But seriously, Porto is the home of Port wine, so what trip to Porto would be complete without learning about it? I spent a couple days visiting wineries, doing tastings, and even visiting the source! Here is what I learned about Port wine (I realize for many of you this may be old information, but it was all new to me)!
Porto is home to about 20 different wineries. They are very proud of this fact, displaying the old boats once used to transport the wine in the Douro river (which divides the city in half) as well as flags for each of the companies that produce wine in Porto.
The city itself only houses the wine for the last part of their aging process, but their life really began in the Douro valley. This map shows all the different winery locations along the Douro river.
To begin with, the vines themselves actually grow in rock--schist. They have to dynamite holes in the rock before they can plant the vines. It takes about 2 years to prepare the land and plant the vines before a vineyard can yield enough grapes to produce wine.
The Douro valley is very hilly; the vines themselves form terraces up the steep slopes. Whats more, because the vineyards were created hundreds of years ago, the vines are very close together, so there isn´t room enough for machinery. The entire harvest is done manually. Women cut the grapes and load them into large baskets (which weigh 75 kg when full!!!) and men carry them to the tanks using straps on their heads! Like this.
While all grapes were once crushed by foot, now that process is reserved only for the special vintage wines that are produced only after an exceptional harvest. Most of the other wines are produced by a machine that crushes the grapes by mimicking the same process of being tread on by feet. They say the wine is just softer when tread by foot, rather than crushed in steel tanks.
After this, what remains of the skins is removed from the liquid and they can begin the fermentation process. Table wine needs about a week to ferment, the natural bacteria feed of the natural sugar of the fruit, turning it from sugar, to alcohol. Port wine on the other hand, is very sweet (and strong--20% alcohol!) and is best with dessert. To get this sweetness and strength, the wine does not ferment completely. Rather they stop the fermentation process prematurely (after about 2 days) by adding brandy to kill the live bacteria (hence the high alcohol content). By doing so, there is no longer the live agent to convert the natural sugars to alcohol, so you are left with the natural sweetness of the grapes.
Once they have ended the fermentation process, the wine begins its aging process. They manipulate the flavor of the wine by controlling a few different things: contact with oxygen, exposure to light, temperature, and container. The first three (light, air, and temperature) all cause the process of aging to go more quickly. They limit these factors, so that the process can happen slowly to build the right character of the end product.
Containers however, directly shape the flavor of the wine. First of all, if the wine is put in small barrels, two main things happen to shape the flavor of the wine. Due to the higher wood to wine ratio, this wine will take on the layers of flavor of the wood, usually described as nuts, cinnamon, vanilla.... Furthermore, the pores of the wood allow oxygen to get in; more wood surface area, means comparatively more oxygen is in contact with the wine. This changes not only the flavor, but also the color, usually producing the lighter wines--Tawny´s.
On the other hand, wine put into large holding barrels, have much less contact with wood and less oxidation. These keep the deep reds of Ruby wines, and maintain the flavors of fruits and berries.
I will finish with a fun fact. The Portuguese actually have the British to thank for Port wine. The British always got their wine from France, but after a diplomatic fall out, they needed to find another source of wine. They purchased some from Portugal, carrying it back to England in small barrels in their sailing ships. But because of the long journey, the salt air and the extra moisture, the wine was ruined when it arrived. The next attempt, they decided to add brandy to preserve the wine. It worked! They liked the flavor enough, also, to transform the industry entirely!
