Every delicious dinner deserves a digestif. And, one of the best ways to finish off the meal is with a Port wine. Vintners in Portugal have been producing the fortified wine for over 250 years with grapes grown in the Douro Valley near Porto. Want to know more about this bold, sweet beverage? Our amigo, Joe Roberts at Fix.com offers this Port Wine Primer.
The key to understanding port is to realize that there are really only two styles. Ports are either wood-aged, which makes up around 98 percent of all the types of port you’ll encounter, or bottle-aged – these are special, and have the high prices to match. That’s it!
Ports are made from a blend of several grapes, the most important being Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz (more commonly known as Tempranillo), Tinta Barroca, and Tinta Cão. Port is fortified, which means that a neutral grape spirit is added to the wine as it’s fermenting, killing off the active yeasts, stabilizing the wine, and stopping fermentation before all of the grape sugars can be converted into alcohol. This process gives port its punch of typically around 20 percent alcohol by volume and its lively sweetness – a product of the natural sugars left over in the grapes.
When enjoying port, try matching it up with different foods, and contrast elements where you can. For example, the mellow flavors of tawny port work well with stronger, creamier foods like milk chocolate, caramel, and softer cheeses. Ruby port has a great contrast when paired with bitter, dark chocolate, and helps to tame the stronger flavors of aged and blue cheeses.
Source: Fix.com Blog