Port Wine - The Wine of the Douro Valley
Monday, October 27th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
What Do You Know About Port Wine?
You must have heard the name of ‘Port Wine’ off and on as a special type of wine. Nevertheless, do you know what are its special qualities, the category of wine it is and why it is given that name?
Demystifying The Port Wine
The history of this wondrous wine can be traced to the Douro Valley wineries in Portugal. It is commonly served with dessert because of its sweetish qualities. Richness, density and higher sweetness compared with regular wines are the features of this super wine. Two port wine variants are most popular, even though there are numerous variants, i.e. port wine that is aged by using oxygen and the other is by reducing oxygen.
There are five grape varieties that go into the making of the port wine and these are, the Tinta Roza, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Fanacesas, Tinot Cao, and Tina Barroca all of which are grapes that grow in the Douro Valley (Portugal).
The port wine which has been matured within the barrel with very limited exposure to oxygen is known as wine that is oxidative aged wine while the wine that has not been exposed to oxygen at all is known as reductive aged wine.
Some Great Port Wines
The name port wine encompasses a vast number of different types of wines of all color and taste. You have the White Port which has a dry type flavor which is normally aged for about three years. Another port wine is aged for about seven years, this is called Colheita Port. Only one year’s harvest grapes are used to make this wine, whereas other wines are made from grapes from different harvest years.
Among the more expensive one are the Tawny Port which is aged for a very long time – anything between ten and forty years and the Vintage Port which can be aged for about 50 years in the bottle itself; the Single Quinta Port is another wine that is aged for about 50 years as well. These wines are very much sought after all over the world, and rightly so.
The Crusted Port is another type of wine that needs mention. There are always sediments in the bottle as the wine is not filtered when it is bottled.
To learn more about different wines go to Understanding About the Different Types of Wine and Red Wine Is A Wonderful Beverage
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