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All about Port

© Audra Ligumsky

Port has suddenly hit the spotlight as the aperitif drink of choice. Why? With the elevated popularity of wine it was only a matter of time before people set thier sights on port again. The high rating of the 91 and 92 vintages was the perfect build up to the 1994 being touted as a vintage year. This unanimous high rating has not happened since 1985.

Declared Vintage Ports. 1963; 1966; 1970; 1975; 1977; 1980; 1982; 1983; 1985; 1987; 1991; 1992; 1994.

What is Port?

Port is wine where fortification is used to stop fermentation before the fermentation is complete. This raises the level of alcohol and stops the fermenting yeast from working producing a sweet, gorgeous, mouth filling wine. Port is from the Douro Valley in Northern Portugal.

The History of Port.

I know of two historical moments in the birth of Port. The first takes place in the late 1600s. Two Englishmen on a wine buying trip tasted a wine from the monastery of Lamego. The favorite of the wines they tasted was a slightly sweet, soft, red. In response to their praise, the abbot explained that before the wine had finished fermentation he had added a small amount of brandy. It seems the Abbot was not the only one to add brandy to his wine. It is rumored that the Portuguese, in the early 1700s, added Brandy to the wine to ensure the wine was stable for shipping.

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