More than a wine

I am talking about Port wine. Though it is not produced in the UK, it is historically regarded as a British drink. Many of the leading brands were originally British and some producers still are. The country has embraced Port since the 17th century but most Brits buy only one bottle a year, at Christmas!

Where it comes from

The wine comes from the hillsides of the Douro valley in Portugal and takes its name from Oporto which lies at the mouth of the Douro river. But the true home to Port is Vila Nova de Gaia, which is dominated by the Port wine lodges with over fifty wine companies.

History

No one knows exactly when Port appeared. One of the stories tells that a wine merchant in Liverpool sent his sons to Portugal in 1678 to find a wine source. There, they found a monastery in Lamego (Douro Valley) and realized that the abbot was adding brandy to the wine before fermentation, producing a port-type wine. In this way, sometime during the end of the 1600´s or beginning of the 1700´s, someone came up with the idea of stopping the fermentation with brandy while the wine was still sweet, fruity and strong.

Port and Food

Port is traditionally consumed as an accompaniment to cheeses, with desserts or as a digestif. It is not a wine for fast drinking.

Styles of Port

-White: Served in a tall glass with crushed ice, tonic water, a sprig of fre

sh mint and a twist of lemon.

-Ruby: Simple and fruity, used in cocktails, mixers or for cooking.

-Tawny: Barrel/cask-aged ruby port. The aging causes the colour to change from purple to tawny brown.

-Colheita: Aged tawny from a single vintage.

-Vintage: The best wine made with the best grapes from a single harvest. Aged for only two years in wood before bottling, these wines develop slowly over a long period (20 to 60 years).

-LBV-Late Bottled Vintage: Designed to be in a vintage port style but co

nsumed much earlier because of the late bottling process.

-Single quinta: Made from a single estate ( quinta) . Single quinta is made in the same way as vintage port but comes from grapes originating from only one farm.

-Crusted: A blend of different years, bottled young and developing like a vintage port.

Curiosities

* In the past, British men would stay behind to have a glass of port while the women went into another room.