The Port Wine

16 Aug, 2016, By Sílvia

Exclusively from the Douro region but drunk all around the World, the Port wine can be served in a million different ways. Ruby, Tawny, White and even Rosé, plain or in a cocktail, have it your way. Personally, I prefer drinking a good old LBV Ruby (preferably) with a good friend and accompanied with cheese.

Port wine is one of my town’s trademarks – and probably the best well known – and everybody takes great pride in it. The wine itself seems to be have been born in a similar way of Porto: antique, bourgeois, tasteful, thick and beautiful.

The real secret of Port wine is the somehow early fermentation halt, caused by the addition of distilled spirits to the wine, thus preventing all the wine’s sugar from turning into alcohol. This gives the Port wine that special sweetness it’s famous for. Well, at least that’s what the scientists say…

I believe that all the charming characteristics people really love about the Port wine come from the land where it grows, and the people that produces it. All that sun scorched dust, the heavenly raindrops, the blood, sweat and tears (of pain and joy) involved in all the production stages of this wine are the true secrets behind this magnificent wine all the Portuguese are so proud of.

The Douro River plays a special and crucial part in this poetic production process: first it soothes the grapes raging thirst, then fills them up, making them juicy, round and shiny, and then finally drives the wine downstream to the cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia (well, at least it used to be like this back in the days), where it will get old, flavourful, and mature.

And it’s here, next to this silvery river, with friends and family, while admiring the sunset, when the wine tastes its best.