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One of the wines we tasted at last month's "Wine & Roses" wine tasting is one that I recommended back in August 2007 (see past articles). It is La Spinetta's Moscato d'Asti Biancospino. I hope you had the opportunity to try this delicious sweet wine for Valentine's with your sweetie (mine really likes it). If you missed out on the "Wine & Roses", but would like to attend a future tasting, please visit my 'Contact' page and send me your e-mail address. I will keep you posted on upcoming events.
This month's recommendation is another sweet (dessert) wine, or to be correct a fortified wine. By fortified, I mean that the winemaker adds a spirit, such as brandy during the wine's fermentation process to stop the fermentation, which produces a sweet, high-alcohol (usually around 20%) wine. Port is a great after-dinner drink or is delicious when paired with a Crème Brûlée or something chocolate.
Port-wine originated in Portugal , which began exporting wine to Rome in the days of the Roman Empire . The modern export system developed when trade to England was established following the signing of a treaty in 1703. England was at war with France at the time, and needed to find another source for its wine.
The Douro Valley of Portugal is the oldest appellation or wine-control system in the world having been created nearly two hundred years before the first one in France . While the production of port wine nowadays is not confined to Portugal , rest assured that Portugal still produces some of the World's finest. The great port houses in Portugal ship their wine from the Portuguese city of Porto and the name Porto or Oporto can usually be found on their labels.
There are different styles of port. Ruby port is the most basic and least expensive, while vintage port is the finest and most expensive. Only when all conditions are exceptional, will the winemaker declare a vintage. The first vintages were declared around 1734. Vintage port accounts for at the most only 2% of all production and is one of the most sought after wines in the world. A vintage port is bottled after spending two to three years aging in a wooden cask and then bottle matured for many, many more. Some say it takes 15 to 50 years in the bottle before a vintage is ready for drinking. All I can say is that they must really be some patient people!
You can also find late bottled vintage or LBV port, which you may think should be better since it is bottled later and spends four to six years in wood. However, it is not. Whereas a vintage port is produced from a single harvest (vintage) of exceptional quality, an LBV is usually produced from a single harvest deemed by the producer as not being good enough to be declared a vintage. But, don't think that a LBV port isn't good. Oh, contraire!
Tawny ports are usually lighter in color and what some of my friends refer to as "hotter". Although, some tawny is simply a mixture of ruby and white ports, the best tawny have obtained their lighter color from having spent longer in wood, at least six years, which allows the wine to oxidize. The "hotter" taste is actually from the wine becoming drier and nuttier from the oxidization process where it looses a lot of its fruitiness. Tawny ports identified as being 10-year, 20-year, 30-year, and so forth refer to the average age of the wines that make up the blend. The price of tawny typically corresponds to its age, with a 30-year being more expensive than a 10-year. Most tawny is characterized by a caramel taste that accentuates the caramelized topping on a Crème Brûlée. Yum, Yum!
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