some finest ports are still produced in the old-fashioned treading.

Most port is shipped downstream in spring to Vila Nova de Gaia to avoid the heat in Douro to cause ‘Douro bake’ but with improving conditions at the quintas many port now is kept and matured where it is made.

The city of Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia has a strong English influence with the port trade dominated by English and Anglo-Portuguese families. The port lodges are similar to sherry bodegas, with barrels called pipes storing superior tawny port from 2-50 years. Larger vats are used for better-quality ports to reduce influence of the wood and oxidation.

In exceptional good years (around 3 out of 10) the best wine will be used to make vintage port, with no blending. It is arguably the world’s best wine. Another style of port goes through a blending process to give a branded wine of specific characters. They mature in a different way, more rapidly to give a mellow and smooth style. The colour is relatively pale (thus the name tawny) and many people prefer this over the vintage port’s full, fat fieriness.

Colheita is the port coming from a single year and normally can be drunk after bottling date. Ruby port is not kept for nearly so long and would not age and reveal any great qualities. Inexpensive tawny is usually a blend of emaciated young ruby ports. White port is made exactly the same way but with white grapes. Those denoted Reserve are young rubies with more quality or tawny with less than 10 years ageing. Crusted port is a blend of different years which are bottled early enough to throw a heavy sediment, so they need to decant beforehand. LBV is kept in barrel for 4-6 years and then bottled, often referred to as modern man’s vintage port.

The wines that I have tasted and owned:

• Dow's Fine Ruby Port
• Dow's Fine White Port
• Dow's Late Bottled Vintage Port 2006
• Graham's 20 Years Tawny Port
• Dow's Vintage Port 1991