Port, that wonderful fortified wine with the big taste and the friendly personality, is rising in popularity in the United States. As you consider hosting holiday socials and meals for the months of November and December, you can make your gathering unique by offering port as a wine option.
Port proves to be an almost universal crowd pleaser because of its accessible, often sweet taste, and its versatility of being appropriate to serve before, during and after a meal and gives a host ample opportunity to impress guests. Serving port with confidence is relatively easy if you understand the basics of what port is and how to serve it. Peter Prager of the well-known Prager Port Works in Napa Valley was happy to provide some background information and how to get the most out of port for the holidays and beyond.
Introducing…Port
Port is named for the city of Porto, Portugal, located at the mouth of the Douro River. In Europe, port is exclusively produced in the Douro Valley. Known for its schist soils and terraced vineyards, the wine region is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world's oldest regulated wine region. European rules are strict on the use of the term "port" and on the grapes used, however in other parts of the world, the name port is used to describe the wine making process that results in port.
Port is a type of fortified wine, meaning that the wine has had a distilled spirit added either during or after fermentation. Like all wine, the required fruits for port are grapes of a certain varietal, and traditional port is made from a select list of Portuguese grapes including, touriga nactional, tinta cão, tinta roriz (tempranillo), bastardo, and touriga franca. Many of those varietals, with perhaps the exception of tempranillo, are not common to American wine drinkers, and indeed, the United States has adapted the port winemaking process for other grapes such as zinfandel, petite sirah and cabernet sauvignon. The distilled spirit used to fortify ports is brandy, which distilled from grapes making it a smooth blend with the wine.
Although variations in aging and bottling can create extremely different ports such at vintage port and tawny port, the port process begins like it does for all wines, by fermenting the juice. During fermentation, yeasts convert the sugars in grape juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide. For dry table wines, yeasts are allowed to ferment all of the juice's sugar, leaving no sweetness in the wine. Port is typically sweet, however, and before all of the sugar has been converted to alcohol, brandy is added. The alcohol in the brandy stops the fermentation and leaves some of the sugar. The resulting wine then has residual sugar and is fortified with brandy, giving it a sweet taste and a higher alcohol content than typical table wine. This residual sweetness is what helps most ports pair so well across so many dishes and food styles.
When to Drink Port
Ports are popular in winery tasting rooms because of their approachable taste. Prager indicates that, "The typical aromas are a lot of black fruits such as dried black cherries, black berries and plum. You get these same flavors on the palate along with vanilla, [and] the brandy makes these aromas and flavors more predominant." With this lineup of aromas and flavors, it's is no surprise that people naturally seem to like ports, but many are often still confused as to when to drink them. That's beginning to change. Prager says that, "We are seeing a lot more people these days looking for port when they come to the Napa Valley, which was not the case ten years ago. People are finding out that port is not just for in front of the fire place on Christmas day, but can be enjoyed all year round." This new attitude supports not only pairing it with a wide range of foods, but also more frequently using port in cooking and also using ports (both red and white) as a base for sangria. In many ways, Americans are only beginning to discover its versatility.
Most ports are made from red grapes, but the same process can be also be used for white grapes. Prager, for example, produces a white port made from chardonnay grapes that goes well as an apéritif or with any meal that you'd normally pair with chardonnay. Because ports, both white and red, have greater body than do typical table wines, the ports easily stand up to meals with heavier sauces and gravies. (As a cooking tip, add some port to the gravy – it will wake up the flavors and help bind the taste to the port you're serving with dinner.)
As one might imagine, ports are already popular as digestifs and as a compliment to desserts. The heavier body and sweet flavors compliment ice creams, cakes, and of course, chocolates!
Types of Port
There are two main categories of port, vintage ports (which include late-bottled vintage ports, or LBV ports), and wood ports. Vintage ports are so named because the grapes all come from the same year and the bottle will indicate the vintage, as with most table wines. Vintage ports remain for a relatively short time in oak barrels (usually two to three years) before being bottled. Once in the bottle, however, vintage ports can continue to improve in quality, and age for several years to several decades under proper storage conditions. This aging potential is why vintage ports can often be the more expensive of the two types of port.
Wood ports, on the other hand, include tawny, white and ruby ports. These ports are typically aged five years or more in wood, allowing the flavors to mature. Wood ports, unlike vintage ports, will not improve in quality once bottled and can be consumed immediately.
As ports increase in popularity, more wineries are experimenting with different grape varietals, aging techniques and sweetness levels. Dry and semi-sweet ports are beginning to appear more frequently in wine shops and some wineries are beginning to produce white ports in the vintage port style. Both types of ports can add unique flavors to dinner or dessert with friends.
For more information, visit the sites below:
Alto Douro Wine Region (World Heritage Site)
