port wine : one of the world’s Greatest Wine with
Glory of Aroma
Port wine is known as the world’s greatest wine because of its unique features,
diverse variety, incomparable aroma and flavor, high alcohol content and an
assortment of different degrees of sweetness and colors. Infact, Port wine is
the expression of pleasure, elegance, wealth, and refinement. It is an asset
that represents the cultural heritage of Portugal throughout the world.
The Port Wine is a wine of highly persistent aroma and flavor from the isolated
vineyards in Douro Valley, Portugal and the word “Port” has taken its name from
the city of Oporto, situated at the mouth of River of Gold.
The Port wine came in existence of the world because of the English who were
engage in war with France and therefore can’t drink French wines. So, they
turned to Portugal to find an alternative to the French wines and to set up new
vineyards and thereby discovered Duoro Valley.
In order to allow the wines long lasting during travel, brandy is mixed with the
wines so that they can be more resistant with the changes in temperature. These
altered wines are called “fortified wines”. Don’t be surprised to know that,
Port wines are one of the most famous fortified wines. Recently, the Portuguese
wine manufactures renamed Port wines to “Porto wines” to reflect its genuineness
and refer only to wines produced in Portugal.
Port wine can be divided in two categories- Wood Port which includes, Ruby,
Tawny and White and Bottle Port which includes Vintage Port, Vintage Character
Port, Late-Bottled Vintage (LBV) and Crusted Port.
Ruby and Tawny Port wines are usually sweetish "full-bodied" wines that
basically consumed with lemonade and other mixer drinks and sold after 5 years
of maturing wood. White port wines are exclusively produced from white grapes.
They are served slightly chilled as an aperitif.
Vintage wine is one of the highest qualities of Port wines having exceptional
harvest and deep in color. Vintage Port wines are usually kept in wood for more
than two years and than kept in a bottle for twenty years so that they will get
the benefit of slow maturation process. These expensive wines are the
aristocrats of the Port world.
Vintage Character Port is a blend of good quality wines taken from different
years and LBV is a sweet, smooth wine with youthful aroma that has been matured
for about six years and then bottled. Crusted Port develops sediment or "crust"
as it matures after bottled.
You can also differentiate Port wine according colors—red wine and white wine.
Red Port varies in color from deep purple to light gold, with a range of
intermediary hues (tawny, golden tawny, golden and light gold). White Port comes
in various shades (pale yellow, straw and golden white). And, In terms of
degrees of sweetness, Port can be extremely sweet, sweet, semi-dry or extra dry.
Port wine is generally consumed after dinner. It should be served between 65-68
degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t forget that Vintage Port wines require decanting. The
glass, in which the Port wine is served, should a narrow cordial glass and only
half full. This helps the alcoholic content from overwhelming the flavors.
Commonly, Port Wines are served with Stilton cheese but other cheeses like
Cheddar and Glouster also set up an amazing match of harmonizing textures and
flavors with walnuts, chestnuts, cashews and hazelnuts. You can create amazing
variation by serving the port wine with desserts based on strawberries,
raspberries, cherries, and currants and with many other fruits.
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