Rioja, Sherry and now Port!

Last year we spent a week in the Rioja region learning all about how the wine is produced and learning how to appreciate it. Then we moved down to Southern Spain and learned how the grapes in the Sherry “triangle” are used to make sherry, a fortified wine. Now we have spent some time in Porto, learning about the process of producing Port, expecting it to be very different. It was not. It is another fortified wine, made from grapes grown entirely in the Douro Valley region of Porto, the grapes are processed exactly like red and white grapes are to make wine – it’s just sweeter!

The wine from Jerez is stored in oak barrels and after a period of time, pure alcohol is added which stops the fermentation. This gives the Sherry a genuine “age” as such – how long it is stored in the barrel before the pure alcohol is added and fermentation stops. However, sherry from different ages are blended but it’s age is not advertised. American oak barrels are used, sometimes using barrels that had already stored whisky so this adds to the flavour.

The wine in Porto is stored in French oak, they never use pre-used barrels, and the fortification is stopped as soon as it is placed in the barrels which makes Port wine much sweeter. The longer it is kept, the more it loses it’s colour. White Port is made from white grapes, not red and as it ages, it turns yellow. Therefore Port can be aged accurately from the date it is put into the barrel, but as it is usually blended it is the average age that is used. Only a genuine “single barrel” Port is as aged as it claims.

The mouth of the Douro River is in Porto where the river meets the Atlantic but the majestic valleys further up the river produce a micro climate which encourages the Port Wine grapes. The grapes are grown on the hillsides, 100s of different varieties line the shale ledges and some vineyards are known to be over 150 years old. Harvesting takes place from the end of August to end of September (depending on the variety and it’s location) to achieve it’s fullest flavour, all harvesting is done by hand by locals and processed in the Caves (wine houses) on the farms. The liquids are then sent to the massive storage barrels in Gaia to age.

We had a fascinating tour of two port houses before hiring a scooter for the day and taking a ride up the Douro valley with Mike and Brenda on their vintage Vespa!! We had a fabulous day, saw some amazing scenery, had to stop every hour and de-numb the bums, had a lovely lunch on the banks of the river, and despite hoping to get to the top of the wine producing area called Pinhão, we did about a third of the journey (180kms) and made it back to Porto just before sun down!! A wonderful day out.