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Port is a fortified wine from the Douro Valley, made by stopping fermentation with grape spirit
Port is a Portuguese fortified wine made in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal, usually sweet and red, though dry, semi-dry and white versions exist. Its character comes from a deliberate interruption: winemakers halt fermentation early by adding a neutral grape spirit. This leaves sugar in the wine and raises the alcohol to roughly 19 to 22 percent by volume. The main red styles are Ruby, which are young and fruity, and Tawny, which age in barrel for years and are labelled by age in ten-year steps up to 50. Colheitas are tawnies from a single harvest year. In the European Union and the United States, only wine from Portugal may be labelled port.
Fermentation is driven by yeast converting grape sugar into alcohol. Adding a neutral grape spirit raises the alcohol level enough to kill the yeast, so sugar that was never fermented stays in the wine. The result is sweet, strong and rich, and the timing of the addition determines how sweet the finished wine is.
Port shows how a single winemaking decision, stopping fermentation with spirit, can create an entire family of wines with very different styles. Its protected name, which only Portuguese wine may use, is a legal recognition of its regional identity.
Fortifying wine with spirit was a practical way to keep it stable on long sea voyages, and similar fortified wines such as sherry and Madeira developed along the same logic. Port's trade was shaped by British merchants who settled in Porto from the 1700s and built much of its export business.
The wine is named after Porto, the city from which it has long been shipped, even though it is made upriver in the Douro Valley.
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