Everyone knows port, right? Or at least, knows about port. Port comes from Portugal, from the city of (O)porto. As simple as that. But of course that is not the whole story. There is so much more to learn about this great and historic wine. Especially after a visit to the city the wine takes its name from and the area where it is produced, you come back with loads of new knowledge. The next five days, each day I will publish two facts I think are worth sharing.
1. Port has been around for some time now. Somewhere at the end of the 17th century, it was discovered that adding brandy to strong red wines resulted in a powerful, sweet wine. People loved it, in England and the North of Europe, and adding aguardente during fermentation is the main defining characteristic of this type of wine since the late 18th and especially the 19th century. Port nowadays has an alcohol percentage of around 19%.
2. But port is not made in Porto! The grapes grow further upstream along the river Douro, which empties in the sea just a bit further downstream of the city of Porto. Along the banks of the Douro there are vineyards almost all the way to the Spanish border. So port takes its name from the sea port is was exported from, called Porto (a lot of port there… ;-)). Besides port, the Douro also produces table wines.
Tomorrow, more facts on port!