The wine from the Douro Valley of Portugal is called *Porto.* This is to keep people from thinking that any wine with name *port* on the label is the real thing.
American wine producers have a long history of taking the names of popular wine regions of Europe for their labels. Most often it bears no resemblance to what it purports to copy An example, Burgundy, in France a delicate light red from Pinot Noir. Here it means a strong dark ripe wine usually made from Zinfandel and Ruby Cabernet *Porto *is made from a defined region of a steep rocky river valley. The varieties most often used are Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roiz, and Tinta Cao. After picking and crushing, it is fermented on the skins, until grape spirits are added to stop the fermatation and leave sweetness in the wine. This was originally done so the wine could arrive in England in good shape. High sugar and alcohol levels were good preservatives during a sea voyage. The original Douro style of dry red would not last the trip. Now days many Douro producers are exporting this dry full bodied red. It's complex subject, and the Wikipedia page for Porto Wine is a good study. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_wine In over twenty five years in the wine business, I've tasted plenty of wines made in the Port style, none of them compare to the real thing, most are just sugary and alcoholic, lacking any of the complexity and interest of true Porto. Eric Edgar On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 7:58 PM, Linda Norton <[email protected]> wrote: > I got White Port from Napa Valley, CA and it was superb. I like the Italian > sweet wine, Moscato. I thought Port was from the Douro Valley of Northern > Portugal and named after Porto. > > Linda > > > ----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of > Joaquin Mendonca > Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 5:07 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy]Portuguese wine > > Linda, > > I do not like a sweet wine, white or red. Therefore, I do not drink or > sample any varietal grapes that fall in the sweet category. > I do appreciate a Port. Even though it is called a Port wine, normally > sweet, I do not considered it a wine. Red wine is used for the base, and > then it is fortified with brandy. I do not recall ever having a bad bottle > of port from Oporto. I have about 20 bottles of port from either Oporto or > the states. I have not seen or looking for white port from Oporto. Trivia - > port was originally make for the British. That why you see so many brands > with British name. > > Joaquin Mendonca > > > -- > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<azores%[email protected]>. > Follow the confirmation directions > when they arrive. > For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right > that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." > > -- > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<azores%[email protected]>. > Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. > For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." > -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
