History

No other country has had more influence on the wine business in Portugal than Great Britain. Wines were shipped to England in exchange for shipping rights in 1385. After many battles between the French and the English, Portugal gained advantages such as tax breaks, and favored status as the most important wine supplier to England. Relations were not always good and at different times British citizens were forced to flee for their lives. In 1786 the Factory House was established in Oporto. It served as a meeting-place for different trade groups from England and eventually became exclusive to the wine trade. Similar "Houses" were founded along the coast of Africa and as far away as India wherever British ships were doing business. By the mid- eighteenth century it had become common practice to fortify Porto and store it in the lodges for a few years before shipment. After 1970 there were to be no more shipments in pipe for bottling by the British trade merchants.

Climate: Harsh, with freezing cold winters and scorching heat in summer.

Soils: Rocky, poor hard schist that must be broken up to plant the vines using bulldozers and sometimes dynamite.

Vineyards: Steeply sloped terraced vineyards along the banks of the Duoro river. The newer plantings are done on wider terraces to allow for mechanical harvesting. A complicated quality rating system is also used.

Grapes: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cao, and Touriga Francesa are the top 5 in use with 88 varieties permitted.

The Wine: After the grapes are brought to the Quintas the main concern is to get the maximum color from the skins. Some wines are made by grapes crushed by rollers while others are made in the traditional manner,
that is by a controlled treading of the grapes by foot for several hours.
Adding a clear grape brandy or distillation to fermenting grape juice produces the fortified wine. The addition of this 77% alcohol spirit kills the yeast leaving residual sugar in the wine. The wine is then aged in casks of various sizes and different lengths of time depending on the style desired.

Styles

Bottle Aged: Vintage Port and Quinta Ports are wines bottled after 2 years of aging
And are from one single vintage. These wines are ruby colored with
tannins allowing the wine to age in the bottle sometimes for many decades. Vintage Ports are only declared in the best years. While slightly lesser years are labeled as Quintas.
Wood Aged: Ruby: Two to three years in steel or wood before bottling. Fresh and fruity are the desired qualities with a ruby (purple grape) color.

Tawny: Aged between three to six years in cask, drink within 2 years,
almonds nuts and raisins with slightly brown color.

Vintage Character: aged 4 to 6 years from more than one vintage. With
a ruby color, with more body and fruit than tawny's but less concentrated than Vintage Port. Drink within 2 years.

Late Bottled Vintage: Made from a single vintage, bottled from four to
six years after the harvest. Similar in style to Vintage Character with
slightly more concentration. Ruby color, some can age quite well.

Aged Tawnies: With the average age of the wine on the label, 10, 20,30,
and 40 year old. These can be the most elegant of all ports with lighter
colors as the age increases.

Colheita: Aged Tawny from a single vintage. Drink upon release and
look for bottling date to insure drinkability.

Crusted: Blended wines bottled when young, throwing sediment in the
bottle, they must be decanted. Similar to Vintage Port.