Dmp Port

[Olowookere Devost]

Grapesgrown for port are generally characterized by their small, dense fruit which produces concentrated and long-lasting flavours, suitable for long aging. While the grapes used to produce port made in Portugal are strictly regulated by the Instituto do Vinho do Porto, wines from outside this region that describe themselves as port may be made from other varieties.

In 2013, there were 8.7 million cases of port sold, 3.6% less than the previous year, at a value of $499 million. Port sales have been declining since 2005 and in 2014 were down 16% from that year.[6] Declining sales are attributed by some to increasing prices, due to the increased cost of alcohol used in the production process.[6] Declining sales have also been attributed to the global rise in alcohol levels of table wines.[7] As of 2014, the leading brand in Portugal is Clem, which sells 2.6 million bottles annually.[8]

Port wine is typically richer, sweeter, heavier, and higher in alcohol content than unfortified wines. This is caused by the addition of distilled grape spirits that fortify the wine, but also halt fermentation before all the sugar is converted to alcohol, and results in a wine that is usually 19% to 20% alcohol.

Port is commonly served after meals as a dessert wine in English-speaking countries, often with cheese, nuts, or chocolate; white and tawny ports are often served as an apritif. In Europe, all types of ports are frequently consumed as apritifs.

The former, without exposure to air, experience what is known as "reductive" ageing. This process leads to the wine losing its color very slowly and produces a wine that is smoother on the palate and less tannic.

The latter, being matured in wooden barrels, whose permeability allows a small amount of exposure to oxygen, experience what is known as "oxidative" aging. They too lose color, but at a faster pace. They also lose volume to evaporation (angel's share), leaving behind a wine that is slightly more viscous.

The most common type, ruby port is stored in tanks of concrete or stainless steel after fermentation, to prevent oxidative aging and preserve its bright red color and full-bodied fruitiness.[9] The wine is usually blended to match the style of the brand to which it is to be sold. The wine is fined and cold filtered before bottling and does not generally improve with age, although premium rubies are aged in wood from four to six years.[9]

Reserve ruby is a premium ruby port approved by the IVDP's tasting panel, the Cmara de Provadores. In 2002 the IVDP prohibited the use of the term "vintage character", as reserve ruby port had neither a single vintage (usually being a blend of several vintages of the ruby) nor the typical character of vintage port.[10]

Rose port is a very recent variation on the market, first released in 2008 by Poas and by Croft, part of the Taylor Fladgate Partnership. It is technically a ruby port, but fermented in a similar manner to a ros wine, with limited exposure to the grape skins, thus creating the rose color.

Above this are tawny with an indication of age, which represent a blend of several vintages. The target age profile, in years in wood, is stated on the label, usually 10, 20, 30, or 40 years. These ports are produced by most houses.

Colheita port is a single-vintage tawny port[14][15] aged for at least seven years, with the vintage year on the bottle instead of a category of age (10, 20, etc.). Colheita port should not be confused with a vintage port: a vintage port will spend only about 18 months in barrels after harvest and will continue to mature in bottles, but a Colheita may have spent 20 or more years in wooden barrels before being bottled and sold. White Colheitas have also been produced.

Unusual and rare, vintage-dated Garrafeira combines the oxidative maturation of years in wood with further reductive maturation in large glass demijohns. It is required by the IVDP that wines spend some time in wood, usually between three and six years, followed by at least a further eight years in glass, before bottling. In practice, the times spent in glass are much longer. The style is associated with the company Niepoort, although others do exist. Their dark green demijohns, known as bon-bons, hold approximately 11 litres (2.4 imp gal; 2.9 US gal) each. Some connoisseurs describe Garrafeira as having a slight taste of bacon, the reason being that, during the second phase of maturation, certain oils may precipitate, causing a film to form across the surface of the glass.

Late bottled vintage (often referred to simply as LBV) was originally wine that had been destined for bottling as vintage port, but because of lack of demand was left in the barrel for longer than had been planned. Over time it has become two distinct styles of wine, both of them bottled between four and six years after the vintage, but one style is fined and filtered before bottling, while the other is not.[17]

The accidental origin of late bottled vintage has led to more than one company claiming its invention. The earliest known reference to a style of port with this name in a merchant's list is to be found in The Wine Society's catalogue from 1964, which includes Fonseca's Quinta Milieu 1958, bottled in the UK, also in 1964. By the 1962 vintage, LBV was being produced in Portugal and bottled as LBV.

LBV is intended to provide some of the experience of drinking a vintage port but without the need for lengthy bottle ageing. To a limited extent, it succeeds, as the extra years of oxidative ageing in the barrel does mature the wine more quickly.

Unfiltered LBVs are mostly bottled with conventional driven corks and need to be decanted. After decanting they should be consumed within a few days. Recent bottlings are identified by the label "unfiltered", "bottle matured", or both. Since the 2002 regulations, bottles that carry the words "bottle matured" must have enjoyed at least three years of bottle maturation before release. Before 2002 this style was often marketed as "traditional", a description that is no longer permitted. Unfiltered LBV will usually be improved by extra years in the bottle.[17] It can age as long as vintage ports and are very difficult to identify as LBVs when inserted into blind tastings of vintage ports.

The filtered wine has the advantage of being ready to drink without decanting and is usually bottled in a stoppered bottle that can be easily resealed. However, many wine experts feel that this convenience comes at a price and believe that the filtration process strips out much of the character of the wine.[18]

Crusted port is usually a blend of several vintages.[19] Unlike vintage port, which has to be sourced from grapes from a single vintage, crusted port affords the port blender the opportunity to make best use of the varying characteristics of different vintages.

Vintage port is made entirely from the grapes of a declared vintage year. While it is by far the most renowned type of port, from a volume and revenue standpoint, vintage port accounts for only about two percent of overall port production. Not every year is declared a vintage in the Douro. The decision on whether to declare a vintage is made early in the second year following the harvest. The decision to declare a vintage is made by each individual port house often referred to as a "shipper".

Much of the complex character of aged vintage port comes from the continued slow decomposition of grape solids in each bottle. These solids are undesirable when the port is consumed, and thus vintage port typically requires a period of settling before decanting and pouring.

Single quinta vintage ports are wines that originate from a single estate, unlike the standard bottlings of the port wine houses which can be sourced from a number of quintas. Single quinta bottlings are used in two ways by producers. Most of the large port wine houses have a single quinta bottling which is only produced in some years when the regular vintage port of the house is not declared. In those years, wine from their best quinta is still bottled under a vintage designation, rather than being used for simpler port qualities.[17]

The term vintage has a distinct meaning in the context of vintage port. While vintage is simply the year in which a wine is made, most producers of vintage port restrict their production of year-labelled bottlings to only the best years, a few per decade. Contrast with second wines, where (primarily) Bordeaux producers release a year-labelled top wine almost every year, but also lesser quality wines in some years.

If a port house decides that its wine is of a quality sufficient for a vintage, samples are sent to the IVDP for approval and the house declares the vintage. In very good years, almost all the port houses will declare their wines.

In intermediate years, the producers of blended vintage ports will not declare their flagship port but may declare the vintage of a single quinta, e.g., the 1996 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim and Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas. Some houses declare their wines in all but the worst years: Quinta do Vesuvio has declared a vintage every year with the exceptions of 1993, 2002, and 2014.

Improved wine-making technologies and better weather forecasts during the harvest have increased the number of years in which a vintage can be declared. Although there have been years when only one or two wines have been declared, it has been over thirty years since there was a year with no declarations at all.

2016 was declared a vintage year by most producers,[24] as was 2011.[25] The quality of the grape harvest was attributed to ideal rainfall and temperature.[26] Other recent widely declared vintage years were 2007, 2003, 2000, 1997 and 1994.[25]

In 1678, a Liverpool wine merchant sent two new representatives to Viana do Castelo, north of Oporto, to learn the wine trade. While on a vacation in the Douro, the two gentlemen visited the Abbot of Lamego, who treated them to a "very agreeable, sweetish and extremely smooth" wine, which had been fortified with a distilled spirit. The two Englishmen were so pleased with the product that they purchased the abbot's entire lot and shipped it home.[27]

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