Liquor & SpiritsFortified & Dessert WinePort
A WINE IS BORN
For thousands of years, foreign aficionados have cherished the wine thatis grown in northeast Portugal on the mountainsides along the Douro River.As far back as the first century B.C., the Greek historian, Polybius, in his Land of Wine, noted that this wine sold at one drachma for a matreta(27 liters). At the time of the Caesars, the Romans, who occupied the region,introduced treading troughs and clay amphoras for making and aging the wine.Viticulture became so popular that the Emperor Domitian had to order thenumber of vineyards reduced by half to keep a balance with other agriculturalproducts.
Wine cultivation thrived during the Visagoth domination and survived theMoorish occupation of the 8th to 12th centuries. From 1143, when Portugalbecame an independent kingdom, Douro wine was often mentioned in royal decrees,and by the 13th century it was shipped down the Douro River to the coastaltown of Porto, and exported as far afield as Holland.
Rui Fernandes, a courtier of King John 111, tells us that in 1532 the Dourowas producing the equivalent of 600,000 cases of wine. Noted for becomingmore perfumed with age, it was the best, longest-lived wine in the kingdom.He said that the Spanish court in Castile, the royal court of Portugal,and the local nobility and clergy treasured these fragrant wines. He alsogave a detailed description of the grapes used - some of the same varietiesused today.
The Portuguese historian, Joao de Barros, in his Geografia of 1548, citesthe quality of various wine locations from one end of the Douro to the other,enthusing that "wonderful wines are harvested in the Douro, whencethey are shipped to the city of Porto."
By the beginning of the 17th century as many as 1,200,000 cases reachedPorto each year, and in 1638 a German diplomat named Cristiano Kopke foundeda Douro wine shipping company that is still in existence today. In 1675wine destined for Holland was called for the first time by its modern name:Porto. Although, by law, only wine produced in Portugal may be called Porto,other countries accept and respect its translation (Port or Port wine).
As the 17th century drew to a close, an event took place that would givePorto universal fame and prestige: it was discovered by the British, whospread its fame all over the world.
THE BRITISH DISCOVER PORTO WINE
There was a flourishing English colony in the city of Viana do Castelo,50 miles north of Porto, in the early 17th century. There, British merchantsimported woolen goods from England, and exported agricultural products anda light, crisp coastal wine now called "Red Vinho Verde." Notpopular with the British gentry, it was used as "sailors rations."
When political problems arose between France and England in the 1660s, Bordeaux,the wine of choice of the well-bred Englishman, became virtually impossibleto obtain. The Viana merchants tried to market their "sailor"wine as a substitute, but in vain. They next proffered the richer, morearomatic Porto wines from the Douro and met with such success, that theychanged the center of their activities to the town of Porto. The first EnglishPorto firm was Warre in 1670, followed by Croft, Quales-Harris and, by theend of the century, Taylor-Fladgate. Many others were founded in subsequentcenturies.
Porto became the favorite wine of the Whig party and in 1689, in the presenceof Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese widow of Charles II, Porto wasused to toast William and Mary at their coronation. Dr. Samuel Johnson subsequentlyclaimed that "Claret is the liquor for boys, and Port for men"and John Croft that "any Englishman of decent condition... cannot dispensewith it...."
In 1678, the earliest year from which export records exist, there were 24,000cases of Porto shipped to England; in 1693 780,000, escalating to 1,500,000by 1728. The English had taken a new wine to their hearts.
This rapid rise in popularity led to abuses and falsifications until inthe 1740s, to meet demand, growers and shippers were adding elderberry juiceand wines from distant regions to the pure product. A consequent loss inquality caused a loss in demand, and the number of cases shipped plummetedto 750,000 by the end of the decade. This prompted the Portuguese authorities,in 1756, to found a "Companhia Geral da Agricultura dos Vinhos do AltoDouro", to control all aspects of production. The exact boundariesof the Douro region, and strict regulations to insure the authenticity ofthe wine, were set by 1761. These pioneering measures led to unprecedentedquality control, and provided a model for the demarcation of wine regionsin other countries. Shipments to England consequently rose to a spectacular3,500,000 cases by 1799.
Today, control is better than ever. The Porto Wine Institute in Porto, andthe Casa do Douro in Regua, both founded in 1933, oversee every aspect fromthe vine to the consumer.
Ironically, the French, who were indirectly responsible for the Englishinfatuation with Porto, in the late 20th century drink three times as muchPorto as the English - more than any other nation.
AMERICA'S PASSION FOR PORTO
America began drinking Porto a century after England for a very practicalreason. As long as America was an English colony all European products hadto be shipped to it on British ships. Americans therefore preferred to drinkwine from Madeira, then considered part of Africa, so they could use Americanships for its transport.
After America achieved independence in 1776, it began importing Porto. Between1783 and 1799 Americans were drinking an average of 85,000 cases a year.An American named Joseph Cano even became a partner in a Porto company inthe first two decades of the 1 9th century. Americans have never caughtup to the British or French in quantity, but the demand for quality Portosis higher than anyplace else.
Americans are second only to the English in most years as consumers of VintagePorto, and in some years America is the world's first market. Moreover,it tripled its overall consumption between the beginning and end of the1980's.
PORTO AN HISTORIC TRANSFORMATION
What was Porto like in the 17th and 18th centuries compared to the presentday? It is a common misconception that Porto, as soon as the English discoveredit, was transformed from a rich, dry table wine into the sweet, fortifieddessert wine we know today.
This myth has been perpetuated by the famous, but apocryphal story of twoyoung wine merchants from Liverpool who stopped at a monastery in Lamegoin 1678 and were given a sweet, rich, fortified wine which they enjoyedso much they bought all they could obtain, and shipped it to England.
However, the usual practice of that time was to add 15 liters of brandyper pipe (550 liters) or ahout3%, of the total volume of wine to preserveit for shipment. Today about 100 liters per pipe, or 20%., of the totalvolume of Porto, is brandy added early to arrest fermentation, retain sweetnessand raise the alcohol to about 20%. If the Abbot of Lamego made his winethis way it was an isolated instance, as this was not standard practiceuntil after 1850. Therefore, most likely this monastery, owning some ofthe best vineyards, produced a full, fruity wine known as "Priest'sPort", which seemed richer and sweeter than others of the time.
The transformation was, in fact, a more leisurely process. The real catalystoccurred in 1820 when there was a particularly ripe vintage and all thesugars in the juice could not be converted to alcohol, so that an extraordinarilysweet, rich wine was produced naturally. English consumers clamored formore, and so producers began to stop fermentation sooner and sooner by addingincreasing amounts of brandy to emulate the prized wine of 1820.
This practice was very controversial, and the renowned Porto producer, BaronJames Forrester, as late as 1850, condemned the addition of any brandy atall. His opinion was eventually overruled, hut until 1900 producers continuedto make Porto in three different styles: Dry, with minimal added alcoholand fermented dry, Medium, with more brandy and some sweetness retained,and Rich, approximating the modern practice of retaining about 10% residualsugar while adding 20% to the liquid volume in the form of 77 degree brandy.George Saintsbury, the great 19th century connoisseur, mentions in his writingshow much he enjoyed all three styles from great years such as 1851.
Since 1900 it can be safely assumed that all Porto is in the modern Rich,fortified, sweet style.