The fortification planning

Posted by C.daSILVA / at Wednesday, September 18, 2013 / / 0 comments

Due to the massive success of Port wine in the first half of the 18th century, that led lots of grape growers out of the Douro region, to use their grapes for Port Wine production changing its quality and because of  the difficulty in territorial planning, in 1756 the Prime Minister “Marques de Pombal” restricted the Douro Valley region with 335 milestones, distributed along 250.000 hec.

Making it the oldest defined and protected wine region in the world. Nowadays in the Douro Valley we have 45700 hect cultivated, from wich 33000 hect are suitable for Port Wine and 39100 grape growers.

In 1932 the Casa do Douro, an Association of vintners, they had the mission of registering all the planted plots in the Douro.
In 1948, a very important person, an Agronomist, mr. Moreira da Fonseca, used the info collected during decades as well as the data of the quantity and quality of the different sub regions.
He has created a classification method, based in three major factors: soil; weather conditions and type of plantation.

Each vine/hectare gets points based in:

Soil: schistous soil; quantity of shale; slope gradient; yield;
Weather conditions: exposure; altitude; shelter; location; pre-marked localities;
Type of plantation:  grape varietals; type of planting; age of the vines;

• A –  over 1200 points
• B –  from 1001 to 1200
• C –  from 801 to 1000
• D –  from 601 to 800
• E –  from 401 to 600
• F –  from 201 to 400
• G – from 1 to 200
• H – from  -200 to 0
• I – from  -400 to -201

The Instituto dos Vinhos do Porto e do Douro, has the annual task of presenting the maximum of Port Wine to produce, according to the variation of the market, sales and Wine reserves, for instance in 2011 was 85000 barrels (85000 x 550 liters) the same as 46.750.000 liters.

The quantity of must for fortification per hectare, in 2010:

• A – 2.043 liters
• B – 2.010 liters
• C – 1.859 liters
• D – 1.818 liters
• E – 1.573 liters
• F – 684 liters
• G – 0
• H – 0
• I  – 0

The Moreira da Fonseca method is a very important contribute, once that each Port and Douro Wine producer knows how many liters may produce per hectare, according to the Instituto dos Vinhos do Porto e do Douro.

Port wine... to the cask or to the bottle ?

Posted by C.daSILVA / at Sunday, September 08, 2013 / / 0 comments

There are two different families thanks to the hand of the winemaker, the Port wines that age in the cask and the ones that age in the bottle.

Very few common characteristics between these two categories, although they are both Ports, they may present superior quality but distinct styles.

This organization of Port wine is the result of the historical evolution of Port wine. It was not from the very beginning (XVIII century) that has been made this option of the different types that we now nowadays.

Curiosly, in the beginning of the Port wine history til the end of the XIX century, the importance of old Port wine aged in barrel was really low, the market was focused on young Ports, the Vintage Port, known in that time as "Novelty".

DALVA Vintage 2011

The old Ports were not appelatives for the bulk business and massive exportation, of course that the baseline of quality, the younger Ports, are the ones that offer a higger income for the Houses, in the other side of the scale we have the Ports that ensure the reputation and prestige, the Vintage and the old Tawnies and Colheitas with over 20 years old.

For instance the Tawny 10 years old, if you carefully check the price per bottle that most of the Port Houses sell it, we realise that the investiment on casks, the room space, the evaporation lost during that time and the costs with coopers are farway from reaching a considerable income.

Nowadays, a good still wine can easily reach a price of a Tawny 10 years old, however, the Aged Tawnies categorie is a "must have"... a mandatory type.

It is common to say that each Company has its own flagship, some opted for Ruby Reserve, others LBV combining the good relationship quality/price.

The old Tawnies will always have their niche of the market, especially the 20, 30 and over 40 years old, produced/bottled in smaller quantities.

In average, for a 30 years old Tawny, the anual bottling is about one to two casks of 550 liters.
This small quantity (when comparing with the White/Ruby/Tawny) ensures a great quality and reliability to the consumer.

Despite the price payed, it is clearly justified by the quality and enjoyment that this Ports must offer.


The unique old White Colheitas from DALVA

The last but not the least, the Colheita, a Single Harvest Tawny that is currently the other king of Port wines, representing 0,5% of the market, less than the Vintage (about 2%) it has gain a status that nowadays, some Houses are more focused on using it on Colheita than keeping it only for
the blend of 30 or over 40 years old Tawnies.