Original text by Laura Moretuzzo, updated and completed by our editors.
Among Portugal's best-known and most appreciated products is undoubtedly port, a complex fortified wine to which a certain amount of grape spirit is added during production. Although in recent decades Portugal has gained a worldwide reputation for excellent table wines, its wine culture is still closely tied to the famous Vinho do Porto.
From the Douro valley to Vila Nova de Gaia
The wine takes its name from the city of Porto, near the mouth of the Douro, from where it was shipped around the world. The grapes, however, grow about a hundred kilometres upstream, in the Alto Douro: for centuries the wine was loaded onto distinctive flat-bottomed sailing boats, the barcos rabelos, and carried down the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, opposite Porto, where it matured in the lodges (caves), in a cooler, damper climate, before export. Today it travels by road, but rabelos are still moored in front of the lodges, and in June, for Saint John's, they race in a regatta.
The Douro valley is a hard place for growers. The schist hillsides falling to the river are extremely steep and over the centuries have been turned into thousands of terraces held up by dry-stone walls, a sight UNESCO recognised as World Heritage in 2001. The harvest, from late September into October, is made even harder by the heat, as summer temperatures in the valley often exceed 40 °C. In 1756 the Marquis of Pombal officially demarcated the production area, creating one of the world's first demarcated and regulated wine regions.
History
The story of this famous wine is closely linked to English merchants and begins at the end of the seventeenth century when, because of wars with France and heavy duties on French wine, England turned to Portugal for affordable wine; the Methuen Treaty of 1703 further encouraged this trade. Many English and Scottish merchants settled in Porto, built ties with growers and became producers themselves: houses such as Taylor's, Croft, Graham's, Cockburn's and Sandeman still recall them, alongside Portuguese houses such as Ferreira, Ramos Pinto and Calém.
The origin of the production method is part history, part legend. It is said that monks at a monastery near Lamego, in the Douro valley, added spirit to the wine during fermentation, both to keep it longer and because the result was better: the practice, which kept the grapes' natural sweetness while raising the alcohol, became the feature that sets port apart. In fact, as early as the seventeenth century a little spirit was added to wine to help it survive the voyage to England, where port became so popular that it was a favourite at court, and drinking it instead of French wine was seen as almost patriotic.
The modern sweet, concentrated style took shape during the nineteenth century. An important milestone was the 1820 vintage, which produced exceptionally rich, sweet grapes and a naturally concentrated, sweet wine that the market loved. In the following years producers tried to achieve the same result by adding more spirit to the fermenting must to stop fermentation and keep the sweetness: the technique spread and became the rule, creating the unmistakable port style still prized today.
How it is made
The harvest is still almost entirely by hand, since the terraces are hard to reach with machines. Traditionally the grapes were trodden for hours in granite tanks called lagares, and some producers still use this method, or robotic lagares, for their best ports; otherwise crushing is mechanical and fermentation takes place in steel tanks. In this short, intense phase colour and aromas are extracted.
When about half the sugar has turned into alcohol, after two or three days, fermentation is stopped by adding grape spirit, bringing the wine to about 19-22% alcohol. The timing of fortification is crucial: the earlier it happens, the sweeter the wine. Later stages depend on the style being made.
The styles
Ports fall into two big families. Ruby ports, matured in large casks or vats with limited contact with air, keep a deep red colour and red-fruit aromas; Tawny ports, aged for a long time in small wooden casks, take on an amber colour and notes of dried fruit, caramel and spice.
- White: from white grapes, young and fruity, served chilled as an aperitif or with tonic water, the popular Porto tónico.
- Rosé: introduced in 2008, drunk chilled or in cocktails.
- Ruby and Reserve: the most common, ruby-coloured, with red-fruit aromas.
- LBV (Late Bottled Vintage): a single-year wine bottled after four to six years in cask, a fine alternative to Vintage.
- Tawny with an indication of age: 10, 20, 30, 40 and now 50 years, blends of several vintages with the average age shown on the label.
- Colheita: a single-vintage Tawny aged at least seven years in cask.
- Vintage: the finest, made only in exceptional years declared by the producers, from a single year's grapes, bottled after two to three years and meant to age for decades in bottle; it should be decanted before serving.
Visiting the cellars
In Vila Nova de Gaia dozens of lodges, many with rooftop signs visible from Porto, offer guided tours and tastings. In Porto you can learn about the wine's history and influence on the city at the Museu do Vinho do Porto, while in Gaia the WOW cultural district has museums devoted to wine and the region. But the best experience is travelling up the Douro valley, by train, car or boat, to Pinhão and the quintas where the wine is made, ideally during the harvest in September and October. On the Douro see also the page on Lamego.