Port Wine

Enjoying wine is as natural as enjoying a good meal and, nowadays, an increasing number of people interested in gourmet cuisine, and enjoy the pleasures associated with wine tasting. Therefore, it is common for people to keep the best wines for special occasions and are interested in the best quality / price ratio, aromas and nuances and understand the differences between several existing references.

Produced in the Douro Region, the Port is a fortified wine. Its manufacturing process, based on traditional methods, include stopping the fermentation of the must by adding grape spirit (brandy or benefit), the blending of wines and aging.The wine is distinguished from others by their special characteristics such as the huge diversity of types of richness and flavor intensity, persistence of very high flavor and high alcohol content (between 19 and 22% vol.), Wide range of sweetness and immense diversity of colors.

Ranging from the deep purple and pale blond, the color is just one of the characteristics of a set of names identifying the different types of Port Wine.

In terms of sweetness this wine can go from sweet to very sweet, semi-dry and extra dry yet. Its sweetness is a manufacturing option, depends on when the interruption of fermentation.

Fundamentally consider three types of port: White, Ruby and Tawny:

White

Typically, this wine is young and fruity and is distinguished by its sweetness. This wine can have various shades such as pale yellow, white straw and golden white. When aged in cask for many years, white wines acquire by natural oxidation, a blond tint of light red wines like the very old.

Ruby

Color ink more or less intense, fruity aroma and the vigor of a young wine. Ascending order of quality, fit into the categories Ruby, Reserve, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) and Vintage. The wines of the best categories (Vintage and LBV) may be stored as they age well in bottle.

Tawny

They are made of the same grapes that Ruby but with a different aging that allows them greater contact with the wood and air, so they breathe more rapidly oxidize and age. Due to this oxidation it loses the initial color of red wines, winning lighter shades such as amber, and flavors of nuts such as walnuts or almonds. The older the wine is more these characteristics are accentuated. The existing categories are: Tawny, Tawny Reserve, Tawny with an indication of age (10, 20, 30 and 40 years) and Harvest. When bottled ready to be consumed. It is advisable for the wines of categories Tawny with an indication of Age and Harvest.