14 Facts About Port wine

Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal.

The Port wine is then stored and aged, often in barrels stored in a lodge as is the case in Vila Nova de Gaia, before being bottled.

The wine received its name, "port", in the latter half of the 17th century from the seaport city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where much of the product was brought to market or for export to other countries in Europe.

The Douro valley where port wine is produced was defined and established as a protected region, and the name Douro thus an official appellation, in 1756, making it the third oldest wine after Chianti and Tokaj .

Currently, the wine is transported from the vineyards by tanker trucks and the barcos rabelos are only used for racing and other displays.

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Port wine is typically richer, sweeter, heavier, and higher in alcohol content than unfortified wines.

The Port wine is usually blended to match the style of the brand to which it is to be sold.

The Port wine is fined and cold filtered before bottling and does not generally improve with age, although premium rubies are aged in wood from four to six years.

Late bottled vintage was originally wine that had been destined for bottling as vintage port, but because of lack of demand was left in the barrel for longer than had been planned.

However, many Port wine experts feel that this convenience comes at a price and believe that the filtration process strips out much of the character of the Port wine.

In 1678, a Liverpool wine merchant sent two new representatives to Viana do Castelo, north of Oporto, to learn the wine trade.

Port wine has been used in the past as a healing agent in earlier remedies.

Port wine began at the age of 14 with a bottle a day according to J Ehrman : "The Younger Pitt".

Aged port wine contains a family of bluish phenolic pigments called portosins and oxovitisin A, an oxovitisin, a type of pyranoanthocyanin with a 2-pyrone component.