Everything you need to know about Port wine – One of Portugal’s oldest exports
Ever since the 1600s, Portuguese wine has been imported into Britain. During this time, port wine began its existence when the wine of Portugal was ruined on the long, rough and treacherous sea journey over the Bay of Biscay.
In order to make sure the sailors’ wine was tougher and could withstand the rough journeys over the water, Portuguese wine makers added Aguardente (a type of brandy) to the wine, which made it stronger and longer lasting and hereafter port wine has never looked back!
Other countries make a similarly styled wine as port, but in the European community only the fortified wine from Portugal may be sold as “Port”. And why should the impostors call their versions of fortified wine “Port”?
Port wine is named after the Portuguese city of Porto where it was created in the 17th century. The grapes are grown along side the River Douro, which flows majestically through the city and the wine is stored and in ancient cellars or caves at the mouth of the river.
The English connection
One only has to read the list of port shippers to realise the importance of Port wine to the English market and presumably the importance of English involvement to the Portuguese economy. Names such as, Cockburns, Croft, Sandeman, Taylor and Warre all have offices on the other side of the river Douro, opposite the city of Porto.
The British military traditionally drink port when toasting the Queen, and have done so for over 300 years. Another English tradition involving the Portuguese alcoholic staple, is at a formal dinner parties in the UK, port must be passed to the left and that the bottle must not touch the table!
Spectacular vineyards
There are around 100 different varieties of grapes in the Douro Valley, which are used to produce the many different types of port available. Some of the old grape farms cling to almost vertical slopes above the River Douro, making the harvesting process extremely difficult.
The scene is picturesque, primitive and wholly traditional. It becomes hard to believe when watching the September harvest that these grapes will end up as bottled port on the shelves of every supermarket and off-licence in the United Kingdom.
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