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. Here are two more things I think are worth sharing. Facts 1-4 were published yesterday and the day before. And tomorrow, there will be two more!
5. Not only does port have the oldest demarcated area of origin, it is also one of the most regulated wines in the world. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP) is controlling the quality of the wines rigorously. A producer that intends to put a port on the market, has to deliver a sample of the wine to the IVDP for testing. Human tasters, seven in total, work year round to taste the wines and to check if they conform to the standards laid down by the Institute. Chemical tests are also performed: checking for simple things like alcohol percentage, residual sugar and acidity. Moreover, further tests required for food safety are carried out, and technology is available to do even more elaborate analysis if necessary. When a wine finally has passed all the tests, the producer must use the guarantee seal of the IVDP on the bottles. In this way, the IVDP tries to safeguard the quality of port all over the world.
6. Another thing controlled by the IVDP is the amount of grapes per vineyard that a producer is allowed to use for making port. Each vineyard in the Douro is graded in one of 8 categories (A – H); categories A to F are allowed for making port, the other categories can only be used in table wine. Within the categories A to F, for each category the amount of grapes that is allowed to be used for port is laid down. The higher the grade (A is the highest) the more grapes are allowed to be used for port. Excess grapes from that vineyard have to go into table wine.
