Tutored Wine Tasting PORT. Speaker: Eric LAGRE Sommelier

Transcription

1 Tutored Wine Tasting PORT Speaker: Eric LAGRE Sommelier

2 Port is the classic fortified wine from the Douro, the name of which derives from Oporto (Porto), the second largest city in Portugal, whence the wine has been shipped for over 300 years. Remains of stone troughs for the fermentation of foot-trodden grapes dating back to at least the 3 rd and 4 th centuries can be found throughout the Douro Valley, upstream from Oporto. But the denomination Porto/Port, however, only appeared during the second half of the 17 th century, coinciding with a boom in viticulture and wine export initiated by English merchants. Port has actually often been described as the archetypal wine of the British, and the reason for that is not difficult to discover: Port was created by the British for the British market. HISTORY The 1386 Treaty of Windsor was the first of a series of treaties to build strong and active links between Portuguese coastal cities and London. By the time of the reign of Henry VII, the English had established businesses and trade associations benefiting from certain diplomatic privileges in the ports of Lisbon, Oporto, and most importantly, as far as the wine trade was concerned, Viana do Castelo, in the Minho, right to the north of the county. Portuguese wines were often traded for woollen goods from England or dried, salted cod from Newfoundland, bacalhau thus becoming a staple of Portuguese cuisine. Since the thin and astringent Vinho Verde of the Minho was not a wine to the liking of the English consumer, English merchants would rely on Portugal only when needed, mostly because it was the easiest option in terms of shipment. The English always preferred French wines, but in times of war with the French, they often had to turn to the Portuguese and Spaniards for supply. In the late 17 th century for instance, fierce rivalry between the maritime empires in the North saw the Flemish and the English increase their demand for Iberian wines. In 1678, Charles II retaliated against Colbert s protectionist measures, which had been preventing free trade between England and France for a decade, by prohibiting the importation of French goods altogether. William III would eventually relax the ban in 1693, though not without imposing punishing levels of taxation. These circumstances contributed to the consolidation of the commercial bond between England and Portugal. It was not long before British trade with France ceased once again with the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, which lasted over a decade and blighted the end of the reign of Louis XIV, till his death in 1715, a year after the war ended. By the time of the conflict, a number of English shippers had sought wines better suited to the English palate further inland, up the Douro River. There, they found wines that were the opposite of those they had left behind on the coast: dark, acidic and astringent red wines produced through fast and furious fermentation at high temperatures, which quickly earned the name of blackstrap in London. Shipment was only possible down the Douro River, and therefore these pioneering merchants had to move their headquarters from Viana do Castelo down to Oporto. The earliest recorded shipment under the Vinho do Porto name, meaning Port Wine, took place in The commercial relationship between England and Portugal reached its pinnacle in 1703 when the Methuen Treaty was signed, which laid down further tariff advantages. A decade later, wine shipping companies, some of which were Dutch or German, but most of which were English, had re-established themselves in Oporto. The discovery of the winemaking technique that was to turn Port into the sweet and appealing drink we know today was credited to an Englishman, a Liverpool wine merchant who, in 1678, sent his two sons to Portugal in search of wine. At the monastery of Lamego, some 90 km up the Douro River from Oporto, they tasted a soft, slightly sweet red wine, which seemed to them much preferable to anything they had tasted so far. The abbot told them that the style was obtained by adding a small amount of brandy to the wine before it had had a chance to ferment fully to dryness. However, over half a century would pass before this modern style of Port wine became the standard.

3 Indeed, as far as shippers were concerned, the first priority was to ensure that wine was stable enough to stand up to the rigours of shipment across the Bay of Biscay. In order to achieve this, brandy would be added to fully fermented wine just before loading it onto the cargo ship, and only in very limited amounts, thereby resulting in a dry fortified wine known as Shipping Wine. It was not until about 1720 that the modern winemaking technique, which consisted in adding grape spirit during fermentation to create a sweeter style, started becoming popular, gradually taking over. The rival merits of the two styles were earnestly discussed until well into the 19 th century, but eventually, the modern winemaking technique became widespread by the 1840s then universal from Had he not drowned in the Cachão de Valeira when his boat capsized on his way back from lunch at Quinta de Vargellas on Sunday 12 th May 1861, the famous Baron Joseph James Forrested of the Offley shipping company, one of the fiercest opponents to fortification and most influential figures in the Douro, might well have convinced his colleagues of the error of their ways and prevented Port from becoming the iconic fortified wine of today. Early in its history, in the 1730s, the fledging modern Port industry found itself blighted by scandal. Added sugar was used to bring sweetness and elderberry juice colour to poor, overstretched wines. Unprincipled production and adulteration brought about a slump in trade. Subsequent overproduction came hand in hand with a sharp fall in prices. Desirous of protecting their interests, the great Douro farmers petitioned the Portuguese Prime Minister of the day, the Marquis of Pombal, whose response was to introduce a series of lucrative measures to regulate Port production and trade. State control took the shape of the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro, established by Royal Chapter on 10 September The Company was granted the monopoly on Port trade with England and Brazil and full control over brandy production and trade in the north of Portugal. In 1757, a boundary was physically drawn around the Douro by Marcos Pombalinos, 335 stones bearing the Feitoria mark, thereby indicating that the so-called fine wines, the only wines allowed for export, and therefore the wines commanding the highest prices, had to be produced from grapes grown within the delimited area. A comprehensive Port vineyard classification had indeed been carried out, which made a distinction between the top vineyards responsible for these fine wines or vinhos de feitoria" and the lesser vineyards responsible for the vinhos de ramo, which, in contrast, could not be sold but on the domestic market only. Every single elderberry tree within the official demarcated region and all the vineyards just outside of it were summarily grubbed up by the authorities. The monopoly company was in essence the official controlling body within the Douro region, and it had the duty to ensure quality, prevent fraud, and balance production and demand in order to guarantee price stability. In that sense, the region referred to as the Douro is often quoted as the first wine region ever demarcated. Professor Gaspar Martins Pereira, Portuguese historian and director of the Museu do Douro, writes in Port Wine, published in 2004 by the IVDP, that two regions were demarcated earlier: Chianti in Tuscany in 1716, and Tokay in Hungary in But many argue that the Douro was the first ever demarcated wine region to meet modern EU standards. Luís Lopes and João Paulo Martins, for instance, write in the 200 th issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos, in their article "200 dicas sobre vinhos" that "in 1716, the Chianti region in Italy was the first geographically demarcated wine area, but the 1756 demarcation of the Douro was the first with exact borders, its own legislations and controlling body." That original demarcated area was limited to the Alto Douro, which was surrounded by mountains on all sides. The Cachão de Valeira canyon was one of these natural barriers to the East. This huge granite outcrop prevented all navigation across it, and therefore, no goods could be transported relatively quickly and cheaply downstream from the region we now call the Douro Superior. From the 1780s, over two decades of demolition work eventually made this section of the river navigable in As a result, viticulture became economically viable in the Douro Superior, though the task of negotiating the fastrunning rapids of the Valeira gorge remained so hazardous that hardly any vineyards were planted east of the canyon. Only the impact of Oidium and Mildew in the 1850s then Phylloxera a decade later will force the land to be reorganised in The eastern line of demarcation marked by the Cachão de Valeira canyon was lifted and vineyards expanded into the Douro Superior, where the effects of the American diseases were far less violently felt. Today, this massive rock formation still stands conspicuously like a bare mass, but with vineyards on both sides. By the end of the 19 th century, Phylloxera had destroyed approximately 65% of all vineyards in the Douro. But even more devastating than Phylloxera was the competition of Port-like products made all over Europe, which abused the Porto brand name on their labels. The proliferation of French Port, Hamburg Port and Tarragona Port, far inferior to the real McCoy in quality terms but incredibly good value, led to the collapse of the Port market. As the trade declined, farmers were destitute, and the Douro was a picture of misery. Unable to make a living, the farmers virtually abandoned their quintas. These wine estates became available to a handful of big investors for little money. The legendary Dona Antónia Ferreira, for instance, left her family-owned shipping company, Ferreira, with more than 30 quintas when she died in 1890.

4 Until 1870, the so-called Single Quinta Wines, or wines produced and marketed by individual winegrowers, were the mainstay of the Port trade, but then, because of the combined phylloxera and market crisis, big companies increasingly took over these small vintners. These Port houses had their offices in Oporto, and in order to supply their customers with Port wines that were consistent in quality, they developed blends of wines from different quintas and vintages, rapidly establishing themselves as brands. The economical picture on a national level was not bright either. Indeed, since King Carlos I had caused the country to declare itself bankrupt twice under his reign, social unrest eventually led to the deposition of the monarchy in 1910, which marked the beginning of the First Republic. Upon assuming office on 10 May 1907, Dictator João Franco revised the demarcation in accordance with the same principles as applied by the Marquis of Pombal 150 years earlier. The Douro Superior was officially included within the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR) and a Viticultural Committee for the Douro Region was created to oversee the Port wine industry and prevent fraud. To this traditional set of duties, an additional mission was given. This controlling body had to defend the integrity of the Porto brand name on the global market. Action should be taken so that the Porto denomination of origin could only apply to the fortified wines of the Douro region. Port wines, which had to contain a minimum of 16.5%abv, had to be shipped across the estuary s sandbar, from Oporto or from the port of Leixões. This artificial harbour in the coastal town of Matosinhos, 9km northwest of central Oporto, was the principal port serving the city, for the sandbar prevented Oporto from having a deepwater harbour of its own. Another decree, signed later that year on 27 June, prohibited the distillation of Douro wines, thereby forcing producers to purchase aguardente, the brandy needed to fortify their wines, from other wine producing regions... a measure that was violently contested. That spirit of contestation was fuelled by the feeling that the new demarcated area was excessively large. In response to that concern, the government of Admiral Ferreira do Amaral signed a decree on 27 November 1908 which opted for a demarcation by parishes down to a total area unchanged since then, either by the decree of 10 December 1921 or that of 26 June The first quarter of the 20 th century proved out to be the most turbulent period in Portuguese history. Political and economical instability was only deepened by the country s involvement in the First World War. Despite the economical success of Port wines, poverty and hunger worsened in the Douro, as heavy taxation increased the cost of production. Violent demonstrations, riots, burning of trains carrying brandy from the south and attacks on public buildings reflected the general social unrest that led to the coup of 28 May 1926 and the establishment of a military regime till 1974, first in the shape of the Ditadura Nacional then, from 1933, in that of the Second Republic or Estado Novo. António de Oliveira Salazar was the leader of the Estado Novo till 1968 when Marcelo Caetano took over, two years before Salazar died. The new military regime came hand in hand with the most radical reorganisation of the Port wine industry to date. As soon as 1926, the government created a bonded area, or entreposto, in Vila Nova de Gaia, cross the river from Oporto, which would act as an extension of the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR). All the companies wishing to age Port wines were compelled to build lodges for that purpose within the newly defined Gaia entreposto. In effect, this was the end of all trade direct from the Douro and the beginning of a strict separation between the farmers in the Douro and the shippers in Oporto. In 1932, the government enticed vineyard owners to gather in a network of guilds the nation over hence the creation of the Casa do Douro, a government-appointed body in charge of protecting and disciplining Port wine production in the Douro and issuing the legal documents that had to accompany every lot of wine transported to the Gaia entreposto. A year later, Port shippers created their own guild in view of disciplining Port trade in Oporto. The activities of the Casa do Douro and the Port Wine Shippers Guild were coordinated by the Port Wine Institute or IVP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Porto). This entity was also created in 1933 to protect the Port denomination of origin and preserve the image of Port as a top quality product through strict control, but also through research and development, as well as promotion. With the administrative reforms of 1936, the Alto Douro, the original demarcated zone below the Cachão de Valeira canyon, was split into two sub-regions: Baixo Corgo and Cima Corgo. In 1940, the decree of 30 April granted the Casa do Douro the power to put together and maintain a vineyard register. From 1948, the Casa do Douro would eventually be put in charge of implementing strict quotas of production. The system, known as benefício, imposed licensing for Port production according to a newly designed vineyard rating system. Producers would eventually be supplied with apportioned amounts of aguardente accordingly. This socio-economical pattern lasted till the Carnation Revolution of The beginning of the new democratic regime, the current Third Republic, marked the end of the strict organisation of the demarcated region, though most Port institutions retained the same responsibilities. Only the Port wine Shipper s Guild was dissolved. Its members re-organised themselves into the Port Wine Shippers Association in 1975, but this was a voluntary grouping, no longer a government-appointed body.

5 The divide between the farmers in the Douro and the shippers in Gaia quickly became blurred. The Port market was struggling to recover from the Second World War, especially since consumers were now favouring lighter wines. Many shippers lost their livelihood as a result, and the Port industry began to consolidate. Port shippers started joining into big commercial groups thereby getting the means to buy wine estates in the Douro, launch extensive replanting programs and improve wine quality. In the meantime, from 1978, independent quintas started entering the commercial sector and sell their own production directly, thus returning to the custom that was ended in When Portugal eventually joined the EU in 1986, these farmers, who had been compelled to sell their grapes to shippers until then, eventually recovered the right to age, bottle and sale their own wines under their own names directly from the Douro thanks to the decree signed on 8 May that same year. Since every producer could now double as a shipper in its own right, the Port Wine Shipper s Association was renamed Association of Port Wine Companies. However, producers were limited by certain conditions: individual productions had to amount to a minimum of 150,000 bottles a year, three years worth of stock needed to be held (a principle known as lei do tergo ), and wine had to be sold in bottle, no longer in bulk (unless modified, which means that salt and pepper had to be added to all Port wines destined to the food industry from 1996). Initially, this new ordinance only benefited historical shippers, for the nature of their trade was to hold stocks. Their extensive portfolios of quintas in the Douro allowed them to instantly market both their established brands and single quinta wines alongside one another. With the new decree, the biggest losers were the cooperatives. Driven by the associative spirit under the military dictatorship, cooperatives first started developing in the 1950s. It would take no more than 10 years for them to establish a leading position, with a substantial 10% share of the market. Cooperatives are now down from their heydays to a mere 2% share after they saw their best grape suppliers go independent. Since the limitations mentioned above only apply to Port wine, the newly independent quintas first focused their attention on Douro wine. Douro wine is how the light wines of the Douro are called, so that they cannot be confused with Port wine, the traditional fortified wines from the same demarcated region. As a result, Douro wine has seen a huge increase in production, and new, interesting still light wines appear on the market every year. Independent quintas only represent around 2% of the Port market in volume terms, but in view of their Douro wine production, they are gaining momentum in the Douro. In order to be counted, most of them have joined forces and organised themselves in an association of their own: AVEPOD. The Symington Family Estate very much understood the development of the single quinta phenomenon, and in 1989, when the group bought Quinta do Vesuvio, it made it into an independent quinta instead of adding it to the portfolio of one of its many Port houses. The Symington group, like most historical shippers, has now developed a range of still light wines under the Douro appellation alongside its traditional range of Port wines. The Fladgate Partnership is amongst those who decided to strictly stick to Port production and not give into the new fashion for lighter wines. In the early 1990s, the Casa do Douro bought a controlling stake into Royal Oporto, known in Portugal as Real Companhia Velha, a Port wine company and the surviving remnant of the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro. This obvious conflict of interest for a governmentappointed body in charge of defending the interests of the growers led to the re-organisation of the demarcation from an institutional point of view in The Douro was endowed with an interprofessional entity: Comissão Interprofessional da Região Demarcada do Douro or CIRDD. This new government-appointed body was in charge of co-ordinating and disciplining the production of both Port and Douro wines. The Casa do Douro lost many of its regulatory powers to the CIRDD, notably its monopoly on the supply and distribution of aguardente. In other words, the Casa do Douro could no longer fixe the quota of Port production. The new institutional model, which involved an unwieldy coalition of the duties and responsibilities of the Casa do Douro, the CIRDD and the IVP, proved too complex and unmanageable hence it was simplified on 6 November The new decree saw the CIRDD merge with the Institute. The State still continues to be responsible for certifying the wines from the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR) and for supervising the sector in terms of control and sanctions, but the responsibility of supervising and controlling viticulture and winemaking in the Douro is now concentrated in the Institute alone. The Casa do Douro was stripped of all its administrative duties and reduced to a simple representative and lobbying role for the growers within the Institute s Inter-Professional Council, for, in effect, the reform had turned the Institute into the single inter-professional public institution in the region. Indeed, the Institute gives equal representation to both farmers and companies involved in the making of Port wine and/or Douro wine hence its new name: Instituto dos Vinhos do Porto e Douro or IVDP.

6 DOURO DEMARCATED REGION (DDR) Over the first decade of the new millennium, an average of 155 million litres of wine was produced every year in the Douro (24% of the total Portuguese wine production), of which 55% was Port wine (13% of the domestic wine production). Quality wine from the Douro can be subdivided into two main categories: DOC/DOP Porto and DOC/DOP Douro. The DOC Porto only applies to the classic fortified wines of the Douro. These Vinhos Licorosos de Qualidade Produzido em Região Determinada or VLQPRD are produced by racking the juice off the skins then fortifying it into three distinct styles: Licoroso Branco (white), Licoroso Rosado (rosé) and Licoroso Tinto (red). As for the Douro DOC, it is a far more complex appellation. Indeed, it encompasses a variety of grape products. The core of the production is of still light wines. Sweet wine is made from grapes picked late in the season and sold as Late Harvest or Colheita Tardiva. Drier base wine from grapes picked early in the season can either be made into sparkling wines ( Vinhos Espumantes de Qualidade Produzido em Região Determinada or VEQPRD) or distilled into brandy. The sparkling wine is sold as DOC Espumente do Douro and the brandy as DOC Aguardente de Vinho do Douro. But confusingly, the appellation also applies to fortified wines made from the Moscatel Galego Branco grape, better known as Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains. One must stress that this sweet white wine, VLQPRD sold as DOC Moscatel do Douro, is very different from Port. Indeed, as in the other famous Portuguese Moscatel, Moscatel de Setúbal, which is made either from a pink mutation of the Moscatel Galego Branco, Moscatel Roxo, or the lesser Moscatel de Setúbal, better known as Muscat of Alexandria, maceration on the skins after the wine is fortified brings about a much more aromatic profile. In the Noughties, of the 45% of wines other than Port produced in the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR), an annual average of just over 50% was sold as DOC wine while the rest was sold as Table wine. But the share of quality still light wines has been increasing from under 30% at the beginning of the decade to an impressive 80% in Table wines are now near exclusively produced by cooperatives then often sold with a geographical indication as Vinho Regional (VR) Duriense. Amongst all the quality wines produced in the region, Port still remains the most visible, especially on the export market, as shown in the table below: Port wine and Douro wine have different market positions. Over the second half of the Noughties, Port has been entering a negative phase marked by a drop in sales of 11% in volume and 13% in value. That negative trend is driven by underperformance on the export market, which is key to the survival of the Port Industry, as it represents a staggering 86% of its market. But still, no fortified wine in the world is produced in as large a volume as Port, and Port is definitely the most famous wine to come out of Portugal. Fortified wines, like sparkling wines, are the result of a process beyond simple vinification. They are manipulated through the addition of neutral grape spirit, in order to strengthen the base wine for the purpose of adding body, warmth, durability and age-worthiness. Through centuries of efforts, the world s premier fortified wine regions have developed unique regimes of production and aging. These methodologies have become inextricably linked to the terroir of these wines. Port, Sherry and Madeira exemplify the three great fortified wine archetypes. Port exemplifies the group of fortified wines the fermentation of which is stopped before it is complete by raising the level of alcohol to the point at which the fermentation yeast can no longer metabolise sugars into alcohol, thereby preserving a degree of residual sugars. Port, for it is always sweet, differs from the fortified wines of the second group, exemplified by Sherry, to which alcohol is added after the base wine is fermented to full dryness. As for Madeira, both the above techniques are used in its making depending on the level of sweetness one particular style needs to achieve. Madeira s unique contribution to the world of fortified wines consists in its very singular character, which is derived from the application of a heating process in its making. Port enjoys the protection of one of the world s oldest demarcations, yet it has become one of the world s most co-opted wine styles. Fraud and the appropriation of unique regional identities has been an endemic and ongoing struggle for many of the world s most process-driven wines, particularly Champagne, Sherry and Port. As a consequence, Port counts amongst the most highly regulated appellations and the brand-like term Port is now protected under EU regulations. Strict production rules and the protection the appellation of origin Port are overseen and enforced by the Douro and Port Wine Institute ( Instituto do Vinhos do Douro e Porto or IVDP). The many similar fortified wines produced in the New World that bear the mention Port on the label, cannot legally be sold on the EU market. There is indeed no such thing as a Californian, South African or Australian Port wine.

7 Port and Douro wines are grown in the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR), or simply the Douro, which has been significantly extended since it was first delimited by the Marquis of Pombal in The Região Demarcada do Douro is the wine-producing region that now stretches over 60km up the upper part of the valley of the Douro River and its tributaries, from the village of Barqueiros, just below Peso de Régua (or simply Régua) to the Spanish frontier. The total area covers approximately 250,000 hectares, 45,726 of which are under vines (18% of the region s area). The only other place where one is allowed to deal with Port wines, away from the Douro, is Vila Nova de Gaia, the south-bank town opposite Oporto, cross the Douro River. There, down the river on the Atlantic coast, some 70km away from the nearest vineyards as the crow flies, but rather further as the Douro flows, one is allowed to store, age, blend and bottle Port wines. The Douro is divided into three sub-regions: from the Baixo Corgo, via the Cima Corgo, up to the Douro Superior. Each sub-region differs greatly from one another, not only in terms of weather, but also for socio-economical reasons. Before the river was made navigable through the Cachão de Valeira canyon in the late 18 th century, viticulture was restricted to the so-called Alto Douro. Only in 1907 will the Douro Superior officially be incorporated to the DDR. Mind, for the Alto Douro and the Douro Superior can confusingly be referred to as the Upper Douro from one literary source to the next. The Alto Douro was eventually split into Baixo Corgo and Cima Corgo in Baixo Corgo (Lower Corgo): this is the smallest sub-region, but it counts the largest amount of land under vines. The Baixa Corgo is where viticulture first developed in the Douro and the bulk of wine is now produced. It stretches 20 km west of Régua, a town situated near where the river Douro is joined by the Corgo and the Ribeiro de Temilobos tributaries, down to Barqueiros on the north bank of the Douro and Barro on the south bank. Cima Corgo (Upper Corgo): this sub-region extends upstream from Régua up to the Cachão de Valeira canyon and is less extensively covered with vineyards. It is the viticultural heartland of the Port producing region nonetheless. Indeed, most of the best quintas lay east of the point where the river Douro is joined by the Pinhão tributary around the town of the same name. Douro Superior (Upper Douro): the name of this sub-region now exclusively applies to the area above the Cachão de Valeira canyon, which extends eastwards, up to the Spanish border. It is an area of flatter and more arid land, despite which it has a potential for the production of very high quality wines. The Douro Superior, thanks to its flatter topography, is where the largest vineyards are to be found. The 45,726ha of remote Douro vineyards are divided into as many as 135,769 individual plots and cultivated by 39,111 farmers. 93.5% of these plots are under 1ha. Only 0.01% of these plots cover over 30ha, which is the minimum acreage able to bring good enough an income for a grower to live of their production according to EU standards (Source: IVDP, 2008). One must point out that 35% of the DDR area is owned by just 810 viticulturalists, each one of which tends an average of 19.7ha, which contrasts with the average farm size of 1.17ha. These larger farms belong to wine producers and traders while most of the small and medium size viticulaturalists are members of cooperatives.

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9 GEOLOGY OF THE DDR (The Demarcated Douro Region corresponds closely to an area of pre-cambrian schist surrounded by granite)

10 SOIL AND VITICULTURE IN TERRACES The Douro Demarcated Region (DDR) corresponds closely to an area of pre-cambrian schist surrounded by granite. Whilst granite, for it is a very hard stone, is of no use for viticulture, schist is brittle, and frequently splits into vertical layers, deep underground. Not only does this allow vines to grow deep root systems, it also guarantees good drainage. Since schist is so tender compared to granite, it is through that part of the rock formation that the Douro River gradually cut deep-sided ravines over millennia. As Hug Johnson describes it in his World Atlas of Wine, The Douro, of all the places where men have planted vineyards, is the most improbable. To begin with, there was not even soil: only 60% slopes of schist and granite, flaking and unstable, baked in a 40ºC sun. It was a land of upper desolation. The soil still reflects that origin. The topsoil only forms a thin layer to the surface and contains little organic matter (1.5%). It consists mostly of clay mixed with particles of broken schistous rock. That topsoil penetrates between the vertical layers of schist, thereby enabling water retention and infiltration down to great depths to the roots of the vines. The pieces of rock in the topsoil accumulate heat from the sun during the day then radiate it at night, thereby helping the grapes to ripen fully. Chemically speaking, the soil is predominantly acid (ph H 2 O between 4.6 and 5.5). It is low in exchange calcium and magnesium, and generally even lower in extractable phosphorus (<50 mg.kg-1), but medium to high in extractable potassium (50 to 100 mg.kg-1). That poor topsoil layer is the by-product of man s obstinate drive to grow vines against the odds in such a hostile environment. Literally, viticulture had to carve its way into the stony slopes of the valley hence the Douro now offers the most outstanding example of mountain viticulture in terraces. The cultural landscape of the Douro as a reflection of that human activity over time was actually classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in Now, by law, the two oldest forms of terraces, as described below, must be maintained and restored. At the Fladgate Partnership, for instance, 10% of the vines are planted on traditional terraces. When the group converted to block planting, planting on traditional terraces became the last remain of traditional multiple planting at TFP. Multiple planting of very old vines on traditional terraces probably yields Taylor s finest wine: Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha. Through the ages, as the Port industry was growing in synergy with various technical developments, terraces came to take the following shapes: Pre-phylloxera terraces: Before phylloxera broke out in the Douro in 1862, vineyards consisted of 1 or 2 straight rows of vines planted along small, irregularly-shaped terraces, with a planting density of 3,000 to 3,500 vines per hectare. These terraces were hewn out of the schistous rock, and drystone walls were built out of rocks to a height in direct proportion to the degree of the slope. These walls retained but hardly any soil at all, and vines had to grow their way through bare rock. In those days, vineyard planting was more akin to quarrying than agriculture. These terraces are stunning to look at and definitely contribute to the appeal of the region, but they must have been back-breaking to build. They are called Geios by Hendrik Oldenburg in his publication entitled Port. But on the IVDP s website page, they are named mortórios, most probably because, after the devastation caused by the root-feeding aphid, these terraces were abandoned or turned into olive groves at best. Vinha Traditional (Traditional Terrace Planting): After grafting was established as the solution to phylloxera, more rational terraces were created, which were simply called Terraços, though some know them as Socalcos. Built for a great part in the 1920s, their structure owes a great deal to dynamite. The blast would smash the schist to rubble, thereby forming a more fertile top soil for the vines to grow than near bare rock. This rubble would be arranged into steps that followed the natural contour of the hillside. The surface of each step would be levelled flat or left to follow the slope hence dry-stone walls, very labour-intensive to build, were often needed to hold the structure together. Vines would be planted in 2 to no more than 12 rows per step at around 6,500 vines per hectare, which represents a very high planting density. The main drawback of traditional terrace planting is that it is absolutely incompatible with any sort of mechanisation, not only because the planting density is too high, but because there are no access roads to start with.

11 Patamares (Contoured earth-bank terraces): In the late 1960s, early 1970s, mostly because of labour market shortages in the region, explosives and bulldozers were used to dig new contoured terraces into the hillsides, with open access to small tractors, thereby making these flat-surfaced terraces held by earth banks commercially viable. Each step bears only 1 or 2 rows of vines, with a planting density as low as 3,000 to 3,500 vines per hectare. Given the need for large plots of land for this type of vineyard planting to be viable, Patamares are not suitable for small holdings. Erosion and weed control are big problems with this type of terraces. Vinha ao Alto: Even more recently, instead of building terraces, some growers have opted for a more cost-effective solution that consists in planting vines in vertical rows up and down the hillsides. Not only does it not require any structural work, it makes harvesting more practical. As opposed to Patamares, this system is better adapted to small plots of land, and it can cover a wider acreage with orderly rows of vines trained along wires. A planting density very similar to that of traditional planting, at 4,500 to 5,000 vines per hectare, is an added bonus. But vertical planting is only feasible on slopes that are not too steep, up to 40%, hence it is mostly experimented with on the gentler slopes of the Douro Superior. But when applicable, it spares the devastating effects of earth movement, facilitates weed control, and allows maximum mechanisation thanks to systems of pulleys that prevent small purpose-built tractors from sliding. The Fladgate Partnership Sustainable Model of contoured earth-bank Terrace Planting: TFP was awarded the prestigious EBS Biodiversity Prize in 2009 for the development over the last decade of a pioneering model of sustainable mountain viticulture. This model is based on the construction of narrow terraces, each of which supports only one row of vines. The terraces, which are separated by earth banks, are engineered using earth-moving equipment in which the operator is guided by an innovative laser orientation system which allows the terraces to be inclined at precisely 3 to the horizontal. At this inclination, a balance is achieved between rainwater run-off and water penetration in the soil, avoiding the topsoil erosion which constitutes a key challenge in mountain viticulture and the major source of environmental damage. This system is also designed to eliminate completely the use of chemicals to control unwanted vegetation. This is achieved by allowing unrestricted access to the earth banks, which are not as tall and are therefore more accessible than those used in conventional systems, allowing any natural plant growth to be regularly cut back mechanically. Alongside the vines, control is achieved by sowing a temporary carpet of selected plant species, like Rye or Clover. This ground cover remains between November and late spring, preventing invasive plants from taking hold, and then dies back naturally with the onset of summer and can be mown mechanically to form a natural mulch between the vines, thereby reducing water loss and restoring natural organic matter to the soil (e.g. clover is useful in case of potassium deficiency). Organic vineyards: Many Port houses have identified the growing popularity of environmentally friendly solutions and organic or biodynamic products. All the efforts put into research and development in the vineyard by The Fladgate Partnership have allowed the group to produce the first example of organic wine: Fonseca Terra Prima Organic Reserve. Many other companies are also developing organic vineyards, and already Quinta do Infantado, Romariz and Casal dos Jordões have followed suit and launched their own organic wines. It is probably Niepoort that now produces the most premium example: Niepoort Bioma Vinha Velha. The wine is yielded by the oldest vines from Vinha da Pisca, the organically grown single vineyard that is the central jewel within the company s vineyard holding.

12 ANNUAL MEAN TEMPERATURES IN THE DDR Régua 18 C Pinhão 19 C Barca d Alba 21.5 C ANNUAL PRECIPITATION IN THE DDR Régua 900mm Pinhão 700mm Barca d Alba 400mm

13 CLIMATE Oporto is the second wettest city in Europe, with an annual rainfall of 1,200mm and an average temperature of 14.4 C. The climate in Vinho Verde, north of Oporto, is also wet and temperate, strongly influenced by the Atlantic. But in Contrast, the Douro follows a far more continental climatic pattern, as it is insufferably hot and dry in summer and extremely cold and often frosty in winter. Temperatures commonly reach 40 C during the growing season, sometime as much as 50 C at the height of the season, and 30ºC still at vintage time. These temperatures are in excess of 15 to 25 C above those recorded in Oporto, and the highest are recorded in the vicinity of the river and in the tributary valleys on its right bank, namely those of the Tua and the Vilariça rivers. It is a series of mountain ranges to the north of the Douro (the Serras de Alvão, Padrela and Bornes) that set the region apart from the cool climate of the Minho (the neighbouring Vinho Verde). As for rainfalls, they diminish as one moves inland, not only because of the increasing distance away from the Atlantic ocean, but also because of the interference of both the infamous Serra do Marão, which rises to an impressive 1,400 meters, and the Serra do Montemuro, both mountains standing to the west of the region, thereby protecting its deep valleys from the wet westerly winds. To illustrate, Régua registers a mean temperature of 18 C and 900mm of rain per annum, Pinhão 19.5 C and 700mm, and Barca d Alba, on the Spanish border, 21.5 C and 400mm. Rain falls mainly in winter, round December and January. In some areas, it also falls in spring, round March, usually in very heavy downpours that can weaken terraces and cause erosion, or in the shape of hail storms that often damage the crop. Summer is the driest period of the year, and if the season sees the occasional storm, water often proves insufficient then, impending grape ripening in younger vines through excess hydric stress. Irrigation for up to five years (as opposed to 3 in more temperate regions) is therefore essential for these vines to establish and grow deep root systems. Consequently, no vine younger than 5 years of age can legally be exploited for commercial purposes. The amount of sunlight, a factor that is of great importance in describing the climate of any region, is of particular interest in the Douro as it enables one to better understand the vine behaviour in different situations. The north bank of the river is influenced by the dry southerly winds, whereas the South bank is exposed to the cooler and damper northerly winds and receives less sun. Therefore, a southern aspect will prove beneficial to wine quality in the cooler parts of the Alto Douro while shelter from excessive sun exposure will benefit grapes in the extreme climate of the Douro Superior.

14 VITICULTURE Grape varieties: There is not but a few winegrowing regions where as wide a host of grape varieties mostly native to the region as in the Douro is being grown, which is testament to the fact that the Douro offers optimal conditions for vines to thrive. In times of globalisation, when international varieties are becoming predominant and wine styles more uniform, Portugal holds a treasure of great value in these indigenous varieties, for they produce authentic wines of unmistakable character. At some point, as many as 48 varieties could legally be used in the making of Port, though it is thought that in excess of 100 are actually grown. Control is difficult, for multiple planting has long been the traditional way of planting. Older vineyards are planted with such a mix of varietals, especially on small independent farms, that even the growers themselves are often unsure as to what grapes they are actually tending. It is Dick Yeatman who, for the first time, in the 1920s, planted a plot with a single variety, according to a technique now known as block planting, at Taylor s Quinta de Vargellas, in the Douro Superior. He was the first person to carry out an in-depth study into the characteristics of the varietals indigenous to the Douro and their respective winegrowing and winemaking requirements. Maximum yield and fruit quality can be achieved through block planting hence the Symingtons took on the technique then further investigated clonal selection. They also experimented with long-disappeared indigenous trellising systems, but also pioneered New-World types of trellising systems. These big groups of historical shippers, namely The Fladgate Partnership and Symington Family Estates, have invested heavily into block planting, especially since the 1970s, leading the way to what is fast becoming the norm. But as a result, production seems to be focusing around an ever shrinking selection of varietals; the varietals that are considered best suited for the production of top quality Port wines. Regardless of whether multiple planting or block planting is used, one must bear in mind that Port is always a blend Cálem Quinta da Foz Touriga Nacional is a rare example of varietal Port wine. Varietal character is seldom identifiable in Port hence not much fuss is made around what specific grapes are used in the actual blend. Producers are always keen to stress that they use a significant amount of Touriga Nacional, widely regarded as the king varietal in the Douro, to the extent that one could believe that Touriga Nacional is the most widely planted grape in the region, when, in actual fact, it only represents 1% or so of the total planting area. The grape varieties that may be planted in the Douro, as in any demarcated wine producing region, are regulated by decree-law. Originally, with the creation of the vineyard rating system in 1947, grape varieties were divided into five groups, from Very Good down to Very poor. Today, since the rise of block planting has seen winemakers grow fewer, carefully selected varietals, the system has been simplified. Grape varieties are now either recommended or permitted. Recommended varieties must amount to a minimum of 60% in the blend, while permitted varieties cannot amount to more than 40%. The most noteworthy red and white grape varieties are listed in the table below, the varietals which are most regarded by the Port industry being highlighted in red: WHITE GRAPE VARIETIES RED GRAPE VARIETIES RECOMMENDED Minimum 60% PERMITTED Maximum 40% RECOMMENTED Minimum 60% PERMITTED Maximum 40% Esgana Cão Folgasão Gouveio (Verdelho?) Malvasia Fina Rabigato Viosinho Arinto Boal Cercial Côdega Malvasia Corada Moscatel Galego Donzelinho Branco Samarrinho Bastardo Mourisco Tinto Tinta Amarela Tinta Barroca Tinta Francisca Tinta Roriz (Aragonez) Tinto Cão Touriga Francesa Touriga Nacional Cornifesto Donzelinho Malvasia Periquita Rufete Tinta Barca

15 The five most acclaimed black grape varieties could be described as follow: - Touriga Nacional is the most regarded grape variety in the Douro. The reason why so little is planted is that it produces extremely low yields of small berries, each vine producing 1/6 of the volume of grapes produced by the average vine in the region. But it is responsible for the most full-bodied wines, with very deep colour, high tannins, and powerful, concentrated aromas. Due to its rarity, it will only be used in the making of the very best and most age-worthy wines. - Tinta Roriz is the Tempranillo of Spain, which performs well in cooler years, and gives low yields of fruits that add finesse to the blend. By Portuguese standards, it is something of a lightweight, with its medium colour, tannin and concentration. It nevertheless gives wines with a very good length. - Touriga Franca, formerly known as Touriga Francesa, is also a premium variety, though it does not stand the comparison with Touriga Nacional. But it produces higher yields and is rather heat- and drought-resistant, which makes it appealing. If it produces robust wines, they prove lighter than Touriga-Nacional-based wines, but softer, rounder, and with an excellent perfume. - Tinto Cão produces very small bunches of tiny grapes and has nearly disappeared because of the resulting low yield. Thanks to EU funded grants, however, it is now being replanted. It gives a complex wine with good tannins and colour. Its high phenolic content, direct result of its high skin-to-pulp ratio, provides good ageing potential to the blend. - Tinta Barroca can give good yields in good years. It has got a high sugar content and produces wine with plenty of colour, tannins, acidity, let alone a big and powerful nose, full of fruit. Being an early ripener, more suited for cooler sites, it must be picked as soon as ripe, for if it is left on the vine to over-ripen in the sun, it could contributed undesirable burnt flavours to the wine. Training Systems: In the Douro, vines have traditionally been grown low, quite close to the ground. Originally, most vines were cane-pruned and head-trained along wires supported by stakes hewn from local stone according to the French Guyot system, but now, all but the very old vines are spur-pruned and vsptrained on wires supported by wooden stakes. Alternative trellising system may occasionally be found, but only for experimental purposes. Pergolas, traditional in the neighbouring Minho, are strictly forbidden. Training Method Nº of buds/vine Type of Pruning Simple Guyot 5-6 Short Double Guyot 8-12 Mixed Unilateral cordon 8 Mixed Bilateral cordon 12 Mixed Traditionally, vines would not be grown higher than 1 metre, but now, vines commonly reach 1.30m to 1.60m above ground at the end of the growing season. The first wire is placed at a height of approximately 60cm above ground, topped by a single or double wire 30 to 35cm above it to support the shoots. A third wire can be added at 1.40m to 1.50m above ground level. Rootstocks: After the region was swept by phylloxera from 1862, leaving many hillsides abandoned, most vines started to be grafted in-situ, but now most are bench-grafted. The rootstocks are chosen carefully for their compatibility with the scion as well as with the mineral and organic makeup of the soil in which they are planted. The most frequently used rootstock just following the phylloxera crisis was the Rupestris du Lot. Later, crosses of Berlandieri with Riparia (420-A, SO4) were planted in deeper, cooler soils, while crosses of Berlandieri with Rupestris (R99, R 11O and 1103 P, as well as ), were planted on hotter, dryer, more rocky slopes. Harvest: In the Douro, harvest usually starts in late September and lasts for around three weeks. The steep terraced vineyards come alive as gangs of pickers descend from outlying villages for the duration of the harvest. Indeed, more than 40% of the plots are planted on slopes steeper than 40%, which requires manual labour, thereby leading to high production costs. Mechanisation is difficult, even though solutions have been developed since the 1970s, first with the introduction of the patamares then that of vertical planting. The vines grown in the region are not known for their high yields. Indeed, yields prove amongst the lowest compared to any other wine producing region in the world. The maximum authorized yield is 55hl/ha (approximately 7,500kg/ha), but in practice, yields average a mere 30hl/ha (4,100kg/ha), with 0.5kg to 0.8kg per old vine and 1.5kg to 2.5kg per younger vine being the norm in the best vineyards. One must bear in mind that yields are not calculated per hectare but per thousand vines in the Douro. As a rule of thumb, with the creation of a vineyard register and subsequent vineyard classification system in the 1940s, one can say that the higher the grade of the vineyard, the better the grapes and resulting wine quality (See chapter on Beneficio System ).

16 VINIFICATION & EXTRACTION METHODS In order to preserve a degree of sweetness in Port, the fermentation process needs to be interrupted prematurely by adding grape spirit to the fermenting must. But since a high level of alcohol proves too powerful a solvent of harsh tannins, maceration cannot carry on after fortification has taken place. Consequently, maximum extraction of colour and soft tannins must be achieved over the short period of time preceding the application of the benefício (the apportioned amount of fortifying brandy or aguardente); typically 2 to 3 days. LAGAR: Treading the grapes under foot is the traditional method used to achieve fast and optimum extraction in the Douro. But since it is very labour intensive and workforce is scarce in the region, the method is only used in the making of the most premium Port wines, notably Vintage Port. The grapes are picked during the day, from 8am to 5pm. They are often destemmed then loaded together, regardless of the variety, into a granite trough called lagar. When one knows what they are growing when using block planting, this becomes a form of pre-fermentation blending that echoes the more traditional multiple planting, a form of blending in the vineyard. The dimensions of the lagar are approximately four metres square by less than 60 centimetres in depth, which is most unusual for a fermentation vessel. Accommodating one day s worth of picking, which amounts to an average of 7.5 tonnes of grapes for the making of 10 to 15 pipes of Port wine, is the principle that governs the dimensions of the traditional lagar. One to two workers are needed to tread enough grapes to produce one single 550 litre pipe of wine hence a treading team will count around 20 workers. Then follows another shift: Libertade. Workers break away from one another to form couples and dance in total freedom hence the name. This could be seen as two hours of general dancing around, but still, it is very hard work. The treading of the grapes often continues well into the night to the accompaniment of music. The effect is to release the juice and give a certain amount of gentle abrasion to the skins, which releases the phenolics, notably anthocyanins (colour pigments in the skins of black grapes) and softer tannins. Round midnight, the workers leave the lagares to enjoy a wellearned snack and get some rest before the harvest resumes in the morning. The three weeks of harvest are backbreaking and incredibly tiresome; feel welcome to join! The grapes are trodden under foot by that large team of workers, mainly male, for up to twelve hours in split shifts. The first shift, from 6 to 9pm, consists of regimented marching up and down, the so-called Corte, which aims at crushing the grapes. The workers stand in one or two rows, place their arms on their neighbours shoulders and march backward and forward in regular steps, following command, frequently accompanied of drumbeats or rhythmic songs. The must is then left to rest for some hours overnight. The yeast having entered into contact with the natural sugars, fermentation sets in. As sugar are being metabolised into alcohol, the fermenting must heats up, CO 2 is generated then skins and seeds form a cap to the surface. The cap needs to be submerged to induce further extraction. To that effect, a small team of workers starts on another 8 hours split shift in the morning, first to tread the grapes once more, before switching to punching down the cap. The cap is pushed down under the fermenting juice in a pigeage operation by using either traditional paddles called macacos (which translates as monkeys) or piston technology like at Croft. When the winemaker judges that the level of sweetness that makes the house style is reached, the freerun juice is racked into a tank by using gravity to be fortified. The skins left over in the lagar are collected and pressed. Despite being of lesser quality, the pressed juice is always added to the finer freerun juice. Yields are indeed so low in the Douro that one cannot afford to waste a single drop. Vertical presses are used for the making of premium wines, typically when treading is used, while horizontal presses are used for the making of lesser wines. The leftover skins are sometimes distilled into brandy by the farmers for their personal consumption. Fermentation will only stop when arguadente is added to the juice, thereby killing the yeasts, stabilising the wine and preserving that desired level of sweetness.

17 AUTOVINIFIER: The tedium of the foot-treading process was alleviated by the introduction of the autovinifier, or Ducellier Vat, in the 1960s-70s. The process required minimum labour and no electricity, which was of the utmost importance, for the Douro lacked electrical power as much as workforce in those days. But the wines obtained by using that method have proven never to be of good enough quality. The action of the human foot obviously has a particular effect that is needed to produce high quality wines. In the Douro, the most generic Port wines are still made by using either autovinifiers or vats equipped with electric pumps for pumping over the cap, even though either method can by no means achieve good extraction. Such wines, 60% of the wines produced in the region, mostly by co-ops or producers who only buy-in grapes then vinify them in their own wineries, like Cruz, are made by using these low-extraction methods.

18 Because of reduced population in the Douro region, it becomes increasingly difficult for quality-conscious producers to find pickers and gather foot-treading teams at harvest time, let alone that the big workforce needed is getting ever more costly to hire as a result. This set of problems stirred the creativity of Port winemakers to come up with commercially viable mechanised solutions without compromising on quality. ROBOTIC LAGAR: The Symington Family Estates designed a machine which closely mimics the action of foottreading. It was first experimented with at Graham s Quinta dos Malvedos in 1998, where three are now in permanent use since the year The Symingtons use robotic lagares for the making of their best Vintage Ports at graham s Quinta dos Malvedos, at Dow s Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira and Quinta do Bomfim (or more specifically, in that latter case, at Quinta do Sol, the ultramodern winery that the group owns close-by), and at Warre s Quinta da Cavadinha. They are still used in conjunction with human foot-treading in traditional stone lagares, but within the Symington group, robotic lagars are fast becoming the preferred method of vinification, for their being temperature-controlled guarantees optimum freshness of fruit character. The group opted for plunger tanks for the making of their more generic wines. The Robotic Lagar consists of a stainless steel trough of similar dimensions to those of the traditional stone or concrete lagar. Above it stands the machine that houses the automated feet composed of rectangular pistons fitted with silicone rubber pads of similar texture to the human foot. This machine runs on rails across the lagar while the pistons reciprocate vertically, like a row of marching human feet. This action squeezes the grapes against the bottom of the lagar, thereby releasing the juice and squashing the skins. Later, in the middle of the fermentation process, the pistons can be adjusted so as to move only half way down the lagar to submerge the cap, like in a pigeage operation, picking up some oxygen on the way from the atmosphere to stimulate the action of the yeast and fix the colour in the must. PORT TOES: As for The Fladgate Partnership, they strictly rely on foot-treading in traditional lagares to make their finest wines (Vintage, 30 and 40 year Old Tawny Port wines), for treading is, in their opinion, the only technique that is gentle enough on the grapes so as not to split the pips and release undesirable bitter oils. But in 1995, after a few years of research and development, they installed new piston paddle vats, the so-called Port Toes, for the production of their LBV, Reserve, 10 and 20 Year Old Tawny Port wines at their new ultramodern winery, Quinta da Nogueira. The Port Toes use piston technology in temperature-controlled vats, the dimensions of which are similar to those of a traditional lagar. The mechanical method extends the benefits of foot-treading to the making of their more generic wines (I use inverted commas, for one must bear in mind that, to the exception of the odd Own Label, every wine at TFP is made from grapes grown in A grade vineyards and mostly belongs to the premium Special Category ). At the end of the day, Port Toes are seen as a cost effective way to improve quality for the making of wines that the group would rather use foot-treading to make if they had the means. The Fladgate Partnership s White and Pink Port wines are made at the cold fermentation unit of the other ultramodern winery the group owns: Quinta do Roêda. Only for the making of these wines do they use cultured yeasts, as opposed to the traditional indigenous yeasts traditionally used. There, at Croft, pumping over and plunger tanks (old autovinifiers cut open to the top, lined with epoxy, and equipped with piston technology) are also used for the making of LBV and other ruby-style Reserve wines, as well as 10 Year Old Tawny Port wines.

19 FORTIFICATION PROCESS AND BENEFÍCIO SYSTEM BENEFÍCIO PROCESS: The benefício process is how the fortification process is known in the Douro. Adding aguardente, a clear grape spirit confusingly referred to as brandy, is what is going to turn still light wine made from grapes grown then vinified within the Douro Demarcated Region into Port. One must understand that the fortification process is not only about adding body and warmth to that base wine by increasing its potency of alcohol, but also about improving its chemical stability altogether. Indeed, by elevating the level of alcohol of the fermenting must beyond a certain point, fermenting yeasts are killed and the fermentation process stops. Since sugars can no longer be metabolised into alcohol, the fortification process proves out to be the surest way for winemakers to get control over the final degree of sweetness of the wine they are making. As far as red Port is concerned, which constitutes the bulk of production, fortification occurs once the sugars in the fermenting must have been converted to between 6% and 9%abv, leaving 90 to 100 grams per litre of residual sugar (see chapter on Port Wine Styles for details on sweetness levels in Port). The free-run juice is transferred into large vats. When the grapes are foot-trodden in a lagar, the free-run juice is usually run off into the vat by using gravity, but generally, the juice is simply pumped into the vat. The leftover skins are pressed. The pressed-juice is always mixed together with the free-run juice then the blend is fortified with 77%abv aguardente, thereby stabilising the wine at the level of sweetness desired by the winemaker in order to meet the house style. The dryer the base wine, the lesser the amount of grape spirit required, for it is more alcoholic to start with. But as a rule of thumb, aguardente is added in the proportion of one part spirit to four parts fermenting must. Typically, Port, the resulting fortified wine, displays a final alcohol level ranging between 19 and 22%. HOW ONE OBTAINS VARYING LEVELS OF SWEETNESS IN PORT This Table helps understand how winemakers determine when to add aguardente to the fermenting must and to what amount so as to achieve a given level of sweetness in Port. For instance, to obtain Port with 19% by volume of alcohol and a sweetness level corresponding to 2º Baumé or Bé, grape spirit must be added once the fermenting grape must has reached a volumetric mass or p20. At this moment, 83 litres of aguardente are added to 467 litres of grape must so that the resulting semi-sweet fortified wine eventually contains 76g of residual sugars per litre. Final Wine P20 before Proportions (litres) Fortified Wine Alcohol p20 ºBé brandy is Alcohol from added Must Brandy fermentation Sugars g/l 19 1, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,8 41 Only grapes grown then vinified in the Douro can be made into Port wine. The rule does not apply to the actual wine distilled into the grape spirit used in the fortification process. Indeed, aguardente can come from anywhere in the EU, notably the French, Italian and Spanish wine lakes. The principle was set in law under João Franco s dictatorship by the decree of 27 June From then on, all the grapes grown in the Douro had to be made into wine, and the brandy needed to fortify it into Port had to be imported from outside the Douro Demarcated Region. Nowadays, aguardente is produced in the Douro and sold as brandy under the Aguardente de Vinho do Douro appellation, but still, it is not used as fortifying grape spirit. It would not make sense to produce fortifying grape spirit in the Douro anyway, for yields are so low in the DDR that it would prove too expensive, let alone that the climate is so hot that the base wine would be too alcoholic and not neutral enough to be distilled into a spirit of delicate-enough quality to serve that purpose in the first place. Fortifying brandy needs to be of very fine quality indeed, for, contrary to popular belief, aguardente at an alcoholic strength of 77% is by no means neutral in character. Since aguardente represents 1/5 of the total volume of Port, its impact on the wine cannot be denied, but one often overlooks the organolepitic impact of the fortification process on the base wine. The chemical composition and aromatic makeup of the fortifying brandy can absolutely improve as much as it can lessen the quality of the resulting Port wine. Historically, shippers had no say in selecting the grape spirit, the latter being strictly sourced and apportioned by the Casa do Douro. But since the Casa do Douro lost its monopoly on supply and distribution of aguardente to the CIRDD in 1995, Port producers have now the opportunity to source and select quality grape spirit themselves. The quality of the aguardente used in the fortification process needs to meet with the IVDP s approval before any Port wine is made. The quantity of aguardente used in the fortification process must also be in keeping with the volume of production set by the IVDP on a given year. This means that aguardente still remains highly regulated, yet, in the end, producers now benefit from a level of control over the final product as never before. At The Fladgate Partnership, for instance, the quality and respective cost of aguardente they source vary for every stylistic category in their range. The finer the wine style, the finer and more costly the grape spirit used in its making. TFP first selected a very fine Ugni-Blanc-based spirit from the Lucien Bernard Company in Cognac (owner of Domaine de Chevalier) for the making of their premium Port wines, notably Vintage Port, but also Croft Pink, the first rosé Port ever commercialised. But dramatic price increases recently imposed by distillers forced the group to source cheaper aguardente. As Adrian Bridge, CEO of TFP, put it on the occasion of the lecture he gave for the launch of Fonseca s first book at AWC Wine Academy on Monday 22 October 2012 in London, aguardente has now become rather expensive indeed, and so for three reasons mainly: distillers no longer receive EU subsidies since 2008; a string of low-yielding harvests has limited the volume of wine available for distillation; and the increased demand for wine in emerging markets like China has added even more strain on that limited supply. The litre of aguardente TFP would buy for around 0.90 in 2011 trebled to 2.60 in early 2012, hopefully reaching its natural level at 3.70 in Moreover, distillers now find themselves in a position where they can afford to request payment in advance. All this added financial pressure saw many cooperatives unable to produce Port any longer, only focusing their attention on still light wines. Producers revel in the enthusiastic response to their 2011 vintage declaration, but the truth is that the mainstream end of the category, as costs increase, faces a challenging combination of price hikes and dwindling demand. The Port trade is putting through really big price increases for the first time in a decade, which the supermarkets have had to accept says Paul Symington, co-chairman of Symington Family Estates.

20 BENEFÍCIO SYSTEM: Aguardente must undergo quality control at the IVDP through systematic chemical assay in its Laboratory and organoleptic tasting by the panel of the Câmara de Provadores in order to be approved for Port production. The fortification process, since aguardente is then strictly apportioned to producers by the IVDP, acts as the wine authorities ultimate means of control over Port production. But it is only the last step within a much wider scheme known as the Benefício System. Back in 1756, stabilising the market and ensuring that Port was the genuine article and of high quality was what prompted Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal, to demarcate the Douro wine region and implement quotas of production in relation to a vineyard classification system. State control under the Salazar regime is also what motivated the creation, in 1932, of the Casa do Douro, the winegrower s guild that was later put in charge of the official vineyard register called Cadastro. Every quinta (winegrowing and/or wine producing estate) is indeed legally required to provide the cadastro with every detail regarding its vineyard holdings and the provenance of the grapes made into wine in its facilities. In 1947, strong of nearly a decade s worth of data from the cadastro, Álvaro Moreira da Fonseca devised a scoring system to accurately grade the terroir or quality potential of the vineyards of the region. Every parameter that contributes to wine quality in relation to soil, climate and human know-how (which, in the context of the vineyard, is viticultural) is scored (see table for details). The sum of all the scores results in a vineyard grading. On that grading depends how much the grapes yielded by the estate are going to fetch, as in the old échelle des Crus system in Champagne, but also what quantity of Port wine that quinta will be entitled to produce. This vineyard classification system is effectively a sliding scale, which, as far as Port production is concerned, ranges from A for the best vineyards, the grapes from which fetch maximum price and can be made near entirely into Port, down to F for those vineyards which just about meet the standards to produce Port and yield grapes that can be bought at minimum price but made in only very limited amounts of Port wine, if any at all. According to that rating system, only 26,000ha out of the 46,000ha that constitute the DDR s total vineyard qualify for Port production, which represents just over 55% of the total area under vines. Of the vineyards qualifying for Port production, 75% are graded between C and D. Vineyards cannot be considered for grading if they grow vines under 5 years of age and, to the exception of some viticultural improvements and the odd planting of almond and olive groves to improve shelter, producers have but relative control over the parameters up for scoring. Since the demise of the Casa do Douro, the cadastro is now managed by the Douro branch of the IVDP. July-August, just before the harvest is declared, is when the Interprofessional Council (Conselho Interprofessional da Região Demarcada do Douro) of the IVDP sets the Benefício, which is the quota of Port production in a given year. Total annual benefício for the Port Industry is calculated based on sales in the last 12 months and the Port wine inventory in Vila Nova de Gaia and in the Douro region. To put it simply, more Port is produced and reserves are replenished following a good trading year and vice versa following a weak trading year, thereby avoiding a boom and bust sales pattern. Each individual producer is notified what volume of must can be fortified into Port depending on the grading of their grapes then the aguardente is apportioned accordingly. Any leftover grape must that cannot legally be fortified into Port will be made into Douro wine or distilled into Aguardente de Vinho do Douro instead. FIGURES FOR THE YEAR 2010 Benefício: 110,000 pipes (550 litre units of must) Allowance in l/ha of must according to vineyard grading: A 2,043 B 2,010 C 1,859 D 1,818 E 1,573 F 684 DDR wine production: 298,499 pipes (550 litre units of wine) Port: 140,323 pipes (aguardente included) Other wines: 158,176 pipes Even though the Douro has a long history of still light wine production, the industry has concentrated primarily on Port production. This is no surprise, since the benefício system sees top quality grapes fetch four times as much when destined for Port production rather than for Douro wine production. Thus, there was little ambition to produce world-class still light wines. The breakthrough moment came in 1952, when, after a visit to Bordeaux, Fernando Nicolau de Almeida, oenologist at Ferreira, decided to produce a premium dry red from indigenous grape varieties. His genius was Barca Velha. Initially, acceptance for this new style grew slowly. But by the early 1970s, new bottlings started to join the marketplace. And by the early 1990s, the evolution was in full force. The emergence of Douro wines has thrown something of a curve-ball into the state-controlled benefício system. Port might be growing share in premium markets like the UK, but the reality is that global sales of Port have dropped in recent years. That negative trend eventually led to a dramatic 30% benefício cut in 2011, which sparked protests outside the IVDP offices in Régua. The Port industry perfectly understands that it is no time to push prices up in such a depressed market, but is there any other choice? The escalating cost of aguardente put aside, the way the cost of grapes is being determined by the benefício system in a context of expansion of the Douro wine market becomes an issue for the Port industry. Adrian Bridge, CEO of TFP, a group that does not give into the fashion for lighter wines, would tell you bluntly that in effect, the Port industry is subsidising the table wine industry. Growers are able to sell their excess grapes at competitive prices simply because they are being paid over the odds for their Port grapes. How can Port producers not be frustrated when they see cost biased in favour of Douro wines and, at the same time, selling prices ex Portugal at the same level for Port as they are for Douro wines? Adrian Bridge strongly believes that it is about time that the forces of the free market were unleashed to restore balance. Adrian Bridge stresses that deregulation would also improve quality, for the benefício system offers little incentive to growers to pursue quality as it guarantees that Port grapes will sell regardless. Paul Symington of Symington Family Estates, a group which, it is worth mentioning, is involved in both Port and Douro wine production, is not as dismissive of the system as Adrian Bridge. To him, simply allowing free market to take effect could be catastrophic. The system has indeed spread the wealth around, giving a broad supply base in which the many earn a little rather than the few a lot, thereby helping to sustain a vibrant viticultural community that could so easily be wiped out by a sudden rural exodus towards the city. The Douro valley lives of grapes alone. There is no other industry. We do need change, but we have to be very careful how we make these changes. It is with the entire social fabric of the region that we are playing. The Symingtons want to stick with the benefício system, though they think that the unbalance between Port and Douro wine prices needs to be addressed. Then, there would still be a future for the still light wine industry in the Douro Demarcated Region, though Rupert Symington is quick to stress that it is very important to recognise that, with its steep slopes and low yields, the Douro can never be competitive with other regions of Portugal in terms of the cost of grapes. The only future for Douro wines is to deliver quality at a higher price, like Port. There is absolutely no future for the Douro as a cheap volume producer of wine.

21 SOIL CLIMATE VINEYARD GRADING VITICULTURE VINEYARD SCORING SYSTEM VECTORS OF WINE QUALITY MINIMUM MAXIMUM 4 PARAMETERS FOR EACH OF THE 3 TERROIR FACTORS SCORE SCORE GEOLOGICAL Schist 100 The best vineyard is established on schistous bedrock Transitional -100 Granite -250 Alluvial (disappeared with the damming of the river) -400 PEDOLOGICAL 0 80 Low drainage Low light reflection and has a stony topsoil Low heat storage YIELD >1,800 litre per 10 3 vines 600 litre per 10 3 vines It is low-yielding DEGREE OF SLOPE Flat land >35% slope and steep-sloped LOCATION ZONE 1: the highest elevations of the Baixo Corgo, north of Régua, with the coolest, most Atlantic-influenced climate. ZONE 2: from Barqueiros to the river Corgo (including Régua) on the right bank, and from Barro to the river Vilar on the left bank. ZONE 3: from the river Corgo to the river Ceira, near Govinhas, on the right bank, and from the river Vilar to the river Tedo on the left bank. ZONE 4: the viticultural heartland of the Demarcated Douro Region, from the rivers Ceira and Tedo to Pocinho, in the Saião Valley, a zone that also includes the tributary valleys of the rivers Tavora, Torto, Cardo, Pinhão and Tua. (ÁLVARO MOREIRA DA FONSECA, 1947) It is located in the viticultural heartland of the DDR ZONE 5: the majority of the Douro Superior, from the Saião Valley to Barca d Alva ALTITUDE Above 650 metres Up to 150 metres at low altitude and in reasonably hot conditions* SHELTER FROM PREVAILING WINDS 0 60 as it is sheltered in a narrow valley or a river estuary ASPECT and south-facing in the cooler parts of the Alto Douro or not strongly exposed to the sun in the Douro Superior VARIETAL It is planted with recommended grape varieties TRAINING SYSTEM Vines trained high above ground (pergola prohibited) Maximum vine height of 0.8 metres the vines are trained low to the ground AGE OF VINE 0 60 Younger vines beyound the minimum legal age of 5 years Vines beyong 25 years of age 30 and these old vines 25 year old vines PLANTING DENSITY A B C D E Very low and very high planting density SUM OF SCORES > 1200 points between 1001 and 1200 points between 801 and 1000 points between 601 and 800 points between 401 and 600 points 4,000 to 5,700 vines per hectare are planted at a moderately high density *Since global warming sees vineyards at 450 m now yield better-balanced wines, the Symingtons are calling for a revision of the vineyard scoring system. F between 201 and 400 points often not allowed to produce Port G H I between 1 and 200 points between -201 and 0 points between -400 and -200 points suitable for Port production not suitable for Port production

22 MATURATION / AGEING Port can be Red, Rosé or White. In the course of the winter that follows the harvest, around February, the wines are racked off the lees, tasted then classified according to their sensorial characteristics into lots. Depending on its intrinsic quality, every single lot is destined to be made into one out of 14 subcategories of Port wines. The winemaker works with the standards imposed by the IVDP in mind, knowing that samples will eventually have to be submitted to the Institute for certification. But broadly speaking, two distinct styles of Port are made: a reductive style and an oxidative style. Making Port in a reductive style means that the winemaker will keep it away from oxygen as much as possible so as to preserve its integrity of primary fruit character. As far as red Port is concerned, the process also preserves the intensity of ruby colour hence the style is referred to as Ruby Port. In order to preserve the freshness of character in Rosé Port, as well as the purity of colour characteristic of the style, the wine is also made reductively by the saignée method. Rosé Port was actually counted as light Standard Ruby Port before the style was officially recognised by the IVDP in On the other hand, making Port in an oxidative style means that the winemaker will expose the wine to oxygen as much as possible so as to turn the primary fruit into a dry-fruity secondary character then a nuttier and spicier tercery character with further ageing in wood. As far as red Port is concerned, the process will gradually turn the deep ruby colour of a young wine into a tawny colour hence the style is referred to as Tawny Port. White Port follows the same oxidative pattern as Tawny Port. Oxidation gradually lightens the colour of red wine and deepens that of white wine. Interestingly, with extended oxidative ageing, Very Old Tawny Port and Very Old White Port take on a similar deep amber colour. Port is probably the fortified wine that offers the greatest variety of styles and colours in the world. The IVDP also distinguishes between wine at entry level in the standard category, which is designed to be drunk young or joven, and wine at premium level in the special category, which is designed to improve through ageing or estagiado, either in wood or in bottle. That combined stylistic and qualitative divide commends the length of time Port wine is going to be matured in wood, from a minimum of one year to sometimes decades before it is released on the market. Standard Port wines will undergo the minimum maturation possible so as to be released as soon as possible and bring the shipper a near instant return. Port wines in the special category, on the other hand, will undergo various degrees of ageing in old wood depending on style (moderate for premium Ruby styles and extended for premium Tawny and White styles). Maturing wine comes at a cost, a cost that the shipper will pass onto the consumer in the shape of higher selling prices. Tawny Port will be racked at least once a year so as to develop the oxidative character that is characteristic of the style. But more generally, the way the winemaker stores Port is what is going to have a fundamental impact on style and colour. To be more precise, the type and capacity of the container the wine is matured into, in combination to the length of time the wine is going to spend into that container, is what is going to shape the style of a Port wine. As a rule of thumb, one must consider that the smaller the wooden container, the more oxidative the ageing process. Entry level Port wines in the standard category are matured in massive upstanding wooden vats, which can hold tens, if not hundreds of thousands of litres. These vats, known as Balseiros, are traditionally made of Portuguese oak, though chestnut and other exotic woods have been used in the past. Some have opted for lined concrete, and recently, stainless steel has also been introduced. Still, large cylindrical stainless steel and lined concrete vats only represent approximately 10% of the total storage capacity in lodges, while Balseiros represent more than two thirds. Since entry level wines undergo minimal maturation prior to bottling, the oxidative property of the material the vat is made of is irrelevant anyway. Indeed, these transitional storage solutions are so large that one can hardly talk of oxidative ageing. In contrast, premium Port in the special category always undergoes a degree of oxidative ageing in wood in order to alter its aromatic profile. Premium Ruby Port can be matured in balseiros when a winemaker wishes the oxidative impact on the wine to be minimal. But more often than not, premium Ruby Port will be aged in large casks reminiscent of French foudres, known locally as toneis. The aim of ageing port in a tonel, which holds between 11 and 33 thousand litres, is not to deliberately oxidise the wine, but to fix its colour, mellow its tannins and get rid of the more volatile compounds, thereby stabilising it. Premium Ruby Port is aged in old wood for up to 7 years, over which period it will start showing signs of development. It eventually becomes drinkable, ready for bottling and putting to market. Rarely have I seen premium Ruby Port wines being aged in wooden containers smaller than a tonel. Niepoort Bioma Vinha Velha is probably the only Vintage Port aged in pipes for more than two years to emulate the old style, prior to the time when bottling at source was made compulsory. A pipe, or Pipa as it is called in Portugal, is a 550 litre barrel reminiscent of a French demi-muid. Bioma is so concentrated and extracted that the process helps kick-start the development of complexity. In contrast, modern Vintage Port is bottled after only two winters in wood, for it is in the bottle that this ultimate premium Ruby Port is going to undergo its painfully slow maturation process. Contrary to premium Ruby Port, Tawny Port is exposed to oxygen to maximum impact. Deliberate oxidation in premium Tawny Port results from a combination of regular racking and maturation in Pipe, which is by far the smallest and most oxidative ageing container a winemaker can use in the making of Port wines.

23 Massive upstanding wooden vat(s) or Balseiro(s) Large wooden cask(s) or Tonel(Toneis) Foudre(s) Small old wood Pipa(s) or Pipe(s) Demi-muid(s) = Tens or even hundreds of thousands of litres = 20 to 60 pipes = 11,000 to 33,000 litres = 550litres Port is matured in old wood more often than not, for wood aromas and flavours are not desirable in Port. Renewing stocks of old balseiros, toneis and pipas can prove a challenge, especially in times of fierce consolidation of the market. Port wine companies invest in old pipes as soon as they become available on the second-hand market when lodges are sold or closed down. Damaged casks never go to waste. When in a state of disrepair, pipes are dismantled then reconstituted, or alternatively, spare staves are stored on hand for the mending of broken pipes. The 550 litre pipe is the unit used by the IVDP to compile production and sales figures in the annual report it is compelled to issue by law. Historically, pipes came into two sizes: the 550 litre production or Douro pipe, and the 534 litre shipping or Gaia pipe. But nowadays, since Port must be bottled at source, shipping pipes are no longer relevant. The constant mending and recycling of old pipes might explain why pipes never seem to meet the 550 litre standard. One look at the lodges at Taylor s in Vila Nova de Gaia will have you realise that not one single pipe has the same holding capacity as the other. A special branding system, delightfully male-chauvinistic, lets one know how much each single pipe holds: The 618 litres held in this pipe are branded as follow: 2 X = 1 x 550 litres, 550 litres being as much as a donkey can pull on a cart. 9 2 = 2 x 25 litres, 25 litres being as much as a woman can carry on top of her head. 9 = 9 x 2 litres, 2 litres being as much as a man can drink in one day. In the spring, the lots of wine are transferred to the shippers warehouses, known as lodges, in Vila Nova de Gaia, to mature. There, on the south bank of the Douro estuary, opposite Oporto, the more temperate climate is better suited for maturation. Since 1986, when Portugal joined the EU, the law changed, and shippers are no longer compelled to age their wines in Gaia. Since then, many have moved their lodges back to the Douro. Prior to that change in the law, shippers would avoid storing wine in the area of production, for the high temperatures in the Douro, sometimes beyond 45 C in summer, were said to give a burnt character to the wine: the so-called Douro bake. To eliminate any risk of Douro bake, two alternative solutions have been found. Some producers, such as Quinta do Noval and Quinta do Vesuvio, invested in fully air-conditioned lodges, while, on the other hand, other producers, like The Fladgate Partnership for instance, opted for the naturally cooler environment of altitude, at 400m, where TFP built an ultramodern facility at Quinta da Nogueira. Thanks to moving part of its lodges back to the Douro, TFP managed to free precious land in Gaia for the diversification of its activities, with particular focus on tourism. In 2009, a big luxury hotel complex was built next to the lodges at Taylor s, The Yeatman Wine Lodge & Spa, which makes the most of the stunning views over the river Douro and Oporto.

24 Until relatively recently, the Port wine trade was reliant on the river to bring the wines from the vineyards in the Douro down to the lodges in Gaia. The earliest references to boats shipping wine down the Douro River date back to around These boats were first called barcas taverneiras, but would soon become known as Barcos Rabelos. The river was dammed for hydroelectric purposes from the 1950 s to Nowadays, the Douro is best understood as a series of five lakes, providing a picture of sheer calm and serenity. But before then, the Douro River was fast-running. Calmer reaches alternated with treacherous shoals and turbulent rapids, some gushing through narrow sheer-sided gorges. Rapids were often grouped along the same stretch of river, constituting a formidable sequence of obstacles which required great skill to negotiate successfully. To be able to navigate in these conditions, the barco rabelo had to have a flat- the crew to carry out the bottomed hull and a long steering oar, operated from the top of a raised platform, which allowed very precise manoeuvres necessary to traverse the rapids. In the faster-running waters, it would have to be hauled against the current by teams of oxen straining on the towpath. The highly skilled and courageous crews constituted closely knit communities with their own distinctive traditions and customs. The number of vessels operating on the river seems to have varied greatly over the years. It grew from as little as 50 in 1751 to well into the hundreds only years later. To cope with the increase in traffic resulting from growing demand for Port wines, barcos rabelos of increasingly heavy tonnage were built, the largest carrying between 70 and 100 pipes. These very large boats, less manoeuvrable, were prone to accidents, and in 1779, legislation set the limit at 70 pipes maximum. The largest barcos rabelos in use in the 20 th century usually carried no more than 50 pipes. Indeed, the completion of the railway along the Douro in 1887 meant that the barco rabelo was no longer the only means of transporting wine and other bulky goods from the Alto Douro to the coast. However, for many decades, barcos rabelos remained the method of choice. In the 1930s, the fleet still counted 300 registered vessels. As access to the Douro Valley improved, road transport began to take over. By 1961, with the development of transport by road tankers and the building phase of the damming program, only 6 barcos rabelos were still operating. The last commercial journey of a barco rabelo is said to have taken place in 1964, but a number of boats are still maintained, however, for PR purposes. They remain moored along the quay in Vila Nova de Gaia, advertising the brand names of the companies that own them. The Confraria do Vinho do Porto, a Port wine brotherhood, organises the annual Rabelo Boat Race from the mouth of the river Douro up to the D. Luís Bridge. The race takes place on June 24 th, Saint John s day, for Saint John is the Patron Saint of Porto. The event is part of the official programme of the city s festivities and has become a major popular and tourist attraction. QUALITY CONTROL: Quality Control in the Port industry is performed by the IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto/ Quality control is a continual process that takes place at every stage, from the growing of the grapes to the elaboration of the wine, till Port is eventually bottled. Each lot of Port, regardless of its style or quality, has to pass tests in the facilities of the IVDP: chemical assay in the laboratory and organoleptic tasting at the Câmara de Provadores. Each wine must fit the strict standards set for its own style. The Seven permanent members of the Câmara de Provadores tasting panel go through some 20 lots almost daily; 10 new samples alongside 10 certified samples, in order to guarantee consistency. Their decision is certified by the IVDP then a Selo de Garantia is issued. Only wines bearing the characteristic numbered paper seal on top of the cork, secured between the neck of the bottle and the foil, can be released onto the market.

25 PORT MARKET The face of the global Port market has changed dramatically since the Second World War. The traditional wine of the British, drunk in gentlemen s clubs as well as in street-corner pubs, eventually became the wine of the French when sales of le Porto outstripped those of Port in the early 1960s. Nowadays, the UK only stands as the 5 th biggest importer, as Britons consumed a yearly average of 11% of the Port put to market in the first decade of this century. France is the uncontested leading consumer, though in view of its comparative share of 23% in value and 28.5% in volume, one can safely say that the French drink entry-level Port mostly. In contrast, with an average share of 12% in value, the UK is more of a premium market, managing to rank as the 3 rd or 4 th largest Port market in value terms. As a matter of fact, the UK is by far the biggest importer of premium Port in the special category. 90% of Port wines (as much in volume as in value) are sold in 10 markets only: France, Holland, Portugal, Belgium, the UK, Germany, the US, Canada, Denmark and Spain, in decreasing order of importance. The five biggest importers hold as much as 80% of the market in volume terms between them alone. But they only take 70% of the market in value terms, for the USA, Canada and Denmark are very strong premium markets amongst the 5 remaining top 10 importers. In that sense, despite their dealing with much smaller volumes of wine, the North American and Danish markets are as coveted as the UK by shippers. Each nation has its own stylistic preferences. The British have a taste for strapping, gutsy Port wines. The UK is very much a ruby-driven market, as Ruby Port adds up to a staggering 90% here. The French, on the other hand, enjoy much lighter styles. France is indeed very much a tawny-driven market, as Tawny Port represents nearly 75% of the French market. Like France, Portugal drinks Port in the standard category, light also but more refreshing in style. With 60% of the domestic market, Tawny Port is a favourite amongst Port shippers, who like it jammy and full of caramel, cooled to the temperature of the river. But what makes the Portuguese market so individual is its taste for White Port, which holds a generous 20% share of the domestic market, twice the average on the international market, as in France for instance. In contrast, the UK sticks to heavier styles, more suited to its climes, and does not give the light of day to White Port, which hardy represents 1% of its market. THREE MAIN TRENDS SEEM TO CHARACTERISE THE UK FORTIFIED WINE MARKET OF TODAY: -1- It is an off-trade market. -2- It is shrinking. -3- It is consolidated. -1- The UK fortified wine market is an off-trade market. Nowadays, 97% of the consumption of fortified wines is indeed home consumption hence the supermarket sales figures compiled by Nielsen in the graphics on the next page are enough to draw an accurate picture of the fortified wine market here, in the UK. -2- The UK fortified wine market is shrinking. It has indeed more than halved its share of the UK wine market between 1996 and 2005, from 15% down to 7%. The industry was hoping for a stabilisation of the market, but fortified wines are down again to 3% of the UK wine market today. Lower alcohol still light wines have been the main beneficiaries of that movement away from fortified wines figures show that still light wines now add up to a staggering 88% of the UK wine market. Until recently, sparkling wines had managed to remain at a fairly constant 9% of the UK wine market, but they are now down to 6%. It is important to recognise that Port, whilst being part of the fortified wine family, not only has its own very distinctive characteristics as a wine, but also behaves completely differently in terms of evolution of its market and how it is perceived. Too often, Port is lumped together in a general argument regarding fortified wines that tends to be negative and misses what is in fact a consistent and extremely positive trend in terms of sales in the UK market (one that far more closely resembles the pattern of growth enjoyed by still light wines and premium spirits over the past decade). To name the culprit, it is the collapse of the Sherry market, with its ageing consumer base, that has been driving the negative trend that sees the fortified wine market shrink year on year. Port, on the other hand, has managed to build a trendier image, still appealing to younger consumers, especially in their 30s and 40s. The Port industry s latest innovations, as exemplified by the creation of the Rosé Port category in 2009, aim at attracting the younger generations, and women also, to Port. Whilst, since 1995, Sherry, British Fortified Wine and Vermouth have suffered a 50% decline or more in volume terms, Port has experienced quite the opposite trend, with sales increasing more than 50% over the same period (though some would argue that the performance of Port wines in the UK market is very much artificially boosted by discounting). Here, Sherry still remains the leading fortified wine, thanks to heavily processed, high volume, commercial products with hardly any typicity or sense of place, especially targeted at and sometimes tailor made for the UK market, namely Bristol Cream and Croft Original. As wine consumption declines in Europe and a taste for premium wines develops, the future of these basic Sherry staples grows uncertain and chances of success for Port, perceived as more premium and authentic, becomes more assured, as already demonstrated by the value figures in the chart on the next page. If the same long term trend continues in the UK, Port could become the leading fortified wine ahead of Sherry by 2020.

26 -3- The UK fortified wine market is consolidated, as it is dominated by an ever shrinking pool of players. This pattern echoes that of the Port industry in the Douro and Oporto, where there has been much consolidation also in recent years as the multinationals have departed and the companies they owned have been bought back by existing family businesses. For instance, Beam Global Spirits and Wine, the spirits and wine operating arm of the American Fortune Brands, sold the Port companies Cockburn s and Martinez to Symington Family Estates in July In 2005, Cockburn s and Martinez had come into possession of Fortune Brands when a consortium managed by the French group Pernod Ricard purchased the English Allied Domecq. Beam Global was especially interested in Cockburn s because of its large share of the UK market. Today, Cockburn s Special Reserve still remains the single leading brand in the UK off-trade. As late as in 2013, The Fladgate Partnership, the second most important Port group in the UK, decided to strengthen its position in the growing Aged Tawny sector by acquiring Wiese & Krohn, a Port house renowned for its Colheitas. The acquisition of this company run by the third generation of the Falcão Carneiro family helps TFP grow 10% larger, but more importantly, it means that, in effect, well in excess of 90% of the UK Port market is to fall into the hands of both Symington Family Estates and The Fladgate Partnership. This reality is reflected in the fact that the two groups (predominantly Symingtons) are responsible for supplying UK supermarkets with the entirety of their BOBs and Own Labels. No other sector of the UK fortified wine market could ever become that consolidated. By acquiring Cockburn s and Martinez, Symingtons soon became the uncontested leader in the global Port market. Although, having acquired C. da Silva and its DALVA brand from the Spanish group Nueva Rumasa in 2007, Grand Cruz Porto, owned by the French group La Martiniquaise, eventually regained the pole position in But, since consolidation is an ongoing process in the Port industry, only time will tell which of the two Groups is to establish itself as the true market leader. One thing is for certain, in Portugal, Sogrape is the leading wine group, though, as far as fortified wines are concerned, it is Symingtons and La Martiniquaise, with interests in both the Douro and Madeira, which are the two biggest players. Sogevinus, the wine arm of the Spanish Bank Caixanova, also went up in rank after it bought Burmester in 2005 then Kopke and Barros Almeida in The figures from the IVDP in the table on the opposite page show that, in the few years leading to 2008, the top five biggest Port groups held nearly as much as 80% of the global Port market between them alone. Nowadays Symingtons and Grand Cruz Porto stand either side of the 21.5% mark, but, at the time, the leading groups roughly ranked as follow: N 1 Symington Family Estates (Symingtons) 22.00% (Graham s, Dow s, Warre s, Smith Woodhouse, Gould Campbell, Quarles Harris and Quinta do Vesuvio) (+ Cockburn s and Martinez) N 2 Gran Cruz Porto (part of La Martiniquaise ) (Porto Cruz +DALVA/C. da Silva) % N 3 Sogrape Vinhos (best known for Mateus Rosé and Barca Velha) 15.50% (Ferreira, Sandeman, Offley and Robertson s) N 4 The Fladgate Partnership (TFP) 11.50% 13.00% (Taylor s, Fonseca and Croft + Wiese & Krohn) N 5 Sogevinus (part of Caixanova ) 8.25% (Cálem, Burmester, Gilberts, Kopke and Barros Almeida) Note that these figures are in terms of volume of 9l cases and that they do not reflect well on producers which do not do much volume in the way of entry level and other Buyer s Own Brand or Own Label wines in the Standard Category but very much focus on the production of premium wines in the Special Category (e.g. TFP). As far as the premium sector is concerned, TFP and Symingtons are shoulder to shoulder, each roughly holding 1/3 of the global Port market respectively. This leading position explains why both Symingtons and TFP virtually share the reputedly premium UK market between them. The remaining 1/3 is held by all the other groups and companies put together, including qualitative toppers such as Quinta do Noval and Churchill. But one must bear in mind that the latter only rank 17 th and 22 nd in volume terms. In view of their respective 0.56% and 0.16% share of the global Port market back in 2008, these quality benchmarks cannot be considered driving forces within the industry.

27 Port Wine Company UK Agent Market Share 2008 Market Share 2007 Market Share 2006 (IVDP figures) and Distributor % Cases % Cases % Cases 1 Symington Family Estates Fells (PO = partially owned by group) 21.51% 2,252, % 2,395, % 2,274,617 2 Gran Cruz Porto (La Martiniquaise) 19.17% 2,007, % 2,155, % 2,084,011 DALVA (C. da Silva) Watermill Wines 3 Sogrape Stevens Garnier (PO) 15.00% 1,571, % 1,639, % 1,571,656 4 The Fladgate Partnership Mentzendorff & C Ltd (PO) 11.46% 1,200, % 1,203, % 1,190,994 5 Sogevinus (Caixanova) 7.92% 829, % 852, % 881,039 Barros Almeida Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Burmester Coe Vintners Cálem now seeking distribution Kopke Hayward Brothers Ltd 6 Christie (1) 4.63% 484, % 523, % 528,794 7 Poças Junior 1.92% 200, % 220, % 205,211 8 Messias 1.82% 191, % 192, % 206,922 9 Rozès/S Pedro (Vranken-Pommery Monopole) Vranken-Pommery UK (PO) 1.35% 141, % 160, % 168, Wiese & Krohn (now owned by TFP) Mentzendorff & C Ltd (PO) 1.43% 149, % 147, % 120, Co-Ops (2) 2.13% 222, % 231, % 220, Royal Companhia Velha = Royal Oporto (owns Delaforce) 0.97% 101, % 115, % 163, Farmers (3) 0.98% 102, % 115, % 86, Ramos Pinto (Roederer) Maisons, Marques et Domaines 0.98% 93, % 103, % 105, Andresen Laithwaites Wines 0.81% 85, % 83, % 62, Cunha Barros 0.60% 62, % 68, % 60, Quinta do Noval (AXA Millésime) Gonzales Byass UK Ltd 0.56% 57, % 54, % 55, Quinta do Portal Charles Hawkins & Partners 0.55% 57, % 54, % 55, Niepoort Raymond Reynolds Ltd 0.34% 35, % 41, % 36, Quinta de Ventozelo 0.10% 10, % 36, % 32, Borges 0.24% 25, % 21, % 18, Churchill New Generation Wines 0.16% 16, % 15, % 16, Quinta do Infantado Liberty Wines Ltd 0.13% 14, % 14, % 12, Quinta de La Rosa Fields Morris & Verdin 0.06% 6, % 7, % 6, Quinta do Crasto Enotria 0.04% 3, % 4, % 3,056 Total 9,913,238 10,471,906 10,178,117 Top % 43.50% 42.80% Top % 59.10% 58.30% Top % 70.60% 70.00% Top % 78.70% 78.60%

28 PORT WINE STYLES The market offers different styles of Port wines, each style being determined by the following factors: 1- Terroir 2- Varietal Blend 3- Mode of Extraction 4- Sweetness Level 5- Mode of Ageing 6- Vintage Blend 7- Mode of Bottling 1 Terroir: The IVDP officially distinguishes between two categories of Port wines, depending on the quality of the base wine and its resulting potential for ageing. As described in the chapter on Benefício, better wine quality is the fruit of better terroir, the potential of every plot in the DDR being reflected in the vineyard classification of In other words, the higher the grade of the vineyard the grapes come from, the better the resulting wine quality. Entry level wines, being made from lower quality grapes, are cheaper to make but have no ageing potential and are therefore designed for immediate consumption. This Standard Category represents more than 80% in volume terms, but only 65% in value terms, of all Port wines sold every year on the global market. On the other hand, all premium Port wines belong to the Special Category. Premium wines are made from better quality grapes, more expensive to buy in the first place. These wines are so much more concentrated and extracted that they need wood maturation prior to bottling or extended bottle-maturation to become ready to drink. Premium Port wines represent hardly 20% in volume terms, but as much as 35% in value terms, of all Port wines sold every year on the global market. Force is to recognise that, within the Special Category, wine quality varies hugely from one style to the next. In May 2005, the IVDP published a new regulation especially designed as a potentially useful tool for producers to meet the standards demanded by the tasting panel of the Câmara de Provadores. This piece of legislation defines quality rating numbers to be awarded to wine lots. Each style of Port must be made from lots with the appropriate rating in order to be certified. The scale ranges from a low rating only applicable to lots destined to be blended into standard Port wines, up to a top rating only applicable to Vintage Port, the king style of Port. This wine quality rating scale breaks down as follow: 5 = Good 7 = Very Good 8 = Superb 9 = Exceptional 2 Varietal Blend: As described in the chapter on viticulture, there are two ways of growing grapes in the Douro: multiple planting (when a mix of a great number of red and white varietals are grown together on a single plot) and block planting (when only one single varietal is selected so as to grow in optimum conditions on one particularly suitable plot). But one must bear in mind that Port wine is always a blend and that varietal character is rarely identifiable in Port. While multiple planting is a traditional form of pre-vinification blending in the vineyard, the modern way is to grown each variety separately as a means of maximising grape quality then blend the different varietals into the fermenting tank. Nowadays, we can therefore safely say that white Port is made from white grapes and most red Port from red grapes. In effect, block planting has focused the attention of growers on the finer varietals, as a consequence of which blends have become simpler yet more qualitative. On the one hand, Malvasia Fina forms the backbone of white Port, while, on the other hand, red Port mainly consists of six grapes as exemplified by Graham s 6 grapes Reserve: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Franca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Barroca and Tinta Amarela. Despite being regarded as the king varietal of the Douro, Touriga Nacional, for it is very low yielding and hard to grow, only represents 1% of the total planting area and forms part of the finest blends only. But by reading back labels alone, one would think otherwise, for Touriga Nacional is always top of the list. This is only a marketing tool designed to boost the prestige of the blend, so take any mention of grape varieties with a pinch of salt. 3 Mode of Extraction: As described in the chapter on Vinification, Port is always fortified off the skins, for high alcohol is very powerful a solvent of harsh tannins. Antocyanins, the colour agents, and soft tannins in the skins are antioxidants that help wine retain freshness and complexity as it matures, which explains why optimum extraction is paramount. But little time is given to achieve optimum extraction before the fermenting juice reaches the level of sweetness at which it has to be racked off the skins and stabilised by an addition of aguardente. The most extractive solutions are often the least cost effective and sometimes the most labour intensive ones hence it is grape quality that will command the choice of the most appropriate technique: lower quality grapes for the making of entry level wines designed for immediate consumption will be processed by using the least extractive solutions, namely autofinifiers and fermenting tanks equipped with pumping over systems; medium quality grapes for the making of more premium wines with a degree of ageing potential will achieve better extraction in Port toes and other plunger tanks; and top quality grapes for the making of the most age-worthy wines will be foot-trodden or processed in automatic lagares so as to extract as much depth of colour and finesse of tannins and fruit as possible. This rule is not set in stone, but it gives the general idea. Indeed, quality-conscious producers like The Fladgate Partnership and Churchill, for instance, never use low extraction methods, even when making entry-level wines, while C. da Silva, on the other hand, does not use lagares but plunger tanks to make Vintage Port. Extraction is not as essential in white Port, for white Port relies on high acidity and concentration of fruit to keep. These qualities are only exceptionally met in white grapes in the Douro, which explains why aged white Port in the Special Category is so little made. As for Rosé Port, it is only left to macerate for as long as it takes to extra the pink hue that makes the style then it is swiftly racked off the skins to be fermented. Rosé Port must indeed be made by the saignée method, not by blending red and white Port wines together. Rosé Port is so little extracted that it has no ageing potential to speak of. It is designed to be drunk young and fresh and therefore bottled as soon as possible for immediate consumption. The Fladgate Partnership uses very fine grapes and agardente to produce its Rosé Port, yet Croft Pink only qualifies as entry-level Port in the Standard Category. 4 Sweetness: As described in the chapter on Fortification, the sweetness level in Port is controlled by the winemaker and determined by the house style that one wishes to achieve. The later aguardente is added to the must in the course of the fermentation process, the dryer the resulting style. Note how sweetness levels as defined by the Port industry are not in line with sweetness levels in still light wines as defined under EU regulations (see table on the opposite page). To EU standards, every Port wine tastes sweet. How sweet does one particular Port wine actually taste? That is the only variable. In red Port, no mention is ever made of the sweetness level, for it is always made sweet to Douro standards and always tastes sweet to EU standards. Many think that sweetness levels vary from one Port house to the next, Dow s exemplifying the drier style and Fonseca the sweeter style. This is not really true. Residual sugar levels vary in red Port, yes, but most of the time, they remain close to 100g/l. If Fonseca feels sweeter than Dow s on the palate, it is mainly because its style is more voluptuous in terms of fruit intensity than because it is richer in residual sugars. Very Sweet Port, like Ramos Pinto Lágrima Tinto, is most rare and only targeted at the Portuguese domestic market. Rosé Port usually exhibits around 80g/l residual sugar and therefore tastes sweet also, even though it qualifies as Semi Dry in the Port industry. Indication of sweetness is a particular feature of white Port, for white Port embraces the full range of sweetness. But even the driest style, exemplified by Chip Dry, the pioneering Extra Dry White Port first released by Taylor s in 1934, retains as much as 35g/l residual sugar, like Blue Nun, and therefore tastes medium sweet on the palate according to EU standards.

29 SWEETNESS PORT WINE STILL LIGHT WINE VOLUMETRIC MASS BAUMÉ RZ (g/l) SWEETNESS RZ (g/l) Extra Dry / Extra Seco < g/cm 3 0 <40 Dry < 4 Medium Dry 4-12 Or not exceeding 9g/l providing that the total acidity expressed as grams of tartaric acid per litre is not more than 2 grams below the residual sugar content Or not exceeding 18g/l providing that the total acidity expressed as grams of tartaric acid per litre is not more than 10g below the residual sugar content Dry / Seco g/cm g/cm Semi Dry / Meio Seco g/cm g/cm Sweet / Doces g/cm g/cm Very Sweet / Lagríma > g/cm 3 >5.0 >130 Medium (sweet) Sweet >45 5 Oxidative Vs Reductive: Port wine can take on various degrees of oxidative character prior to bottling, as described in the chapter on Maturation. If one considers red Port, the bulk of production, two styles emerge depending on whether the wine undergoes limited or extended oxidative treatment: the reductive Ruby style and the oxidative Tawny style respectively. Both styles set the standards for all Port wines, regardless of colour, for white Port follows the same oxidative pattern as Tawny Port in style. But even within each one of these broad categories, stylistic variations are very marked. Because they are bottled nearly as soon as they are made, Standard Ruby and Vintage Port wines retain maximum freshness, therefore qualifying as youthful in development when bottled. While Standard Ruby Port is designed for immediate consumption, Vintage Port has the most tremendous potential for ageing in the bottle. It will take Vintage Port around two decades to become developing (and drinkable), and sometimes as much as five decades or more to reach full development. Every Ruby Port in the Special Category other than Vintage Port undergoes enough oxidative ageing prior to bottling so as to become ready to drink on release, therefore qualifying as developing. These wines have some ageing potential in the bottle, reaching full development after only five to 8 years on the market. In contrast, every Tawny Port is subjected to maximum oxidative treatment prior to bottling, either through some form of micro pumping over in tank in the Standard Category or through extended maturation in pipe and annual racking in the Special Category. Every Tawny Port therefore qualifies as deliberately oxidised in development when bottled. Tawny Port will not develop in the bottle. It is ready to drink from the day it is released and meant to be consumed in the first few years of its commercialisation. 6 Vintage Blend: As far as vintage is concerned, Port is divided into three stylistic categories: Non-Vintage, Age-Dated or Vintage-Dated. Most Port is a blend of vintages, for blending is a way to even vintage variation and guarantee consistency of house style. Consequently, the same way as varietal character in rarely identifiable in Port, vintage character is also rarely identifiable. The bulk of Port production will indeed not carry a vintage year date. Wines in the Standard Category are always Non-Vintage. It is in the Special Category that vintage-labelling varies. Premium Port can bear a vintage year date on the label only on the conditions that it is made from grapes picked during one single harvest and exhibits organoleptically assessable characteristics of that vintage. The sum of these requirements is what distinguishes Vintage-Dated Port from a Non-Vintage blend in the premium Ruby category, and Colheita Port from an Age-Dated blend in the premium White and Tawny categories. When an indication of age appears on the label (10, 20, 30 and 40 Year Old) this is an average rather than a minimum. Specific vintage or age characteristics will have to be assessed then certified by the Câmara de Provadores prior to commercialisation. 7 Filtered Vs Unfiltered: Some, like TFP, distinguish, in the Special Category, between Ruby Port wines bottled after some oxidative ageing and therefore ready to drink on release, which they call wood-aged, and Ruby Port wines requiring extended maturation in bottle to become ready to dink, which they call bottle-aged. I find the distinction confusing. First of all, only Vintage Port is not ready to drink when put to market. Secondly, some of these wines that TFP calls wood-aged can actually be labelled as Bottle-matured /Envelhecido em garrafa. On labels, bottle-matured does indeed not mean that the wine needs long cellaring prior to consumption, like a Vintage Port wine would, but that the wine was bottled unfiltered after a minimum legal requirement of three years in the bottle prior to its release. Confusion between readiness for drinking and filtration emerges once again when serving different styles of Port wines. Often, to the annoyance of some uninformed customers who find themselves pouring wine heavily loaded with sediments, which should have been decanted, no mention appears on the label to indicate that the wine was bottled unfiltered. Indeed, the Port Industry has not committed themselves to systematic (and more rational) labelling details. One should know that, similarly to Standard Ruby Port, Reserve Port is bottled fined, cold-stabilised and filtered, while every other Ruby style of Port is bottled unfiltered. A notable exception to the rule is Late-bottled Vintage Port, which comes in a variety of styles. Filtered LBV, a modern development, is plainly labelled as Late-bottled Vintage Port, while unfiltered LBV is labelled either as Unfiltered/Não Filtrado or, when having undergone at least three years in the bottle, as Bottlematured/Envelhecido em garrafa. Crusted Port, better understood as an unfiltered Reserve Port, can be labelled as Bottle-Matured once matured in the bottle for at least three years prior to its release, but it is never labelled as Unfiltered. A hint that a wine has been bottled unfiltered is sometimes given on the back labels of Crusted and Vintage Ports, where one can read that the wine will improve in the bottle or form a crust. Premium Tawny and Aged White Ports shed all their solids in the ageing cask. The sediment is eliminated with every racking. Therefore, such wines do not need decanting. Standard Port does not require decanting either. Wine Style Standard Category Vintage Quality Rating Market Share for the Year 2008 Global Market UK Market 81.46% including 1.03% modified 47.32% including 1.29% modified White Port NV % 0.99% Rosé Port (counted as Ruby Port till officialised as a style in 2009) NV 5 (1.2% in 2010) (0.70% in 2010) Ruby Port NV % 39.98% Tawny Port NV % 5.06% 18.54% 52.68% Special Category WHITE PORT Reserva/Reserve Port NV 7 Port With Indication of Age (10, 20, 30 or 40 year old) Age-Dated 8 not significant enough yet to be counted Colheita Port Vintage-Dated 8 RUBY PORT 11.25% 49.5% Reserva/Reserve Port NV % 35.52% Crusted Port NV / Vintage-Dated 8 insignificant 0.03% Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) Port Vintage-Dated % 12.30% Vintage Port Vintage-Dated % 1.39% TAWNY PORT 7.29% 3.18% Reserva/Reserve Port NV % 0.30% Port With Indication of Age (10, 20, 30 or 40 year old) Age-Dated % 2.67% Colheita Port Vintage-Dated % 0.20%

30 WHITE PORT Ernest Cockburn remarked in the early 20 th century that the first duty of Port is to be red. Nevertheless, shippers have always produced a certain amount of white Port. If white Port is a relatively popular style on the Portuguese domestic market, it is often the least sought after style of Port, and here, in the UK, white Port accounts for a small 1% of the Port Market. STANDARD WHITE PORT (5): The style can be indicated as Fine on the label. White Port is made from white grapes in much the same way as red Port, except that maceration on the skins is much shorter. Now that cultured cold ferments have become the norm, fermentation is also much longer. The fresher style of the Standard Category has long been the only style available on the market, as every style in the Special Category is only a late development. The thing that one must bear in mind is that white Port follows the same oxidative pattern in style and answers the same labelling requirements as Tawny Port (see TAWNY PORT ). Typically, Fine White Port is aged for between 18 months and 3 to5 years before bottling. Many choose to store Fine White Port in increasingly popular stainless steel or more traditional concrete vats, so as to preserve the wine s freshness of character, but at some point in its maturation process, Fine White Port will have to undergo some degree of oxidative ageing in large wooden vats so as to develop a rounder fruit and a typical dry nutty finish. But still, the wine qualifies as youthful in character according to the WSET, for the wine is designed for immediate consumption and will not develop but only deterioratee in the bottle. Indeed, freshness is key in the Standard Category. In contrast, every white Port in the Special Category, since it is extendedly aged in wood, is deliberately oxidised in development. This dichotomy translates into contrasting colours also. Fine White Port should look fresh in the glass, typically pale lemon yellow to medium gold in colour, whereas Aged White Port will gradually take on a darker hue, down to a deep amber or a medium tawny with a golden rim when Very Old, at which stage one could be forgiven for mistaking it for a Very Old Tawny Port in appearance. White Port ranges from Very Sweet/Lágrima, Sweet/Doces, Semi Dry/Meio Seco, Dry/Seco, down to Extra Dry/Extra Seco. The earlier aguardente is added to the must in the course of the fermentation process, the sweeter the resulting style. These degrees of sweetness must appear on the label of all white Port wines. They never do in the case of red Port, for red Port is always sweet. Lágrima, which translates into English as tears, a name also associated with certain Malága wines, refers to the viscosity of the wine and the tears it leaves on the side of the glass (it might also have religious connotations, for the portrait of Christ often features on labels). The style is near exclusively white, though rare red examples exist, but in any case, this very sweet style is very much targeted at the domestic Portuguese market. In 1934, Dick Yeatman pioneered the first example of Extra Dry White Port: Taylor s Chip Dry. The style was produced to refresh the pickers after a long hot day s harvesting in the vineyards. It was the first attempt to shift consumption habits by offering a Port suitable as an aperitif rather than as the traditional after dinner drink. Note how the sweetness levels in Port do not match EU standards of sweetness, which is very confusing. Indeed, even the driest style still contains a certain amount of residual sugar, around 35 grams per litre, like Blue Nun, which, organoleptically speaking, qualifies as medium sweet. Excess alcohol adds to a general feel of unbalance in Fine White Port. Most of the time, white Port is indeed fortified to a high level of alcohol, between 19 to 22%abv, thereby proving rather spirity in character. To respond to an increasing demand for lower alcohol beverages, a dry white Port with an alcoholic strength of only 16.5%abv was created, which is labelled as Leve Seco, literally Light Dry. Generally speaking, Fine White Port leaves you with a sensation of flabbiness on the palate, which is the result of that fundamental unbalance between excess sweetness, high alcohol and mediumish acidity. That unbalance finds a resolution when white Port is served as a long drink, resulting in a softer, less sweet, but also less alcoholic beverage, often garnished with a slice of lemon to bring some zing. Enjoyed in its simplicity, chilled, as an aperitif, Fine white Port is indeed often dismissed as banal, but as a long drink or a cocktail, it is refreshingly first class. Guests at Quinta de Vargellas enjoy the easiest and tastiest application of white Port, commonly known as Portonic : poured over ice in a highball glass, topped with tonic, and garnished with bruised mint leaves and a slice of lemon. More sophisticated is the Siroco Twister: Fonseca s Siroco White Port, shaken on ice with fresh mint and topped with a little soda, served straight up in a cocktail glass. The cheapest examples work best mixed with Cointreau or simply with cassis liqueur as a Kir. The websites of most producers are full of cocktail suggestions. I must say that white Port proves out to be a valuable soup ameliorator, for most soups become mush tastier with a little dry white Port poured into them; yummy! PORTO BRANCO RESERVA / WHITE RESERVE PORT (7): The C Category was introduced officially on November 22 nd 2002, and mentions such as Especial, Special or Finest can appear on the label. The wine is a blend of slightly better quality wines, resilient enough to oxidation so as to be able to age in wood for an average of 7 years minimum. The only examples I am aware of are made in a dry style by Rozès, C. da Silva and Ramos Pinto. VINHO DO PORTO BRANCO COM INDICAÇÃO DE IDADE DE 10, 20, 30 E 40 ANOS / WHITE PORT WINE WITH AN INDICATION OF AGE (10, 20, 30 & 40 YEAR OLD) (8): Age-Dated white Port was only officially recognised by the IVDP on October 9 th The only wines I have come across so far are 10 Year Old Dry Whites made by Churchill and Niepoort. COLHEITA WHITE PORT (8): White Port is always a Non-Vintage blend to the exception of Colheita White Port, which is probably the rarest style of Port on the market, with a hefty price tag to match. Under the military regime that prevailed in Portugal till the Carnation Revolution of 1974, Port shippers were sometimes forced to buy unsold stocks of Port from the Casa do Douro, the winegrowers guild. This is how the likes of C. da Silva and Krohn came to acquire substantial quantities of White Port. Since White Port has never been a popular style, most of these wines remained somewhat forgotten for many years, now newly rediscovered. Only the finest wines can sustain decades of oxidative ageing in cask and retain their intensity and complexity of character, even when gently matured in the lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia. This style is fast becoming the speciality of C. da Silva, the company only releasing the finest lots from the single best vintage in every decade. Only the 1952 and 1963 vintages of DALVA Golden White have been released so far, with award winning results. The 1971 vintage is next. After decades in wood, white Port eventually turns into a Madeira-like wine, some sort of hybrid between a Sercial and a Bual, full of toffee and citrus peel, quite tangy and predominantly nutty and rancio, with characteristic notes of curry spice in the finish. This miracle of complexity and integration is truly worth the money.

31 ROSÉ PORT STANDARD ROSÉ PORT (5): On 21 st May 2009, the Portuguese Council of Ministers approved a new law regarding the Douro region and its wines. The law came about in consultation with the sector. It contains no great changes, but introduces the new Rosé Port style in the Standard Category, thereby officialising the innovation brought about by Adrian Bridge, managing director of The Fladgate Partnership, in synergy with the IVDP: Croft Pink. When Croft Pink was launched in late January 2008, David Guimaraens, head winemaker at TFP, had been working at developing the product for three years. His work sets the standards. Rosé Port must be made from the same varieties grown in the Douro as every other style of Port, and Croft Pink is made from grapes grown in A Grade vineyards, either at Quinta do Roêda or bought in from growers long-associated with the house. Croft Pink, altogether with every single brand of white Port belonging to TFP, is made in the cold fermentation unit at Quinta do Roêda (Quinta do Roêda and Quinta da Nogueira being the two ultramodern wineries owned by the group in the Douro where grapes that are not foot-trodden are processed). The grapes are destemmed then crushed into a massive temperature-controlled stainless-steel tank. Obviously, cold maceration is limited to 4 hours in order to extract a minimum of colour and obtain the pink hue typical of the style then the clear wine is racked off the skins into another temperature-controlled stainless-steel tank. Indeed, rosé Port must be made by the saignée method, not by blending red and white Ports together. To that free-run juice, the pressed juice gently extracted from the leftover skins is added, as it is common practice in the Douro, for yields are so low that every drop counts. But contrary to tradition, the juice is then slowly fermented with cultured yeast, for cold ferments are needed to operate at the fairly low temperature of 15 C. The cold fermentation process is necessary to preserve maximum integrity of fruit character in white and rosé Port wines. Fermentation takes up to 8 days, nearly twice as long as by the traditional method with indigenous yeasts. 10 days after the harvest, the wine is fortified to 19.5%abv before fermentation is complete, thereby retaining 80g/l residual sugar, which makes the style semi dry according to Douro standards, though one would definitely perceive it as sweet on the palate according to EU standards of sweetness. The spirit, the same as used in the making of the group s Vintage Port wines, is of the highest quality so as to guarantee finesse of aromas and flavours. To retain maximum freshness of character, the wine is fined, cold-stabilised, filtered then bottled in the year following production for immediate consumption. Port lovers and industry professionals first reacted quite negatively to Croft Pink, describing the radically new style as being a women s drink, like sugar water, but with too much alcohol to it... the wine was often enjoyed as one would an alcopop, but rejected as presenting no Port wine character. Adrian Bridge told Harpers: Croft Pink is building a new consumer base to the Port Industry, and that is exciting for the long term. We need to generate innovation and introduce new consumers to the delights of Port. Getting people to discover Port wines is the biggest hurdle for us. Product innovation is TFP s trademark indeed, and Croft Pink was designed to appeal to non Port aficionados, especially women and younger drinkers, in night clubs rather than in gentlemen s clubs, away from the image of Port as a Christmas drink, in summer rather than in winter. TFP had already initiated that shift with the promotion of Aged Tawny Port wines, but the group wanted more. TFP claims that Croft Pink played an important part in lifting their overall sales, which went up 100% by value in the UK off-trade following its launch. However, James Griswood of Tesco reports that it has been a tough sale. It s great to see innovation in the Port sector but sales of Pink are slow. Getting the message across to consumer that it isn t a Christmas drink is difficult he added. The IVDP accompanied the project for a year prior to the launch of Croft Pink. According to its president, Jorge Monteiro, permission was granted to commercialise the product, for the Institute also sees innovation as necessary, but Adrian Bridge was advised that the creation of a new Rosé Port wine category would take up to ten years to come to fruition. In order to conform to Port regulations at the time then go ahead with the launch, TFP registered Croft Pink as a Standard Ruby Port wine at the Institute. Pink is therefore not an indication of style but a trademark. Now that a new ruling has officialised the new Rosé Port category in the stride of Croft Pink s commercial success, any company wishing to label their rosé wines as Pink rather than Rosé as an indication of style needs to be granted permission by TFP, Croft having protected itself against the proliferation of look-alikes by registering the name. Now that the new category has seen the light of day, the performance of the category is no-longer diluted into the statistics published for the Standard Ruby Category. Since 2010, figures are now available, which show that the Rosé category represented 1.2% in volume as much as in value of the Global Port market in In the UK, where Croft Pink was first commercialised, the new category was half as successful that same year, as its share of the Port market amounted to only 0.70% in volume and 0.76% in value. Croft, alongside Pink, launched a series of own labels, including Marks & Spencer s Pink on the UK market and Rabelo s Pink for the Dutch offlicence Chain Gall & Gall. Most Port producers have decided to compete on this new market with the launch of such products as Porto Cruz Pink, Dalva Rosé, Offley Rosé Porto (exclusive to the Dutch market until it went global in 2010), Cálem Rosé Port, Kopke Rosé Porto, Poças Pink Porto (the only rosé Port wine launched in 2008 after Croft Pink), Messias Rosé Port, Terras do Grifo Rosé (after the name of the flagship Single Quinta owned by Rozès), Krohn Rosé and Quevedo Rosé Port... the list is not exhaustive. Only Symington Family Estates, owner of some of the biggest selling brands in the UK, confirm that they have no plans to make Rosé Port wines. Back in September 2009, in TFP s tasting-room at Taylor s blending unit in Vila Nova de Gaia, I tasted the wines the group makes in its cold fermentation unit. There and then, Taylor s Chip Dry, Fonseca Siroco and Croft Pink exhibited amazing freshness. Croft Pink, in particular, was as thirstquenching as a glass of ice-cold cranberry juice. At lunch time, in the restaurant just across the courtyard from the lodges, these very same wines were served, all of which exhibited premature signs of oxidation. Like Fino Sherry and Manzanilla, these wines don t seem to hold well in the bottle and must be drunk soon after bottling. My feeling is that the date of bottling should be made mandatory on the label of cold-fermented Port wines in the Standard Category, the same way as it is mandatory on the label of the above-mentioned Andalucian wines. Croft Pink is best served chilled or on the rocks, straight up or mixed, either with soda or tonic. Rozès suggests serving it on the rocks with orange zest... yummy! Check producers web pages for cocktail suggestions.

32 RUBY PORT Traditionally, it has always been the most popular style in the UK. This reductive style of red Port holds a staggering 90% share of the UK Port market, which is in stark contrast to the average 40% of the global market. STANDARD RUBY PORT (5): This is the simplest and least expensive style of Port. Its share of the UK Port market is 40% in volume and 30% in value. Such entry-level wine, even though is can be indicated as Fine on the label, is bottled young when still retaining a deep ruby colour and a strong fiery personality. Its harsh alcohol gives it a spirity character indeed, whereas all wines in the special category, also fortified to a high level of alcohol, manage to be more in balance. With around 100 grams of residual sugars per litre on average, like every other style of red Port, Standard Ruby Port is sweet. It is also medium plus in acidity. High acidity is a more common feature in Aged Tawny Port wines, for angel share (wine lost to evaporation a necessary evil attached to long oxidative ageing in wood) goes hand in hand with the concentration of the solids in the wine, notably sugars and acids. More specifically, Standard Ruby Port is medium-plus-bodied and youthful, and exhibits medium minus, soft and round tannins. Standard Ruby Port is a blend of several vintage years, each vintage being aged separately from one year for the most basic lots, up to a maximum of three years for the finest lots, in bulk, in the least oxidative conditions possible, generally in concrete or even stainless steel vats, or in massive wooden vats alternatively. The different components are blended together then the blend is fined, cold-stabilised and filtered, ready for bottling. Pasteurisation is sometimes applied as a further stability treatment, which can result in stewed, jammy flavours. Standard Ruby Port, with its uncomplicated berry fruit aromas and flavours, is simple, medium in length and slightly out of balance, but it still remains a good, warming drink at the end of the day. A very individual Ruby Port is made by Ramos Pinto. Quinine is added to it hence it is branded as Quinado. This wine with medicinal properties is mainly marketed in Portugal and in its former colonies in Africa, as well as in Brazil. RESERVA / RESERVE (7): This new category took over the Vintage Character Port category on 22 nd November To avoid confusion, Vintage Character was changed to Reserve because the style was neither from a single vintage nor was it comparable to Vintage Port in character. The concept of Reserve Port was commonly used amongst producers hence Reserve was chosen as the generic name for the style, though many Port houses still commercialise this style under a brand name. Reserve Port distinguishes itself from Standard Ruby Port by its being of better quality; deeper-coloured, richer, more full-bodied and far more integrated. But the base wine still remains very early-maturing as it is also grown in the Baixa Corgo sub-region of the Douro mainly. Therefore, Reserve Port is the wine of the lowest quality within the Special Category, even though it can be labelled as Especial, Special or Finest. Like all lighter wines with a bit of wood maturation, it is ready to drink on release. Reserve Port represents between 7 and 8% of the global Port market, but takes a generous 35% share of the UK market, thereby contributing greatly to the status of the UK as a premium market. In the early Noughties, Cockburn s Special Reserve was the fourth biggest brand of fortified wine and single most successful brand of Port in the UK hence the Symington group had so much interest in buying this house, altogether with its facilities, in order to establish itself as the uncontested market leader, both internationally and in the UK. Cockburn s Special Reserve is now the 7 th biggest brand of fortified wine and still remains the most successful Port brand in the UK off trade according to Nielsen s Brands Report Within The Fladgate Partnership, Reserve Port first found great success with Fonseca Bin 27. Fonseca was bought by Yeatman in 1949 then Bin 27 was created in 1972 by Alistair Robertson, Chairman of Taylor s. Bin 27 established itself as the leading premium Ruby Port in the USA, but since it is not available in supermarkets but only from wine specialists, it is Taylor s which leads here, in the UK. Vintage Character Port had to be aged in wood between 4 and 6 years before bottling, but ageing limitations no longer apply since the new Reserve Ruby Category took over. Two distinct styles of Reserve Port are now emerging as a result, as exemplified by the two brands produced by Taylor s, the second leading house in the UK market after Cockburn s: Taylor s First Estate, which is more in the vein of the past Vintage Character Port, aged between 4 and 6 years in large wooden vat and therefore developing and somewhat complex, and Taylor s Select Port, a lighter style only aged for two years in large wooden vat, and therefore simpler but more purely fruit-driven in character and youthful in development. Among the top 10 best selling fortified wines in the UK off-trade, Taylor s First Estate is the 3 rd biggest Port brand, ranking n 9. Within the Symington Group, the latest bottling of Dow s Midnight Port is part of a recent attempt to appeal to the younger market by coming up with a more striking, contemporary-looking packaging, with award-winning results. With Graham s Six Grapes, the group also tries to emulate the character of vintage Port that appeals so much to UK consumers, but in this popular Reserve Category rather than in the more obscure Crusted Port Category, which was designed to serve that purpose in the first place. Graham s Six Grapes is made out of the 6 finest and most prominent black grapes of the Douro, sourced from the same A Grade vineyards that contribute to Graham s Vintage Port. Marketed as the everyday Port to the Vintage Port drinker, this big-hearted wine is bottled relatively young (between 3 and 4 years) so as to retain freshness and vigour, and only lightly filtered in order not to alter its texture and complexity. CRUSTED PORT (8): This style hardly represents 0.5% of the UK Port Market. Actually, this relatively recent creation by Symington Family Estates is nearly exclusively targeted at the UK market. It is mostly Non-Vintage, though Vintage-Dated examples have been produced in the past, notably by Dow s, the most successful example on the market. Crusted Port spends as much time in wood as Vintage Port. After around two years in large wooden vat, the wine is also bottled unfined and unfiltered hence it can form a deposit, the so-called crust, when cellared extendedly. But here stops the similarities between Crusted Port and Vintage Port. Indeed, it is ready to drink and designed for near immediate consumption when released and should therefore not require decanting. The only legal obligation is to bottle the wine no more than 30 days after samples have been certified by the IVDP, and since the date of bottling is not a mandatory requirement, one should drink the wine soon after purchase, for it is impossible to know how long a NV example has been on the market. In spite of a rather crusty, establishment name, cunningly chosen to appeal to Vintage Port enthusiasts, this style is indeed better understood as an Unfiltered Reserve Port. The average quality of the wine does not provide much ageing potential and long cellaring would only see the wine reach its peak after only a few years. More premium examples, which need some time in the bottle to mellow, can be labelled as bottled-matured / Envelhecido em garrafa. This does not mean that the wine needs to be cellared extensively to become drinkable, like Vintage Port, but that it cannot legally be released from the lodges before a minimum period of maturation of three years in the bottle. Outside the Symington Group, Churchill long remained the rare Port house to also produce Crusted Port, till the mid- Noughties, when Fonseca eventually launched the style to try to appeal to the Vintage Port drinker as an everyday drink on the UK market, and make it a success here, in the UK, the same way as Bin 27 proved successful in the US. Let s wait and see which marketing approach to seduce the UK Vintage Port drinker with a cheap alternative, either in the Crusted or in the Reserve category, is going to be most successful!

33 LATE-BOTTLED VINTAGE PORT (LBV)(8): LBV represents just t around 5% of the global Port market, but takes a substantial 12% share in volume and 17% in value of the UK Port market. 1/2 is sold in the UK and ¼ in Canada, which shows how market-specific its appeal is. Prior to bottling, LBV must be matured for between 4 to 6 years in various oxidative conditions (either in cask or in much larger wooded vat) depending on the style the winemaker wishes to achieve (respectively more developed or more fruit-driven in character). The label must state the date of bottling as well as the vintage year, for LBV is always Vintage-Dated. LBV must be from a great vintage, though not necessarily from a declared vintage. Until recently, LBV would never be from the same year as a Vintage Port wine, but now, some companies produce both a LBV and a Vintage Port on a declaredd vintage year. This echoes the fact that the base wine used in its making was originally destined to be bottled as Vintage Port but left in cask to mature for longer than planned by lack of demand. Mind you, Vintage Port was traditionally aged for longer, especially between the wars, till the rule of the two winters became the ageing standard after bottling at source was made compulsory for Vintage Port in The accidental origin of LBV has led to more than one Port wine company claiming the invention of the style. Noval might have been the first to launch the style in Responding to a change in consumption habits as the Industry was starting to recover from WWII. Alistair Robertson, chairman of Taylor s, launched the first filtered example in Indeed, LBV finds two expressions, depending on whether it is bottled unfiltered or fully processed (fined, cold-stabilised then filtered): Unfiltered LBV: This style, the importa ance of which is now limited in commercial terms, was previously labelled as traditional LBV, but since Vintage Port is the only true traditional style, the practice was made illegal in Since then, the style is either labelled as unfiltered, or, if the wine undergoes additional maturation in bottle for a minimum of three years prior to its release, as bottle-matured/envelhecido em Garrafa. Despite being bottled totally unprocessed, traditional LBV is ready to drink when released, mostly because, after 4 to 6 years in cask and a potential 3 more years in bottle, the wine has had more time to develop and soften than Vintage Port. However, since it is more concentrated and extracted than Crusted Port, its high phenolic content allows it to improve in the bottle like a Vintage Port, though much more rapidly, reaching its peak after up to 8 years on the market. Traditional LBV is designed for immediate consumption, but be careful, for if one decides to cellar the wine for some years, it will eventually through sediments and requiree decanting. It must be said that the style shares much of the depth of a true Vintage Port. Indeed, traditional LBV and Crusted Port wines form an excellent early-maturing alternative to Vintage Port, providing the Port enthusiast with a quality full-bodied, deep-coloured wine at a fraction of the price. Filtered LBV: World War II severely w weakened the Port wine industry. It wasn t before the 60s that a return of consumer buying power saw the industry prosper again. The lean years went hand in hand with consolidation, not only of the Port trade, but also of the distribution network. In the Western world, chains of wine shops and supermarkets quickly took over independent pubs and wine merchants, which compelled Port wine producers to streamline their ranges and develop products to appeal to a new type of consumer. Until the 1930s, Port wine consumption had been relatively polarised. Vintage Port was destined for the tables and cellars of the wealthy and plain Ruby Port was sold for mass consumption. There was very little in between. The 60s and 70s saw the emergence of an affluent middle class who were attracted to premium Port but were deterred by the cost of Vintage Port and the need for it to be cellared and decanted. Taylor s is a very quality-conscious producer, but it is also ratherr market-savvy. Aware of the shift in consumer habits, it launched its 1965 Filtered LBV in The Vintage-Dated wine was of very high quality but accessibly priced. It was aged much longer than Vintage Port prior to bottling and therefore was far more developed in character and ready to drink on release. Indeed, this modern style of LBV starts its life like a traditional LBV, similarly aged for four to six years, until it is fined, cold-stabilised then filtered prior to bottling, therefore requiring no decanting. Having undergone significant oxidative ageing and been fully processed, it is also nothing as prone to oxidation as all the unfiltered Ruby Ports on the market once the cork is pulled. Therefore, one can serve themselves a glass every now and then over a period of two weeks or more. The only drawback with this modern style of LBV is that, with full processing, it does not retain near as much potential for ageingg in the bottle as traditional LBV. Some also say that the size of some of the blends coupled with heavy-handed filtration tends to strip much of the character from the lesser examples. Filtered LBV is in effect a poor substitute for the intensity and concentration of fruit in a traditional LBV. Nonetheless, Filtered LBV is far deeper-coloured than Standard Ruby Port, turning garnet, more developed on the rim. Generally, it also has richer, more intense and complex jammy-fruit flavours. The alcoholic burn on the nose is still there, but translates in spicier, more peppery notes, the alcohol thereby feeling more integrated. A detectable tannic grip confirms the old-wood aromas perceived on the developing nose. It is sweet, fortified to a high level of alcohol and with medium plus acidity (like all Ruby Port wines in the Special Category). As a whole, Filtered LBV is more textured, more complex, far better integrated and much longer in length than Standard Ruby Port. The concept of Filtered LBV proved so successful that many other companies followed suit, starting with Graham s in 1978, till the modern style eventually became the most widely produced LBV in the 1980s. This easy to consume style of Port acted as a catalyst to attract new consumers, thereby contributing a great deal to revitalising the Port market. According to Neilsen s Brand Report 2010,Taylor s LBV is one of only three Port brands to feature in the top ten best selling fortified wines in the UK off trade, ranking n 10.

34 VINTAGE PORT (9): Vintage Port finds two main expressions: the Classic Vintage Port on declared vintage years, and the Single Quinta Vintage Port, which can be approached in two different ways. It accounts for only 1% in volume and 4% in value of the global Port wine market. It does perform better in the UK, but only marginally, so why is it the style of Port that receives the most attention? Classic Vintage Port: It is an exceptional wine from one single year, typically made from the best grapes grown in the best vineyards only, namely the A grade vineyards of the Cima Corgo and the Douro Superior, picked at optimum ripeness following an outstanding summer. Historical British shippers, in particular, have built Vintage Port into a flagship wine, declared in an atmosphere of speculation. Symingtons and The Fladgate Partnership, for instance, assert their British origin by having the declaration take place on Saint-George s day, the 23 rd of April, just a few months before the wine is bottled. When, on a given vintage, a Port company judges that its top wines meet the standards in terms of quality and volume of production, and that there is potential demand for a Classic Vintage Port blend on the global market, samples are submitted to the IVDP for approval. Once approved, the IVDP will eventually fix the quota of production for each company eligible then grant them permission to declare the vintage. The procedure means that Vintage Port is never bottled before having spent at least two winters, approximately 18 months, in cask. The label must state the declared vintage year date, needless to say, as well as the date of bottling (bottled in xxxx/engarrafado em xxxx). Historically, the emergence of Vintage Port as the ultimate classic style of Port was the direct result of developments in the field of bottle making, or more precisely, in the shape of the glass bottle itself. Early 18 th century bottles were bulbous, broad and shortnecked. They could stand upright but could not be laid on their sides. Their main purpose was to carry wine from the tavern keeper s cask to the domestic table and, once empty, they would be sent back to be re-filled. A bottle would often bear the initials or crest of its owner in the shape of a stamp embossed into the body of the bottle. Over the decades, as glass production methods evolved, bottles became progressively slimmer and more elongated, with longer, less tapered necks. By the 1770s, bottles had eventually become sufficiently cylindrical to be stored on their sides. In the 19 th century, glass making techniques improved even further, making it possible to manufacture bottles of uniform capacity at lower cost. According to some historians, the first Vintage Port was made in 1775, predating the first bottled premium Bordeaux, Château Lafite 1787, by twelve years. But it is from the time fortification was almost universally established in the 1840s and Port became the great fortified wine that we know today that interest in Vintage Port started growing. With the consolidation of its prestige, consumers got into the habit of cellaring their Vintage Port extendedly as a taste for slowly, gently matured wines developed. Vintage Port would be commercialised in cask then bottled in the target market, with much longer maturation in wood than today, till bottling at source was made compulsory in Ten years after Portugal entered the EU in 1986, exporting in bulk was eventually made illegal. In order to be sold in bulk to the food industry, Port must be modified by an addition of salt and pepper. Long bottle-maturation explains why modern bottles are so thick, dark and sturdy. The 1863 and 1868 vintages yielded such outstanding wines that the custom of declaring the finest vintages was adopted. By the last decade of the 19 th century, the Port industry had recovered from the phylloxera crisis and started prospering again, Port sales gradually growing to new record levels in the 1920s. It is then that a mystique around the very greatest Vintage Port wines and many of the associated traditions and rituals developed. Commercial success provided Port houses with capital to expand, improve their estates and refine the style and quality of their wines. Things could have gone wrong for Vintage Port with the socio-economical changes brought about by WWII, which led to the creation of a variety of new Port styles, more affordable, needing no decanting, and ready to drink when put to market. Taylor s launched the first filtered LBV in 1970 then the IVP created the Age-Dated Category in 1973, which saw younger premium Tawny Ports put to market. The emergence of these new styles gave stiff competition to Vintage Port, but the style managed to retain its status as one of the world s most highly acclaimed classic wines, especially thanks to the growing influence of wine critics in the 1990s. Robert Parker, for instance, has helped consumers embrace the complexity of Vintage Port rather than be intimidated by it, thereby triggering a revival of the style. Improvement in the quality of Vintage Port wines over the past two decades also helped. Improved quality is the result of a string of outstanding vintages combined to a steady improvement in viticulture and vinification since the 1980s. Top estates now produce wine of Classic Vintage quality in most years. But even if the quality of a crop is outstanding, it does not mean that a company is going to systematically declare that vintage a classic vintage year. Only when it feels that it is in its interest will a Port house declare a vintage, usually three times per decade on average. The two World Wars prevented the industry from declaring that many classic vintages in the decades they took place, then the pattern broke again with this new century, when The Fladgate Partnership eventually declared four classic vintages in a decade: 2000, 03, 07 and 09 (the latter vintage being the first vintage ending in 9 that TFP declares since the 19 th century let s hope it proves a lucky number).

35 The noughties have proven remarkable in quality terms indeed, and some critics agree that the 2005 and 2008 vintages were actually good enough to potentially be declared hence many Crusted Ports and Traditional LBVs from those years represent incredible value for money. Keeping the number of declarations down is an imperative entirely economically motivated. Port wine companies do not want to swamp the market to saturation then find themselves having to flog their wines at a discounted price hence a few years usually elapse from one declaration to the next. When two consecutive vintages have a potential for being declared, usually each Port house will take a gamble on one of the two. This is called a split declaration. For instance, since the 1992 vintage corresponded with the tercentenary of Taylor s, TFP decided to declare it a classic vintage year, whereas most Port houses had declared the 1991 vintage. The gamble paid off, for the 1992 vintage was eventually celebrated as the best vintage of the two (Robert Parker did actually award Taylor s 1992 Vintage Port his first 100 point score). Dow s and Sandeman declaring both 1934 and 1935 truly was the exception. The economical climate is also taken into account in the decision-making process is a classic example of a qualitatively superb vintage that wasn t declared by most shippers because the impact of the 1929 Great Depression was still so intensely felt worldwide... Surprisingly, when the 2007 vintage was declared in 2009, Port houses found themselves having to increase their allocations despite the 2008 financial crisis. The previous declaration was made four years earlier. Obviously, the appetite for a new Classic Vintage Port wine was stronger than the depressed state of the market, thereby explaining the success of the en primeur campaign. Split declarations put aside, quality vintages are declared by most companies in agreement, even though the 1955 vintage was probably the only vintage universally declared in the last century is the latest truly universal declaration. In contrast, only a handful of producers, notably TFP, Messias and Niepoort decided to declare 2009 a classic vintage year. Dirk Niepoort actually goes as far as saying that his 2009 Vintage Port is the best Port he has ever made, and probably the best Port Niepoort has made since So why would only a few companies declare 2009 a classic vintage year? According to Dirk Niepoort, the answer lies in the average age of the vines. On this exceptionally hot and dry vintage, only growers with extensive plantings of old vines managed to produce small yields of very high quality grapes. Due to the high level of hydric stress suffered by the younger vines grown in its vineyard holdings, the Symington group decided that minimum quality requirements were not met for a declaration. Only 6000 bottles of Warre s 2009 Vintage Port were produced in order to mark the bicentenary of the liberation of Oporto by the Anglo-Portuguese army led by the Duke of Wellington. It is for having taken part into that action that the Oporto-born Major William Warre was awarded Portugal s highest military honour: The Order of São Bento d Aviz (a medal which features on the label). The declared vintages of the past century are: 1900, 04, 08, 12, 20, 24, 27, 31, 34, 35, 45, 47, 48, 50, 55, 58, 60, 63, 66, 70, 75, 77, 80, 82, 83, 85, 91, 92, 94, 97, 2000, 03, 07, 09 and 11. excellent but not widely [This chart reads as follow: not rated, very good to excellent, declared, excellent to outstanding] The Chancellery of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto, closely associated to the AEVP (Association of Port Wine Companies) now proclaims a classic vintage year in a solemn ceremony once the majority of its active members confirms its intention to do the same. The Port Wine Brotherhood has now been putting Vintage Port to market since 1984, and the vintages available are: 1982, 83, 85, 91, 94, 97, 2000, 03, 07 and Vintage Port counts amongst the world s longest-lived wines. It is also one of the most expensive Port wines despite being probably the simplest and most cost effective Port wine style to make and manage. Handpicking and foot-treading do come at a price, but then, despite the IVDP delaying bottling through its assessment process (producers would indeed bottle ASAP if they were given the choice), the wine is stored in cask for hardly any time at all, having required no processing at all, until it is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Once bottled, the wine is sold at once, thereby bringing a near instant return. It is the consumer who then inherits the responsibility of good cellaring and slow maturation of the wine in the bottle for over 20 to 30 years. Since it is extremely high in phenolics in its youth, Vintage Port throws a heavy deposit and needs special care when decanting and serving. It should be consumed within a couple of days from decanting for its having hardly undergone any oxidative ageing and processing makes it prone to rapid oxidation. The inconvenience of decanting does not apply to the young wines Americans strangely favour. Thankfully, a Classic Vintage Port wine is deliciously fruity and concentrated when young. After 10 years, the tannins in a Vintage Port wine will prove firm, and, considering that sweetness masks tannins, very high. But these tannins should be very fine and ripe, and therefore feel round and soft on the palate (stringent tannins never improve with age). Thanks to its high phenolic content, the wine should display a very clear but deep, opaque colour of a similar ruby to that of a Standard Ruby Port. On the nose, one can sense the power underneath the high tannins, but surprisingly, the fresh and youthful black berry aromas, reminiscent of that of a young Shiraz, are both medium in intensity and simple in character, which can come as a surprise when dealing with such a concentrated, high quality wine. In contrast, Standard Ruby Port always proves as fresh and youthful but far more forward and appealing to the nose of non-connoisseurs, while LBV is all together far more developed in every aspect. Like every ruby style of Port, Vintage Port is sweet, fortified to a high level of alcohol and has medium plus acidity. As mentioned above, the tannins are high but very soft and in balance with the very big, rich, concentrated though simple fruit flavours, similar in character to the aromas perceived on the nose. When young, a vintage port is not really ready to drink and will benefit from much further bottle-maturation. Indeed, wines that are made in such a tremendous way are not designed to be drunk young but to be left to age fabulously. After 20 years, Vintage Port turns more garnet in colour, though ruby highlights can still be perceived in the wine s core. The nose is developing and more complex, with aromas of raisin, currant and liquorice, but still full of fresh black berries, plus vegetal notes, perfumed and floral, altogether more medium-pronounced in intensity. The nose is very reminiscent of that of a matured red Burgundy, complex rather than pronounced. It is sweet, fortified to a high level of alcohol and with medium plus acidity. The tannins are still high, and the fruit flavours match the aromas perceived on the nose, almost medicinal. The wine could be drunk then, though it could still benefit from further ageing in most cases. Outstanding vintages such as the 1945, 1963 and 1994 vintages have a potential to age 50 years and more, at which stage of development one would be forgiven for mistaking Vintage Port for Aged Tawny.

36 Single Quinta Vintage Port: Single vine-growing and wine-producing estates, or Quintas as they are called in the Douro, give their names to this style of Vintage Port. Single Quinta Vintage Port, contrary to Classic Vintage Port, is indeed not a blend of wines of different origins but a single estate wine. After the law that imposed exporting Port wines via the lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia was repealed in 1986, a divide emerged between the Port companies historically established as shippers in Oporto, who produce the style in good but undeclared vintage years, and the farmers in the Douro no longer acting as subcontractors for shippers, who now produce the style in every good years, declared and undeclared. Company s Single Quinta Vintage Port: for all the companies that were historically established as shippers, the priority is to produce Classic Vintage Port on declared vintage years, as described in the previous chapter. Every company owns its own portfolio of quintas. Quinta means farm in Portuguese, and a quinta is the equivalent of a château in Bordeaux or a domaine in Burgundy. A quinta must indeed be understood as a single estate that grows its own grapes within its own A Grade vineyards and makes quality wines in its own lagares to produce Vintage Port. Be careful, for most companies, since they are no longer compelled by law to mature their wines in the lodges of the Gaia Entreposto, have been building large ultramodern facilities, complete with wineries and temperature-controlled maturation cellars, back in the Douro. These facilities, where the bulk of each group s range is produced and matured, are also known as quintas despite the fact that no grapes are grown there (eg. Quinta do Sol within the Symington Family Estates and Quinta da Nogueira within The Fladgate Partnership). A company s portfolio of winegrowing quintas always counts one flagship quinta (or two) that consistently yields top quality grapes most years. It is the best grapes grown across the company s vineyard holding that will be blended together into a Classic Vintage Port wine on a declared vintage year to be sold under the company s name. In a Classic Vintage blend, it is the wine from the flagship Quinta that very much constitutes its backbone to the resulting blend and determines its style. Take TFP as an illustration: The Fladgate Partnership owns three Port houses (if one overlooks the recent acquisition of Wiese & Krohn in 2013) -Taylor s, Fonseca and Croft- and the grapes needed for the production of each of their respective wine ranges are grown in 11 company-owned quintas and 72 quintas owned by growers long-associated with TFP. Fonseca, more specifically, owns 3 out of those 11 quintas (Quinta do Panascal, Quinta do Santo António and Quinta do Cruzeiro), Quinta do Panascal being the house s flagship quinta. On a declared Vintage year, Fonseca will produce a blend of the best wines produced within every one of its three quintas, which will be sold as Fonseca Vintage Port. But on a good yet not quite as good year as a declared vintage year, the flagship quinta alone will yield a limited amount of wine, which will be sold as Quinta do Panascal Vintage Port. This latter style qualifies as what is commonly known as Single Quinta Vintage Port. Single Quinta Vintage Port is not from a declared vintage year, but it is a full Vintage Port wine in its own right nonetheless. There was a rare occasion when Taylor s sold a Single Quinta Vintage Port wine on a declared vintage year. As the construction of the last dam on the river was to be completed in the Douro Superior, Taylor s decided to produce a Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port out of the grapes from the vines doomed to be flooded in 1970 (rare examples still subsist in TFP s oenological library at Taylor s headquarter in Gaia). Taylor s was actually the first Port Company to commercialise a Single Quinta Vintage Port wine: 1958 Quinta de Vargellas. Most Single Quinta Vintage Port wines are not released straight away, contrary to Classic Vintage Port wines, but held by the companies in Oporto, matured in the bottle for years till ready to drink then sold. The following list identifies single quintas that currently produce Vintage Port according to the pattern described above: Symington Group: Graham s Quinta dos malvedos Dow s Quinta do Bomfim Dow s Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira Warre s Quinta da Cavadinha Smith Woodhouse Quinta da Madalena Cockburn s Quinta dos Canais TFP Group : Taylor s Quinta de Vargellas Taylor s Quinta de Terra Feita Fonseca Quinta do Panascal Croft Quinta da Roêda* Wiese & Krohn Quinta do Retiro Novo (produced alongside the company s Vintage Port in 2011) Independent Companies: Messias Quinta do Cachão Rozès Quinta do Grifo Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira Niepoort Pisca / Bioma (single vineyard wines rather than single quinta wines) Churchill s Quinta da Gricha Quevedo Quinta Vale d Agodinho *Quinta da Roêda was bought in 2000 by TFP. Despite the Quinta no longer having lagares, TFP decided to declare a Croft Vintage Port regardless, but in order to guarantee a decent level of quality, the decision was taken to make a 50/50 blend between the lesser wines produced at Quinta da Roêda in autovinifiers with the finer wines traditionally produced in lagares at Quinta do Panascal. In 2002, the Lagares were rebuilt and the autovinifiers converted into plunger tanks. Now, Quinta da Roêda as a winegrowing estate couples with an ultramodern winemaking facility where part of TFP s range is produced. The facility includes a cold fermentation unit for the production of the group s white and rosé Port wines. Paradoxically, every single Vintage Port wine produced by Croft is a single Quinta wine in essence, for the grapes for the making of Croft Vintage Port all come from Quinta da Roêda exclusively. Independent Farmer s Single Quinta Vintage Port: On the other hand, one finds farmers that were given a legal opportunity to not only produce but also mature, bottle and sell their own wines, thereby making a name for themselves. Since the law requiring all Port wines to be exported via the lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia was relaxed in 1986 as Portugal entered the EU, a number of farmers, who had been restricted to selling their wines to shippers before, decided to establish themselves as independent quintas. The Single Quinta wines produced by these independent farmers have been multiplying the same way as Château-bottled wines evolved and broke away from the merchants in Bordeaux, with a drive to produce the best possible wines under their own names; not just Vintage Port, but every style of Port, and often a great deal of Douro wines. Legal restrictions impose on independent quintas to hold a certain amount of stocks in order to sell Port wines. Historically, these quintas, up the river in the Douro, were mere wine suppliers to the shippers established in Gaia, often via the intermediary of large cooperatives, and therefore, they did not hold such stocks when the law changed. Consequently, they had to focus on the production of Douro wines mainly while building up stocks of Port wines. As far as Vintage Port is concerned, most independent quintas produce it in all the great years, regardless of whether they are declared or undeclared. In order to establish a power balance with the rest of the Port trade, many of these new independent quintas, like Quinta do Infantado for instance, joined forces to create their own organisation: The Associação dos Vinhos de Quinta or AVEPOD. In order to showcase their wines, which are better understood as boutique winery wines, the association even opened a shop in the historic centre of Oporto, close to Cais da Ribeira, in Rua Fonte Taurina 99, 4000 Porto.

37 With Vintage Port, nothing is as simple as it seems, and there are many exceptions to the traditional divide mentioned above, between historical shippers that produce Single Quinta Vintage Port on undeclared vintage years and newly independent quintas that produce Single Quinta Vintage Port wines on both declared and undeclared years. Quinta do Vesuvio: Symington Family Est tates very much understood the development of the post revolution single quinta phenomenon, and in 1989, when they bought Quinta do Vesuvio, they made it into an independent quinta instead of incorporating it into the vineyard holding of one of their Port houses at the time (Dow's, Graham's, Warre's, Smith Woodhouse, Quarles Harris or Gould Campbell). Since then, Quinta do Vesuvio has been producing Vintage Port every single year but in 1993 and During these disastrous vintages, the Port Industry did not actually manage to produce any wine to speak of. Quinta do Noval: Noval is the oldest shippin ng single quinta, and it has been making Single Quinta Vintage Port on both declared and undeclared vintage years throughout its long history. The legendary António José da Silva produced the greatest Vintage Port of the 20 th century: 1931 Quinta do Noval Nacional. Noval was one out of only three shippers to dare declaring 1931 a Classic Vintage year in the context of the Great Depression. That outstanding wine gave Noval world fame. In the 80s, Noval moved most of its lodges from Vila Nova de Gaia back to the quinta on the right bank of the Douro River, upstream from Pinhão, in the Cima Corgo. It was then bought by the AXA Insurance Group in Note that the company s wines are Single Quinta wines only when they bear the name Quinta do Noval. Port labelled as Silval is an early-maturing Vintage Port that blends together wines from Quinta do Noval and wines from quintas long-associated with the company. Silval was not produced in 2011, thereby turning the traditional pattern on its head, the single quinta wine becoming the flagship wine of the company. Super Premium Vintage Port: Qui inta do Noval Nacional is yielded by a set of plots of very old vines within Quinta do Noval. Nacional does not refer to the Touriga Nacional grape variety, thereby wrongly implying that we are dealing with a varietal wine, but to the fact that the vines have managed to remain direct producers when every other vine in the Douro is now systematically grafted onto American rootstocks since the Phylloxera Crisis. The name derives from the fact that these plots of various varieties of old vines have managed to retain their Portuguese indigenous integrity. Inspired by the popularity of Quinta do Noval Nacional, new Single Quinta wines from lowyielding plots, often of old vines planted on traditional terraces classified as World Heritage sites, are now emerging. Taylor s initiated the trend with Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha. The wine is made from grapes grown in 5 vineyards at Quinta de Vargellas: Polverínho, Renova do Deposito, Renova do Armazém, Gricha, and Vinha Grande. Only 7 vintages have been produced so far, irrespective of whether the vintage year was declared or not: 1995, 97, 2000, 04, 07, 09 and 11. In 2007, Niepoort decided to put Pisca to market, a single vineyard Vintage Port wine from grapes organically grown in the company s star vineyard: Vinha da Pisca. In 2008, the wine inspired the launch of the company s first organic wine from Pisca s old vines: Niepoort Bioma Vinha Velha. Bioma was then produced again in 2009 and In the same period, in 2007 then 2011, Quinta do Vesuvio started producing a blend of Touriga Nacional from Vale da Escola, Sousão from Vinha do Pombal, Touriga Franca from the Teja Block, and more recently, Alicante Bouchet from Block 152: Quinta do Vesuvio Capela. This marked the beginning of new developments at Symington Family Estates, as Graham s eventually launched a blend from its oldest traditional terraces, Port Arthur and Vinha dos Cardenhos: 2011 Graham s Stone Terraces. Second Label Vintage Port: More e confusing are the various Vintage Port blends that a few companies produce as some sort of second label, either alongside their Single Quinta Vintage Port on undeclared vintage years or alongside their Classic Vintage Port on declared vintage years. Fonseca Guimaraens: Fonseca produc ces an extensive range of Vintage Port wines, including a Classic Vintage Port sold under the Fonseca brand name. In good years, when Fonseca does not declare a classic vintage, the finest grapes grown in its three quintas are blended into a small quantity of Vintage Port, produced exactly the same way as the classic Fonseca Vintage Port, but sold under a separate brand name as Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port. Although its quality can be excellent, Guimaraens is effectively used as a second label alongside Fonseca s Single Quinta Vintage Port, Quinta do Panascal Vintage Port. From 1996, the focus has been on the production of the Single Quinta Vintage Port, for the style is much easier to understand in relation to Vintage Port. Both Guimaraens and Panascal are lighter and earlier maturing than their classic counterpart. A Classic Vintage Port will need in excess of 20 years to find its fulll expression, whereas a Single Quinta Vintage Port or a Second Label Vintage Port will drink for a good 10 years from the time they reach the market, at around 8 years of age. FONSECA PANASCAL GUIMARAENS , 75, , 74, 76, , , 83, , 84, 86, 87, , 86, 87, , 94, , 95, 96, , , 03, 07, , 04, 05, , 04, 05, Vau Vintage: On good years, the best lots of wine produced at Sandeman s flagship Quinta, Quinta do Vau, form the backbone of Sandeman s Classic Vintage Port blend. Sandeman does not produce any Single Quinta Vintage Port, though Quinta do Vau Vintage Port was produced exceptionally in 1988 to be released in 1990, the year of the company s bicentenary. The same way as Guimaraens Vintage Port is Fonseca s second label, Vau Vintage is Sandeman s second label. But this blend of wines from quintas owned by or long-associated with Sandeman can be produced on declared vintage years, often alongside Sandeman s Classic Vintage Port, as in Skeffington: The distinguished Port house of Skeffington originated in the late 19 th century when Charles Nevillee Skeffington set up his business as a Port shipper, initially selling his wines through the London agency of Rutherford & Browne. Charles Neville Skeffington was closely connected to the company that was later to become The Fladgate Partnership, maintaining business relationships with several members of the Fladgate and Yeatman families. As a shipper, the company never owned any vineyards hence it has now become a simple brand since it was acquired by TFP, not counting as one of the group s Port houses alongside Taylor s, Fonseca, Croft and now Wiese & Krohn. The production sold under the Skeffinton brand on the domestic market, in the UK and in Denmark mainly, very much acts as the TFP s second label. The wines grown by the growers associated with the TFP form the base of the Group s most basic range, either sold under the Skeffington brand name or as BOBs or own labels (e.g. Majestic Port customised for the London retail chain). On declared vintage years, Skeffington Vintage Port is produced in Port Toes at Quinta da Nogueira. Since it is rather light and early-maturing, TFP does not make much fuss about it and markets it as a second label Vintage Port.

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40 TAWNY PORT Traditionally, it has always been the most popular style in France. This oxidative style of red Port holds a near 75% share of the French Port Market, which is more than the 45% average of the Global market. On the Rubyand 12% in driven UK market, Tawnies only represent 8% in volume value. STANDARD TAWNY (5): This ca ategory is Port at its cheapest and most basic, even though Standard Tawny Port can be described as Fine on the label. Fine Tawny forms the bulk of Port wines sold on the international market (around 40%). The French relish it. 65% of all the Port they consume every year is Standard Tawny Port, which contrasts with the mere 5% consumed in the UK. 90% of all the Port that is drunk by UK consumers is Ruby in style, of which only 40% is Standard Ruby hence the UK, contrary to France, qualifies as premium market. Standard Tawny is the entry-level Tawny Port. Paradoxically, rather than being tawny in colour, it can be identified by its medium garnet core and pink rim. That colour is not the result of extended oxidative ageing in wood. The WSET teaches us that it is often the result of blending Fine Ruby and Fine White Port together, which is a practice unheard of in the Douro (and is it even legal under EU laws anyway?!). The lightness of colour could be explained by a degreee of saignée, but it is most probably the result of oxidising the lighter wines from the cooler Baixo Corgo sub-region for 2 to 3 years in large tank equipped with a micro pumping over system. Since this fiery wine is deliberately oxidised, but only over a short period of time, it still manages to retain red berry flavours that are rather simple and confected. RESERVA / RESERVE TAWNY (7): This category was officially introduced in Novem mber 22 nd It represents around 2% of the global market and is hardly visible in the UK. Since it belongs to the Special Category, it is a more premium wine than Fine Tawny. But still, it remains a blend of lighter red wines from the Baixo Corgo sub-region. It is aged in wooden vats for a minimum of seven years, up in the Douro rather than in Gaia. Companies often choose to mature that style there because the heat helps speed up the oxidative process, even though the risk of Douro Bake is high. Reserve Tawny can be identified by its colour on the rim, far more tawny than that of a Fine Tawny. Reserve Tawny Port is very soft and smooth, though it tends to lack the primary fruit normally associated with younger Port wines and the complexity of older wines. TAWNY PORT WITH AN INDICATION OF AGE (10, 20, 30 or Over 40 Year Old) (8): Age-Dated Tawny Port takes a 3% share of the UK Port Market in volume and 7% in value, half the average on the global market. Quinta do Noval pioneered the style in 1958, but Taylor s, taking advantage of new regulations implemented by the IVP in 1973, which allowed the average age of old wood-aged Tawny Port wines to be stated on the label, created the younger 10 and 20 year old examples, thereby releasing the full range of Age-Dated Tawny Ports, from 10 to 20, 30 and more than 40 years of age, as in existence today. Despite Taylor s contribution, it is often Graham s 10 and 20 Year Old Tawny Ports that top the leader board in tasting competitions. Warre s Otima 10 and 20 year old Tawny Port wines are widely recognised as the most successful innovations in recent years, with award-winning results. Otima was indeed instrumental in attracting younger drinkers to Port with its quirky packaging. In 2011, in the 40 Year Old category, The Fladgate Partnership was the leader in the UK, with 72% of the market, a reality that the Symington group is hoping to challenge with the re-launch of the Graham s range after Charles Symington took over his father as master blender. Tawny Port in the Age-Dated Tawny category probably counts amongst the finest Port wines, exceptionally concentrated and complex. It is made from wines of the highest quality; wines set aside in undeclared years that might otherwise have ended up as Vintage Port. The components of the blend are aged separately in pipe in the coolness of the lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia until they are considered ready for blending. Age-Dated Tawny Port is indeed a blend of wines produced in different years, and the age stated on the label may be an average rather than a minimum, though, to be able to release such a blend, producers must show that they hold enough stock of wine as old as the age stated on the label in their lodges. The IVDP does indeed require Port houses to comply with the lei do tergo or law of the third, a decree restricting annual sales of Port to one third of the house s total inventory. In effect, the final blend can include younger components, as long as its character remains consistent with that of a wine of the age stated on the label. That will be assessed by the IVDP s tasting panel, and the wine won t be released without having been approved by the Institute first. The younger 10 and 20 Year Old Tawny Port wines can be labelled as Velho / Old, while the older 30 and 40+ year old examples can indicate Muito Velho / Very Old. The 40+ category does not exist in the US market, only the 40 Year Old one. The label of an Age-Dated Tawny must always state that it was aged in (oak) cask or envelheido em casco (de carvalho). It must also state the date of bottling (bottled in xxxx or engarrafado em xxxx), for such wine loses its freshness, or subtle complexity rather, from the day it is bottled. Every year, the wine is racked into another pipe in order to accelerate the oxidative process, but despite being deliberately oxidised in development, Old Tawny Port may be prone to rapid deterioration once the cork is pulled, losing its delicacy of fruit if left on ullage for more than a week. Very Old Tawny Port is usually more robust and can last much longer, for after having spent such a long time in wood, it is thoroughly oxidised and therefore stable. Age-Dated Tawny Port does not throw any sediment in the bottle, for the sediment is left behind in the ageing pipe with every racking, and therefore the wine does not need decanting. Organoleptically speaking, Old Tawny Port is medium to deep Tawny in colour from core to rim, medium-bodied but quite pronounced in intensity of character, rather spirity, and hardly tannic. It exhibits a nutty character of toasted almond and hazelnut, quite similar to that of an Amontillado or a Sercial, but far fruitier in the forefront, with very pronounced dry fruit aromas of fig and raisin, with some orange peel. There is always a mocha element in Tawny Port, with underlying chocolate and toffee aromas and flavours, but if Old Tawny is more dry-fruity, Very Old Tawny, on the other hand, is more nutty, with a pronounced character of toasted almond or marzipan, turning to walnut and coffee bean at its oldest. Indeed, 40 Year Old Tawny Port is overwhelmingly rancio in character, though still complexly fruity, despite that dry fruit character being faded, more in the background, though persisting in a complex finish of fantastic length. Wine lots are sorted in order of quality during the month of February that follows the vintage. Each lot is destined to be made into one specific style of Port. In order to make a Very Old Tawny Port, the winemaker must select the biggest, most concentrated and extracted lots, most certainly made from the finest foot-trodden grapes, for only such wines can sustain a punishing level of oxidation over a very long period of time without losing all their complexity and finesse in the process. 10 year old tawny Port, in contrast, needs nothing else than quality wine made in plunger tanks. Usually, the older the wine, the lighter the colour, sometimes down to a deep gold very similar to that of a Very Old White Port. Port shippers themselves often drink aged Tawny gently chilled to river temperature, in the summer, in preference to any other style of Port. The delicate nutty character of an aged Tawny suits the climate and temperature of the Douro better that the hefty characterr of Vintage Port, which, with its big, concentrated and spiced fruit, is better adapted to cooler climes. This is why ruby styles are favoured here, in the UK. João Paulo martins wrote in Portuguese wines of 2001 : Unlike Vintage Port, which is a gift of nature, an Aged Tawny Port is the absolute expression of the winemaker s skill and craftsmanship. It is for this reasons that some call Tawny Port the President, and Vintage the King of Ports.

41 COLHEITA (8): A colheita Port is a Vintage-Dated wine. But even though Colheita translates from Portuguese into English as harvest or crop, and therefore as vintage by extension, it is in fact very different from a Vintage Port. It is best understood as a Tawny Port from a single year, aged in pipe for a minimum of seven years, though in practice for much longer, until it is bottled shortly before release. It should be drunk in the year after bottling, for, like Aged-Dated Tawny Port, it does not keep well in the bottle hence it is often bottled on demand. The label must indicate a vintage year date, needless to say, but like with any other style of aged Tawny Port, it must also mention that it was aged in wood, as well as give the date of bottling. The label of a Colheita Port wine bottled between 10 and under 30 years of age can bear the mention Velho / Old, and Muito Velho/Very Old at 30 years of age and beyond. Since the sediments are left behind in the ageing pipe, the wine does not need decanting. Like Aged-Dated Tawny Port, it will keep up to a few weeks after opening depending on age. It should display all the nuances of an aged Tawny Port, but it should also express the characteristics of the vintage. This style, which is very much a speciality of the Sogevinus Group, Kopke being the market leader, is hardly significant in terms of volume of production but very popular in Portugal and Holland. It is only coming onto the British market. I asked Natacha Bridge, master blender at Taylor s, to tell me why Colheita Port is produced in such little quantity? Vintage-dated wines in general, since a vintage date seems to convey a sense of added quality, are usually popular with consumers, but Colheita Port only represents less than 0.4% of the global Port market, why? She answered that it was because it was a commercially awkward style to handle. First, producers need to hold stocks for decades and freeze costly storage space. Then, over that long maturation period, a great deal of wine is lost to evaporation, the so-called angel share. All this contributes to making aged Tawny Port the least cost effective style of Port to produce. Moreover, keeping Colheita wines in condition is a particularly tricky business. Being a vintage-dated wine, it cannot be freshened up and lifted by an addition of younger wines, the way blenders balance Age-Dated Tawny Port. As a consequence, the maturity window of a Colheita is restricted and producers run the risk of still be holding stocks after the wine has gone past its peak. The only way to hold the ageing process back is to transfer the wine into massive wooden vats, far less oxidative than the much smaller ageing pipes. The pressure of having to shift stocks explains why Colheita Port proves paradoxically much better value than Vintage Port, even when sold ready to drink by merchants. But to her, what really prevents producers from getting involved into Colheita Port production is the fact that the wine, after 30 years of deliberate oxidation, tends to lose the characteristics particular to the vintage, only retaining the more generic traits of equivalent Age-Dated Tawny Ports. So why would one bother dealing with a difficult style when a Very Old Aged-Dated Tawny Port serves the same purpose as a Very Old Colheita? Natacha Bridge might have to change her tune now that TFP has purchased Wiese and Krohn, a colheita specialist, to position itself on the growing aged Tawny sector. But at the end of the day, she made sense. After having tasted many old examples, I do find Colheita wines much fresher in character that Aged-Dated Tawny Ports, for a Colheita starts its life as a Vintage Port, gently oxidising in pipe, whereas Aged-Dated Tawny Port undergoes regular racking in its youth to artificially accelerate the oxidative process. In the end, it is a matter of having it bottled at its best. Garrafeira: This wine is an unusual and rare intermediary Vintage-Dated style of Port that the IVDP does not even define. Most wine enthusiasts never heard of it, and rare are those who ever tasted it, for it is very much a speciality of Niepoort. Only Ferreira and Real Companha Velha (Royal Oporto) are known to have once produced such a niche style in the past. The wine is from a single vintage, first aged oxidatively in wood for at least 7 years, like a Colheita, before being decanted into demijohns and matured reductively for at least 8 more years. It is then bottled and great examples can cellar up to 50 years of age. The 9 to 11 litre demijohns used at Niepoort are known as bon-bons. The very unique way Garrafeira Port is aged results in a seamless, smooth Port wine that is delicate, fresh and possesses great finesse. The style combines the silkiness of a Colheita with the opulence of a Vintage Port wine. As the wine matures in the bon-bons, certain oils in the wine precipitate and form a film on the inner surface of the glass. That deposit departs a flavour to the wine that some Port wine connoisseurs describe as being that of bacon. Niepoort s lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia

42 SERVING PORT Readiness for drinking: Only unfiltered Ruby styles of Port, typically Vintage Port, as well as Crusted Port and Traditional LBV, can age in the bottle and are meant to be laid down for some time in order to develop complexity and even become ready to drink. These wines are often referred to as bottle-aged Port. In all the other sub-categories of Ruby Port wines, Standard Ruby Port, Reserve and Filtered LBV, an appropriate level of oxidative treatment coupled with cold stabilisation and filtration will precipitate enough phenolics (tannins and antocyanins or colour agents, both antioxidants and natural wine preservatives) as to render the wine ready for immediate consumption at the cost of a limited ageing potential in the bottle. These wines are often referred to as wood-aged Port. Since Tawny Port wines are wood-aged to the extreme, they are stripped of most of their phenolics during the winemaking process and therefore have no ageing potential in the bottle to speak of. João Paulo Martins and James Suckling both wrote about good drinking experiences with extendedly bottle-matured Tawny and Colheita Port wines, but the IVDP advises to consume them within the first few years after bottling, even though they can sometimes be stoppered with a driven cork. A useful tip to distinguish between Port-to-drink-now and Port-to-lay-down is indeed to look at what type of cork the Port wine is stoppered with. The former are usually stoppered with a T-Top Cork (or sometimes a short natural cork), whereas the latter are always stoppered with a long, high-quality natural cork. How long should one keep a bottle-aged Port before drinking? This question is hard to answer. One must bear in mind that the longer a wine spends in wood prior to bottling, the least ageing potential it retains in the bottle; typically 20 to 30 years for the average Vintage Port, no more than 5 years for Crusted Port and 10 years for Traditional LBV. Beyond style, the quality of the vintage is also important in relation to the wine s potential for ageing in the bottle. The most outstanding Vintage Port wines made in 1963 and 1994, for instance, can hold well in the bottle for up to 50 years. Seek advice from a wine professional to know exactly when to consume a bottle-aged Port wine, for if it is opened too early, it is likely to be rather closed-in and simple in character, rewarding you with not much more than a Standard Ruby Port wine. Port wine opened too prematurely by mistake will show at its best with double decanting and long decanting times. Indeed, decanting is an artificial ageing process in itself. Finally, good cellaring or storage conditions will optimise the keeping potential of a bottle-aged Port wine. When purchasing a wine, one must bear in mind that it can have some history attached to it. At both ends of the spectrum, either will you find Port that will have been stored at very cool, constant temperatures and hardly disturbed or transported over 40 years, which will look, smell and taste incredibly fresh once decanted or Port that will have been carried round the world in variable conditions, which might be past its best and prove rather tired when it comes to drinking it. How long shall one keep a bottle of Port once opened? As soon as a bottle is opened, the wine starts deteriorating and cannot be kept but for a limited time only. As a rule of thumb: The longer and more intense the oxidative treatment undergone by the wine prior to bottling, the longer its resilience to oxidation after the cork is pulled. Vintage Port, for it is bottled unprocessed after the shortest time in cask possible, will suffer rapid oxidation within two days from decanting whereas a very Old Age-Dated Tawny or Colheita Port, for it is deliberately and thoroughly oxidised during its making, won t be harmed by sudden exposure to air and will only grow dull in a matter of months from opening. The best advice one can give is to drink wine on the day it is opened. Why take a chance? Besides, this should not pose too much of a problem; the better the Port, the smaller the bottle, right? Just be careful in restaurants, as one cannot be sure of the turnover of the wines served by the glass (though wine preservation systems are widely used nowadays).

43 Why do you need to decant a bottle-aged Port? Bottle-aged Port wines, especially Vintage Port, need decanting before serving. They are not filtered before bottling (Vintage Port is not even fined) hence they form a sediment inside the bottle as they age. This sediment, known as crust, deposit or dregs, results from the polymerisation of unstable colloids and other protein particles with phenolics (tannin and anthocyanins), tartrate crystals and dead yeast cells... an array of organic and mineral debris from the grapes themselves or the fermentation process. In wood-aged Port wines, these solid particles will be stripped from the wine through various techniques depending on style. Filtered Ruby styles will be fined, cold-stabilised and/or filtered, whereas Tawny styles will see these particles naturally precipitate through extended oxidative ageing in wood. In that latter case, since the sediment is left behind in the pipe with every racking, filtration at bottling is not required. The sediment is not in any way harmful but neither is it pleasant to drink, hence the decanting process. The reason why some components of the sediment are not stripped away from bottle-aged Port wines at bottling lies in the fact that they are natural antioxidants that provide an ageing potential to the wine in the bottle, let alone that minimal processing of the wine preserves complexity of aromas and flavours thanks to minimal oxidative damage. Therefore, filtered Port wines might not need decanting, but neither will they age further in the bottle. But there is more to decanting than just the removal of sediment; it also provides time for the wine to flesh up by allowing it to come into contact with oxygen. The traditional method used to decant bottle-aged Port involves standing the bottle upright for one to three days to allow the sediment to settle down to the bottom. Then, one must try to remove the cork in one piece. The cork is most likely to break or crumble hence Port tongs are traditionally used. Port tongs make an impact on the guests but need practice to handle, let alone that health and safety regulations must have something to say about red hot iron and broken glass at the table. Bottles are usually laid down in the cellar with their labels facing up so that the sediment forms to the opposite side, where one can clearly see it with their own eyes. The actual decanting technique consists of pouring the wine steadily into the decanter while holding the bottle with the label facing up, using candle light to see the sediment through the glass and interrupt the process when the wine is just about to stop running clear... good luck with that, for Port bottles are traditionally thick and opaque! The often rushed reality of the service in the catering industry needs more flexibility and spontaneity. Sieving the wine through layers of cheesecloth into a funnel allows decanting at a moment s notice, in no time. The bottle can be taken straight from the rack and the liquid poured to its last drop. No special lighting conditions are needed. No sediment will fall into the decanter. Broken cork is no issue either. Cheesecloth is also a sanitary, disposable product that happens to be cheap. No one agrees on how long in advance Vintage Port should be decanted. One school of thoughts would take the view that Vintage Port is a delicate wine that starts deteriorating as soon as it comes into contact with air, and would advise to decant a wine one hour in advance when very old, two to three when old and three to a maximum of four hours when young... In his book A Wine Lover s Guide to Port, João Paulo martins goes as far as recommending not to decant very old Vintage, Tawny and Colheita Port wines. The opposite school of thoughts would praise the virtues of the Hersh method and its enhancing properties on the wine. The method is based on extended decanting times, from up to three hours for very old vintages to up to twelve hours for young vintages. The method is criticised by the former school of thoughts as ageing the wine artificially to soften the tannins and change the way the wine performs... but none of them would decant a wine less than an hour or more than 12 hours in advance. It is the American Port Guru Roy Hersh, inspired by the views of the late Bruce Guimaraens of Fonseca, who started experimenting with long decanting times and advocates the virtues of the method for bringing the best out of Vintage and even old Tawny Ports. Check his inspired article on the following webpage:

44 Port Tongs: It is near impossible to pull the cork of a very old Vintage Port in one piece. Since it is most likely to crumble, Port tongs can prove handy. Many good wine shops and some auction sites offer Port tongs. Make sure that the jaws of the tongs are red-hot and clasp them for 1 to 2 minutes firmly around the neck of the bottle a little below the cork. If you then fold a wet, ice-cold cloth around the neck, the glass should break without splinters. Crust: It would be a waste to throw away the crust. It can be enjoyed, with or without Port, in all kinds of dishes. At Quinta de Vargellas, they will serve you bread flavoured with wine lees for breakfast. In the same spirit, in her brochure Porto published by Icep, Pasquele Iocca recommends serving the crust on toast the next morning. Port Glass: Port Wine always deserves a good glass. It should be tulip-shaped and not too small, so that one can swirl it and smell the wine from it. A Port glass, designed by the Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira, was commission by the IVDP, in cooperation with the AEVP (The Association of Port Wine Companies). This official Port glass is good value and available through the IVDP, in some wine shops and on line. Riedel s specially designed crystal Port glasses that are really out of the ordinary but expensive ( If one cannot get hold of a special Port Glass, the ISO glass will serve the purpose, so would a white wine glass. Once, Sandeman was told by his doctor to cut down his Port drinking to only one glass per day. He promptly commissioned a special glass that could hold a whole bottle. Service temperature: Since it is a fortified wine, Port should not be served too warm otherwise it becomes alcoholically unbalanced and rather spirity. White Port should be served chilled (the drier, the cooler) while Tawny Port should be served fairly cool, at the temperature of the Douro River as some shippers would say. As for Ruby styles of Port, they should be served straight from the cellar, feeling still cool to the touch, at round 18 C. Port Wine etiquette: What was the problem with the Bishop of Norwich? The problem that one encounters with the Bishop of Norwich is part of a unique body of English ritual etiquette surrounding the consumption of Port, which stems from British naval custom. Port wine is passed from Port to Port. The host first pours a glass to the guest seating to his right, then passes the decanter to the guest seating to his left, the Port side (Claret, to the contrary, is traditionally served anticlockwise). The gesture is reciprocated by the guest now holding the decanter, and in turn by the next guest to his left, and so on and so forth, round the table, clockwise, until the decanter returns to the host. The legend tells us that the procedure should be seen as a sign of peace and friendship, since one cannot pour the wine with their right hand and draw their sword at the same time. The most plausible explanation is that, considering that Port is traditionally poured by the guests among themselves, and that most people are right-handed, it is the most natural thing to do, even though it is in contradiction with the service etiquette observed by servants. When Port is being circulated after dinner, it is considered poor etiquette to ask for the decanter to be passed round. Should someone be seen to be hogging it, certain groups hold that one should ask if the offending gentleman knows the Bishop of Norwich (after a famous stingy clergyman) to prompt him to pass it around. In the unlikely event that the question is taken literally and answered with a No, the proper next step is to say of the hypothetical Bishop: Dawn fine fellow the Bishop of Norwich, but he never passes the Port around. A technical solution to the problem lies in using the Hoggett decanter, the rounded bottom of which does not allow the guests to rest it on the table by their sides. One is forced to pass the decanter on till the host gets hold of it again and places it in a purpose-built wooded stand; the actual Hoggett. Some say that once Port is decanted, traditionally at the dining table, all the content of the decanter should be drunk before anyone can leave the party.

45 Tutored Wine Tasting Thursday 14 th January 2010 REDUCTIVE Ruby Style V s OXIDATIVE Tawny Style PORT The magic of oxygen Speaker: Eric LAGRE Sommelier

46 Tutored Port Wine Tasting Thursday 14 th January 2010 Speaker: Eric LAGRE, Sommelier NARRATIVE Warre s, Heritage, Ruby Port, NV Cockburn s, 2003 Late-Bottled Vintage Port (bottled in 2008) Fonseca, 2000 Vintage Port (bottled in 2002) These three wines were made in a reductive style, which means that the winemaker prevented contact with oxygen as much as possible in order to preserve optimum purity of primary fruit character and integrity of ruby colour hence the reductive style is also known as Ruby style. From one wine to the next, better grape quality translates into increased extraction and concentration. Heritage is a Standard Ruby Port. It is an entry-level wine which has so little tannins and fruit concentrated that only 2 years in very large oak vats are needed for it to become ready to drink. It is then released for immediate consumption. It exhibits very forward and attractive though uncomplicated berry aromas and has no potential for ageing to speak of. The Fonseca Vintage Port spent roughly as much time maturing in wood as the Standard Ruby Port. Both wines look pretty much the same in the glass, but, since Classic Vintage Port is strictly made from the best grapes yielded by the best terroirs then picked following the finest vintages to be made by using the most extractive winemaking techniques, notably foottreading, the Fonseca is heavy with tannins. These tannins are very fine and ripe, but at this early stage of maturation in the bottle, they muffle the power of the highly concentrated fruit beneath. Despite its great potential, this young Vintage Port smells rather closed-in, surprisingly simple and paradoxically far less appealing than the lesser Standard Ruby Port. Years, if not decades, are required for this wine to develop complexity and come into its own. The LBV, on the other hand, is far more developed in every aspect. In order to become ready to drink in spite of high tannin extraction and fruit concentration, LBV is left to mellow for 4 to 6 years in cask. That cask is far smaller than a wooden vat, yet it remains large. Nonetheless, longer time in more oxidative conditions results in a greater level of development betrayed by a garnet rim, a forward jammy and spicy character and a far better integrated alcohol. Most of all, since part of the tannins precipitate during the ageing process, only to be left behind in the cask at bottling, the wine is altogether softer and more approachable. The price to pay is a much reduced potential for ageing in the bottle. Dow s, 1983 Vintage Port (bottled in 1985) Dow s, 10 Year Old Tawny Port (bottled in 2009) Contrary to the Ruby style, the Tawny style is oxidatively made, which means that the winemaker exposes the wine to as much oxygen as possible in its making. Combined annual racking (decanting of the wine) and ageing in Pipe (the smallest and most oxidative maturation container used by the Port industry) forces the wine to mature prematurely, bleaching the colour, developing fruit complexity and precipitating the tannins in the process. Compared to the 2000 Fonseca Vintage Port, the 10 Year Old Dow s is most definitely ready to drink and complex enough to be enjoyed now. This young Age-Dated Tawny Port is of the same tawny colour with red highlights as the Old 1983 Vintage Port. Extended maturation in bottle has turned the 1983 Dow s very dry-fruity and spicy, like the 10 Year Old Tawny, though the latter is slightly nuttier and exhibits nowhere near as much power as the Vintage Port. Graham s, 40 Year Old Tawny (bottled in 2009) This very old Tawny Port, the oldest Age-Dated example one can produce, exhibits an extreme state of deliberate oxidation. Age and maximum oxidative treatment have stripped the tawny colour of any red highlight and developed a more tercery aromatic profile, with only faint dried fruit aromas and flavours but loads of nuttiness and spice, notably curry spice. Tannins have been left behind in the pipe with every racking hence no tannic structure and instant readiness for drinking. There is no further development to be achieved in the bottle, so no need to lay that style of wine down in the cellar. Just buy it to drink it now. Having been thoroughly oxidised, the wine won t suffer much from the time the cork is pulled. Therefore, one can enjoy one glass at a time over months. On the other hand, Vintage Port, having experienced no oxidative treatment to speak of, will require patience then hurry. Indeed, the wine will need decades of cellaring to become drinkable. But when the time comes, decant it, for it will be loaded with sediments, then drink it at once, for oxygen will come as a shock to its system, spoiling it in a matter of two days or so.

47 Tutored Port Wine Tasting Thursday 14 th January 2010 Speaker: Eric LAGRE, Sommelier TASTING LIST Warre s, Heritage, Ruby Port, NV Wholesale price: 6.66 DPD ex VAT per bottle (John Fells Ltd) Cockburn s, 2003 Late-Bottled Vintage (LBV) Port (bottled in 2008) Wholesale price: 8.96 DPD ex VAT per bottle (Waverley TBS) Fonseca, 2000 Vintage Port (bottled in 2002) Wholesale price: DPD ex VAT per bottle (bought on release by EIC from Mentzendorff) Dow s, 1983 Vintage Port (bottled in 1985) Wholesale price: 8.90 DPD ex VAT (bought on release by EIC) Dow s, 10 Year Old Tawny Port (bottled in 2009) Wholesale price: DPD ex VAT (John Fells Ltd) Graham s, 40 Year Old Tawny (bottled in 2009) Wholesale price: DPD ex VAT per bottle (John Fells Ltd)

48

49 Tutored Wine Tasting Wednesday 7 th November 2012 PORT A rainbow of styles Speaker: Eric LAGRE Sommelier

50 PORT WINE TASTING Tutored by Eric LAGRE Tasting notes by Eric LAGRE and Magda KOTLARCZYK, WSET Diploma Graduates (with the participation of WSET student Nora ESPINOSA CORONEL) NARRATIVE Fonseca, Siroco, Porto Branco Extra Seco, NV Croft Pink, NV Taylor s, Fine Tawny Port, NV Skeffington, Ruby Port, NV All these wines were produced by one single group: The Fladgate Partnership, simply referred to as TFP. The Port trade went through hardship throughout its history and many producers were either driven out of business or forced to gather into big groups to survive and get the means to expand and afford crucial international distribution. TFP owns three historical Port houses, Taylor s, Fonseca and Croft, and also manages the Skeffington brand. These wines were selected to illustrate the four primary colours within the Standard Category: White, Rosé, Tawny and Ruby. These entry-level wines require minimum oxidative ageing in large vats to become ready to drink. They are put to market within three years or so for immediate consumption. They form the bulk of Port production, as they represent 80% of the global Port market in volume terms and 65% in value terms. Fonseca, 1994 Vintage Port (bottled in 1996) Barros, 1996 Colheita Porto (bottled in 2012) Ferreira, Quinta do Porto, 10 Year Old Tawny (bottled in 2011) Ernest Cockburn said that the first duty of Port is to be red. As a matter of fact, a good 85% of the production is red indeed. Of all red port wines, 40% is made in a reductive style, with minimum exposure to oxygen so as to preserve maximum freshness of fruit character and integrity of ruby colour hence the style qualifies as Ruby Port. The rest is deliberately oxidised so as to develop more tercery aromas of dried fruit, spice and nut. In the process, the original deep ruby colour quickly turns lighter and browner hence the style qualifies as Tawny Port. These three wines were selected to illustrate how the various ways of ageing Port impact on colour and development. They belong to the Special Category and are premium wines made from top quality grapes. They display such concentration that they need extended ageing to become ready to drink, either in bottle or in wood. Vintage Port, the king of Ports, hardly undergoes any oxidative ageing in cask to speak of, and the above example, despite having spent 16 years in bottle, is still very youthful in character and colour. Colheita Port starts its life as Vintage Port, but it is then aged in cask for so long till bottled on demand that it is better understood as Vintage Tawny Port. In between these two old examples, the younger Age-Dated Tawny Port will feel far more forward and appealing to non-connoisseurs than the Vintage Port of outstanding potential, but not as complex and powerful as the colheita. C. da Silva, 1963 Colheita Porto, Dalva Golden White Port (bottled in 2009) Graham s, 40 Year Old Tawny Port (bottled in 2012) Each of the five wines selected from the Special Category are produced by one of the 5 leading Port groups: Fonseca belongs to TFP, Barros to Sogevinus, Ferreira to Sogrape, DALVA to Gran Cruz Porto and Graham s to Symington Family Estates. These last two wines are actually produced by the two largest Port producers, both fighting for pole position. They were selected because they illustrate how, with extreme deliberate oxidative treatment, the two opposite colours of the Port spectrum, the pale gold of young white Port and the deep ruby of young ruby Port, meet into an approaching medium amber or pale tawny colour.

51 Tutored Port Wine Tasting Wednesday 7 th November 2012 Speaker: Eric LAGRE, Sommelier TASTING LIST Fonseca, Siroco, Porto Branco Extra Seco, NV Croft Pink, NV Taylor s, Fine Tawny Port, NV Skeffington, Ruby Port, NV Fonseca, 1994 Vintage Port (bottled in 1996) Ferreira, Quinta do Porto, 10 Year Old Tawny (bottled in 2011) Barros, 1996 Colheita Porto (bottled in 2012) C. da Silva, 1963 Colheita Porto, Dalva Golden White Port (bottled in 2009) Graham s, 40 Year Old Tawny Port (bottled in 2012)

52 Port: Producer: Group: Siroco, Branco Extra Seco Fonseca (est ) The Fladgate Partnership Yeatman bought Fonseca back in 1949 then launched Siroco in the 1950s Style: White Port (Standard Category) Vintage: NV (Non Vintage) Varieties: Malvasia Rei and Viosinho Alcohol: 20%abv Residual sugar: 40 g/l Closure: T-top Supplier: Mentzendorff Wholesale price: 8.93 DPD ex VAT (75cl) Retailer: Exel Wines Retail price: Appearance: This white wine looks clear and bright. Its core is medium gold in colour and the rim watery. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean. Its aromas are medium in intensity. Hints of yellow flowers and orange peel add interest to the basic yellow apple fruit character of the wine. There is also some stone fruit, like peach and apricot, though it is the scent of the kernel rather than that of the juicy flesh of the fruit that dominates, thereby adding to a sense of fresh nuttiness. Additional notes of blanched almond were also brought about by 4 years of maturation in oak vat. This nuttiness had us debate whether the wine was developing, though Port wines of the Standard Category usually qualify as youthful in development. Indeed, freshness is of the essence in entry-level Port wines, especially since they start to deteriorate from the time they are bottled (they should be drunk well in the year of bottling). Palate: This medium-bodied wine is medium sweet and fortified to a high level of alcohol. The medium to medium plus acidity does not prove enough to counterbalance the potency of the wine hence a burning sensation on the gums. The flavours are only medium in intensity. The fruit is rather simple, with the same yellow apple and stone fruit character as perceived on the nose. Some marmalade, orange peel and lemon rind combine with notes of honeysuckle and other yellow flowers to add some interest. The finish, attractively dry, and nutty with that milky nuttiness of fresh almond and fruit kernel, is of medium length. Assessment of Quality: The wine is good, though rather spirity, let alone that the fruit seems to have lost a bit of its freshness and aromatic power in the bottle, resulting in a slight sensation of flabbiness. The alcohol is indeed out of balance, and one understands why the label mentions aperitivo, serve chilled, for plenty of ice is definitely needed to offset the alcohol. The traditional way to serve this wine and remedy this problem is to mix it with the same volume of soda water as a long drink, together with a slice of lemon and bruised fresh mint. Served this way, as an aperitif in accompanied of salted almonds and plump and juicy olives, fine white Port becomes delightfully refreshing. It also mixes into fine cocktails, but one of its best applications is as a soup ameliorator, poured into piping hot leek and potato in winter or cold gazpacho in summer. It will also bring an original aromatic accent when cooking clams and mussels.

53 Port: Pink Producer: Croft (est. 1822) Group: The Fladgate Partnership TFP bought Croft in the year 2000 then launched Pink in 2008 Style: Rosé Port officialised in October 2009 (Standard Category) Vintage: NV (Non Vintage) Alcohol: 19.5%abv Residual sugar: 80 g/l Closure: T-top Supplier: Mentzendorff Wholesale price: 6.95 DPD ex VAT (75cl) Retailer: Sainsbury s Retail price: Appearance: This rosé wine looks clear and bright. It is pale ruby in colour and rather watery on the rim. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean. It is youthful and packed full of wild red berry aromas, notably strawberry, raspberry and cranberry. It is somewhat confected on the edges, with some maraschino cherry. Cherry stone adds some complexity while white pepper, flowery notes and grapefruit contribute freshness. Palate: This medium-bodied wine is sweet and fortified to a high level of alcohol. The medium plus acidity puts the alcohol in balance. Therefore, the flavours, medium in intensity, are not overwhelmed. The red berry fruit is rather confected, with tinned strawberry, raspberry, sweetened cranberry and maraschino cherry. The finish is simple and medium in length, but delightful. Assessment of Quality: The wine is good, and compared to the white Port, the alcohol is more integrated and in balance with the acidity. The fruit is rather simple but the drink proves refreshing served as an aperitif, especially when chilled and poured over ice, as mentioned on the label. The drink could be even more refreshing if the sweetness was slightly more in balance. The excess sweetness gives an artificial and confected edge to the fruit indeed. Rosé Port is great in a brandy glass with some orange zest, but if one prefers a lower-alcohol beverage, it will come into its own mixed 50/50 with fizzy water in a long drink and garnished with a wedge of lemon.

54 Port: Fine Tawny Producer: Taylor s (est. 1692) Group: The Fladgate Partnership Style: Tawny Port (Standard Category) Vintage: NV (Non Vintage) Alcohol: 20%abv Closure: T-top Supplier: Mentzendorff Wholesale price: 6.26 DPD ex VAT (75cl) Retailer: Exel Wines Retail price: Appearance: This red wine looks clear and bright. It is medium garnet in colour, from core to rim. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean. It exhibits a medium intensity of deliberately oxidised aromas such as cherry, (cherry stone to be more precise), plus dried fig and sultana. The fruit is coated with caramel and spiced with cinnamon, milk chocolate and some coffee bean. Palate: This medium-bodied wine is sweet and fortified to a high level of alcohol. The medium plus acidity puts the alcohol in balance. Very low tannins are perceptible on the gums. The flavours, medium in intensity, mirror the aromas perceived on the nose. The combination of burnt caramel, cherry stone, dried fruit (red currant, fig and sultana), dry ginger and other sweet spices combine in some sort of baked red apple effect. The finish is medium minus but gives way to attractive notes of curry spice. Assessment of Quality: The wine is good, though simple and lacking in concentration and length. TFP is a very quality conscious producer, and one must highlight the fact that the wine is marketed as cooking wine on Mentzendorff s list (this must be borne in mind, for the merchant is partially owned by TFP).

55 Port: Ruby Port Producer: Skeffington Group: Brand managed by The Fladgate Partnership Style: Ruby Port (Standard Category) Vintage: NV (Non Vintage) Alcohol: 20%abv Closure: T-top Supplier: Waverley TBS (in administration since early October 2012) Wholesale price: 6.48 DPD ex VAT (75cl) Retailer: Templar Wines Retail price: Appearance: This red wine looks clear and bright. It is medium ruby in colour. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean. It exhibits a medium minus intensity of youthful, though stewed aromas. The scent that dominates the stewed black cherry and plum fruit is actually that of the fortifying spirit itself: hay, flowery notes and black pepper. No offense, but it is somewhat reminiscent of cardboard. Palate: This medium-bodied wine is sweet and fortified to a high level of alcohol. The medium acidity struggles to bring freshness to the wine, with its low concentration and medium tannin. It only exhibits a medium minus intensity of grenadine (pomegranate cordial), in which some cherry and plum fruit gets lost. Demerara sugar brings about an impression of spiciness, but one cannot speak of complexity. The only thing that seems to linger in the mouth after the short finish is a burning sensation on the gums from the high alcohol and the sugary sweetness on the tong. Assessment of Quality: The wine is good, despite being simple to the extreme and desperately lacking in concentration and length. The French love it as an aperitif, bless them. Here, in the UK, the average consumer would go for Reserve Ruby, in the Special Category, as an entry level wine. Skeffington is amongst the least known brands to come out of the Douro, and TFP does not do much promotion around the name, if any at all. Skeffington is a brand name, not one of the three Port houses owned by the group: Taylor s, Fonseca and Croft. The wine blends the most basic wines left over from the production of the growers associated with TFP and never had any ambition other than being simple and forward. The wine was available behind the American Bar at the East India Club till our supplier went bust. I find comfort in the fact that it is only used to mix Port and Brandy Cocktail (one and a half measure of Ruby Port to one measure of Brandy), which, in Clubland, has the reputation to help digestion after a hearty meal... this Port is good for something at least.

56 Port: Producer: Group: Style: Vintage: Vintage Fonseca (est ) The Fladgate Partnership 4 th largest Port producer Leading premium Port producer in the Special Category Owner of Taylor s, Fonseca and Croft Vintage Port (Special Category) 1994 (bottled in 1996 after two years in cask) The Wine Spectator awarded its first 100 point marks to 1994 Taylor s and Fonseca Alcohol: 20.5%abv Closure: long driven cork Supplier: Mentzendorff Wholesale price: DPD ex VAT (75cl) bear in mind it was bough on release by the Club Retailer: Vintage Wine Gifts Retail price: Appearance: This red wine looks clear and bright. It is deep ruby in colour but medium garnet on the rim. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean. It has spent 16 years in the bottle, but still, one cannot but say that it is anything other than youthful in development, even though the fruit shows faint signs of bottle maturity. It is rather closed in, and for a wine of such concentration, it only exhibits a medium intensity of fine black cherry, cassis and stewed plums. There might be some cinnamon spice and a hint of sultana, plus hints of mint and white pepper, but the scent is surprisingly simple, though ever so pure and ready to burst. Palate: This full-bodied wine is sweet and fortified to a high level of alcohol. The alcohol needs mellowing with further ageing, but the medium plus acidity already cuts right through the high tannins, which are ever so ripe and fine. The intensity of fruit, for it is medium plus, gives more away on the palate than it does on the nose; rich and somewhat jammy black cherry, cassis and blackberry; stewed plum with the nectar intensity of prune; some sultana; a complex combination of sweet and dry spices, notably dark chocolate and coffee bean in a mocha effect... and ultimately, a finish of long length, full of blue flowers that freshen up and lift the wine altogether. Assessment of Quality: Obviously, the wine is still too young, for the high density of tannins still prevents the richness and concentration of aromas and flavours from expressing themselves. But one can sense the incredible power underneath it all. The wine has a potential to age fabulously. It is purely outstanding (if only in terms of potential at this point in time).

57 Port: 10 Year Old Tawny Producer: Ferreira (est. 1751) Group: Sogrape Portugal s leading wine group (incl. Matheus Rosé and Barca Velha) 3 rd largest Port producer Owner of Ferreira, Sandeman, Offley and Robertson s Style: Age-Dated Tawny Port (Special Category) Vintage: Average cask age of ten years (bottled in 2011) Commemoration of Dona Antonia s 200 th anniversary Alcohol: 20%abv Closure: T-top Supplier: Berkman Wine Cellars Wholesale price: DPD ex VAT (75cl) Retailer: Retail price: Appearance: This red wine looks clear and bright. The core is medium tawny in colour, though one can still detect red highlights. the rim is tawny too. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean. It exhibits a medium intensity of deliberately oxidised aromas. It is verging on spirity, but the spirit just about manages to take the shape of white pepper and mint, which is more attractive than pure ethanol. One can perceive some dried fruit, notably currant and sultana, but spices dominate the aromatic profile of this wine. Liquorice and cinnamon shine through the Mars Bar effect of combined caramel and chocolate, plus hints of coffee. Palate: This medium-bodied wine is sweet. The acidity is medium plus, but its level does not suffice to balance the alcohol, for this wine is fortified to a very noticeable high level of alcohol. Low tannins are perceptible on the gums. The flavours are of medium intensity and rather simple. What you are left with is burnt caramel and vanilla, which combine in an effect reminiscent of crème brûlée. Some currant and sultana quickly give way to spiciness and nuttiness in the finish of medium length. White pepper, cinnamon, vanilla and some walnut are teased by attractive curry spice, which brings some interest. Assessment of Quality: The wine is very good, even though it is a rather simple offering that lacks integration. The fruit character is indeed so simple and mediumish in intensity that it is the sweetness that dominates. As for the alcohol, it is verging on spirity. Even though both alcohol and sweetness are out of balance with the fruit intensity and acidity, the wine definitely stands out against the example of fine Tawny Ports from the Standard Category. Paradoxically, it also proves far more satisfying and forward to non-connoisseurs than the Vintage Port, despites the tremendous potential of the latter.

58 Port: Colheita Producer: Barros Almeida (est. 1913) Group: Sogevinus 5 th largest Port producer Owner of Cálem, Burmester, Gilberts, Kopke and Barros Style: Colheita (Special Category) Vintage: 1996 (aged in oak cask then bottled in 2012) Alcohol: 20%abv Closure: T-top Supplier: Hallgarten Druitt Wholesale price: DPD ex VAT (75cl) Retailer: Strictly Wine Retail price: Appearance: This red wine looks clear and bright. It is medium tawny in colour and turns rather brownish on the rim. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean. It exhibits a just about medium plus intensity of mixed dried fruit, nut and spice aromas, the combination of which is somewhat reminiscent of baked apple. The richness of caramel, chocolate and other sweet spices is lifted by dryer spices like white pepper, dry liquorice and cardamom. The sultana and currant seem to vaporise into very attractive notes of curry. Palate: This medium-bodied wine is sweet and so high in acidity that one would forget to notice that it is fortified to a high level of alcohol. Low tannins are perceptible on the gums. The flavours are pronounced and rather dynamic, as they seem to develop in three waves. The attack, with its chocolate-coated sultana and currant feels rather simple and disappointing at first, but quickly gives way to a rather complex spiciness. Curry spice teases the palate and bring interest to the caramel and sweet spiciness typical of the style. In the finish of very long length, the wine turns rather nutty. The warm notes of roasted hazelnut and almond are carried by the tanginess of orange peel and the rancio dryness of walnut. Assessment of Quality: Compared to the 10 Year Old Tawny, this wine is incredibly well-balanced and a miracle of complexity. But the nose is rather subdued and the wine only comes into its own on the palate, especially in the long finish (I wonder if decanting would help the wine open up?). For that reason, I would only rate this wine as very good, even though it is far superior and more complex than the previous wine. Note how extended maturation is wood makes Port so ready to drink and complex compared to the Vintage Port, which, after nearly as long a time maturing in bottle, still remains closed in and rather one dimensional despite its tremendous potential.

59 Port: DALVA Golden White Producer: C. da Silva (est. 1862) Group: Gran Cruz Porto/La Martiniquaise 2 nd largest Port producer and contender for pole position Owner of Porto Cruz and DALVA/C. da Silva Style: Colheita (Special Category) Vintage: 1963 (aged in oak cask then bottled in 2009) Alcohol: 20%abv Closure: short driven cork (T-top also provided) Supplier: Edward Cavendish Wholesale price: DPD ex VAT (50cl) Retailer: Cannot find any retailer in the UK Retail price: Very expensive (anywhere between 80 and 120) Appearance: This white wine looks clear and bright. The core is pale tawny in colour, but with red copper highlights, turning deep gold on the rim. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean, though there is evidence of volatility, which is only normal in a wine aged oxidatively in cask for so long. Notes of nail varnish are perceptible amongst more attractive notes of tar and white pepper, which makes me think that the wine might need decanting to get rid of bottle sickness. The deliberately oxidised aromatic profile of medium plus intensity of this wine is very reminiscent of that of a Sercial/Bual Madeira hybrid. The dominant scent is that of citrus, notably orange peel. The dried orange and apricot fruit integrates with roasted almond nuttiness and chocolate, toffee and cinnamon bark spiciness. The Tar somewhat develops into a very attractive rancio character of walnut and coffee bean. Palate: This medium-plus-bodied wine is sweet and so high in acidity that one would forget to notice that it is fortified to a high level of alcohol. The tangy nuttiness of flavours is pronounced. Tartaric dried apricot, orange peel and lemon and grapefruit rind make your mouth water. The aromatic profile of the wine surfs the wave of acidity, which carries it through. Warm spiciness and brioche do not distract from the fact that the wine is fundamentally refreshing, even at room temperature. Caramel and intense cinnamon and vanilla spiciness adds spade loads of complexity. The finish of very long length carries on giving; the savouriness of curry spice, the bitterness of coffee bean and walnut, and the overall tanginess, so attractive and structural, keep the sweetness in perfect balance. Assessment of Quality: Outstanding and yummy (despite the nail varnish, says Magda... in a state of trance). The wine is not as aromatically dynamic as the red colheita from Barros, but the structural tanginess of the wine, even when rounded by warm spiciness, nuttiness and bakery notes, wedges right through your senses. This sheer miracle of complexity is ever so smooth and perfectly balanced; truly outstanding!

60 Port: Producer: Group: Style: 40 Year Old Tawny Graham s (est. 1820) Symington Family Estates Largest Port producer Leading premium Port producer in the Special Category Owner of Graham s, Dow s, Warre s, Smith Woodhouse, Gould Campbell, Quarles Harris and Quinta do Vesuvio (+ Cockburn s and Martinez) Age-Dated Tawny Port (Special Category) Vintage: Average cask age of 40 years (bottled in 2012) Alcohol: 20%abv Closure: T-top Supplier: John E. Fells & Sons Ltd Wholesale price: DPD ex VAT (75cl) Retailer: Vintage Wine & Port Retail price: 109 Appearance: This red wine looks clear and bright. The core is medium tawny in colour, but on can detect red copper highlights. The colour turns deep gold on the rim. Legs and tears appear on the side of the glass. Nose: The wine smells clean. It exhibits a disappointing medium to medium plus intensity of deliberately oxidised aromas. I wonder if decanting would help the nose open up. The dried fruit character is rather tartaric, somewhat exotic, and definitely citrusy. Caramelised brown sugar and nuttiness combine in a hard nougat effect (or turon duro as Spaniards call it). White pepper and hints of mint bring freshness to spicy aromas of sweet liquorice and dark chocolate. The aromatic edge of the wine is rather rancio, with notes or walnut and coffee bean. Palate: This medium-plus-bodied wine is sweet. The acidity is medium plus but does not suffice to balance the alcohol. This wine is indeed fortified to a very noticeable high level of alcohol. The flavours are medium plus in intensity, but contrary to the white colheita Port wine, the tanginess of the orange peel and juice does not prove concentrated enough to lift the overwhelming coffee and burnt caramel flavours. The hard nougat imposes itself to such an extent that the wine feels simple, despite a rather understated level of complexity. One can indeed perceive some dry fruit underneath the marzipan, which turns into curry spice in the slightly spirity finish of medium plus length. Assessment of Quality: I feel a bit let down, especially when considering the price. It is nothing as lively, complex and balanced as the white Colheita. Therefore, I wouldn t say that it is more than very good. The wine is being relaunched after Charles Symington took over his father as master blender. The new blend is meant to be dryer, but I find it simply less opulent and rather miss the old stuff.