Before Meals and as an Aperitif, Port Stays Popular in New Niches

The old days of leisurely sipping a glass of Port after a meal may be ending, but other traditions have emerged to keep the drink popular.

The classic red tawny or ruby Port is being sipped increasingly before a meal, sometimes with ice or lemon. Dry white Port is also catching on as an aperitif, according to producers and the Port Wine Institute.

Portugal last year produced 17 million gallons of the fortified wine, an increase of about 10% since 1985. About 90%--worth $185 million--was exported, mainly to France, Britain, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Americans are also developing a taste for Port. The United States is the fastest-growing market, importing 215,000 gallons last year, three times the 1982 level.

Classic Port is made from grapes from the Douro River valley in the north of Portugal. Like traditional Champagne or Sherry, it is produced in a regiao demarcada, meaning only wine from this region can be called “Port” in the classic sense. The wine is strictly controlled for quality by the Port Wine Institute.

Port wine, named after this town, was invented by the English in the 1600s and came as a result of the thriving trade of English wool for Portuguese wines.

“The English mainly imported young, ‘green’ wines, and these would not last the long sea voyages,” said a member of the institute. “They needed a stronger alcohol content and began fortifying wines; that’s how Port was created.”

Grapes are still crushed in the Douro valley by workers’ feet. But trucks and trains now transport the grapes from the interior to the wine cellars of Oporto, replacing the special ships, barcos rabelos, that traditionally carried the juice.

Hundreds of these flat-bottomed boats with a long rudder and large sail used to glide along the Douro River. Now just a few remain, anchored outside the wine cellars with sails bearing the name of one of the 25 or so Portuguese manufacturers.

Port is made in wine cellars on the riverfront in Oporto. These “lodges,” some of them centuries old, are filled with the sweet, rich smell of Port maturing in oak casks that can be up to 21 feet tall.

The drink’s special flavor comes from brandy, which is added to halt fermentation.

Vintage Port is wine of a particularly good year (only three years in a decade can be vintage) and is aged two years in oak casks before bottling. Because it is not treated, it continues to age in the bottle.

Recent vintage years were 1960, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1975, 1977, 1980 and 1982.

Other Port is aged for at least three years and is sterilized to stabilize the flavor. It is blended in varied ways, yielding different quality and tastes.

Ruby Port is three to five years old, while tawny is five to nine. Port more than 10 years old is called “dated” and has more of a musky, woody taste because it stays so long in oak barrels.

Traditional buyers of Port are also changing. The French overtook the British about 15 years ago as the main importer. Now Luxembourg and Belgium together consume more Port than the English, according to the institute.

Despite changing traditions and markets, sales of Port in 1986 were up 35% over a decade ago. Producers are confident that demand will continue strong and that non-traditional Port drinking, such as white Port, will grow more popular.

Paulo Correia Alves, a professional taster at the Calem family wine cellars, lamented: “People don’t take the time anymore to really enjoy Port. They are too busy.”

But, he added, as he held up a glass of golden white Port: “This is where we should concentrate our efforts in the future. This makes a wonderful aperitif, much better than what most people drink.”