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Recently I was shopping for wine for dinner when I came across a bottle labeled “port”. Without paying attention, I immediately passed by, but something made me return. Price. The bottle cost more than 500 rubles.
This is strange for me, because I remember from my turbulent youth that Port 777 was cheap and tasteless. Although strong. At that time, alcoholic beverages were produced for the broad masses, under the name of port wine, which in fact was not. What is real and not real, I will explain in a simple and understandable language.
What is port wine
Initially, the appearance of this drink, which has become popular all over the world, happened in Portugal. Exactly – it happened, because it happened by the will of circumstances. When transporting wine to other countries, it deteriorated, and then alcohol was added to barrels during transportation. And so it turned out the wine from Porto – port wine.
Historical fact: port appeared about three hundred years ago.
It should be noted that not every fortified wine should be attributed specifically to port wine. In world practice, it is generally believed that this should be a product created directly in Portugal using a certain technology.
Moreover, its production should be located in a specific place, namely, in the north-east of the country in the Douro River valley. And nothing else.
Manufacturing principle
There are many nuances in the proprietary recipe for creating port wine. The production method can be traditional, or modern, technological. Nevertheless, even at the newest enterprises, centuries of experience form the basis of the process.
Traditionally, grapes are crushed with their feet in granite vats (now people’s feet have been replaced with presses). After two or three days from the start of fermentation, the process is stopped by adding grape alcohol with a strength of 77%. After that, the already fixed wine is placed in oak barrels to rest. Its exposure is from 3 to 6 years. The next step is bottling.
Interesting: the most elite varieties of this wine can be aged in oak barrels for up to 40 years.
The maturation of high-quality port wine can also occur in bottles, after three years of aging in barrels. They are placed for this purpose in specialized cellars. This wine is softer and more subtle.
Port is made from red and white grapes. According to the sugar content is classified into:
- sweet;
- semi-dry;
- dry.
Fortress – 19 – 20%. A distinctive feature is the variety and nobility of taste.
Was the real Soviet port wine
In the Soviet Union, most of the fortified wines sold in stores were called port wine. Of the entire assortment, for example, drinks produced by the Massandra Association and the Institute of Viticulture and Wine Magarach were of high quality.
It was absolutely impossible to buy such vintage fortified wines in an ordinary grocery store. They just didn’t exist. But there were more than enough offers to purchase low-grade strong wine. It is a mistake to call such products port wine.
Attention! The technology for the production of cheap port wine was extremely simple: wine material was taken, ordinary alcohol and sugar were added to it. The resulting product under the brand name “Port” was bottled in bottles of 0,7 and 0,8 liters.
There was not much real Soviet port wine in the USSR. But he was of excellent quality. For the most part, the counters of the wine departments were filled with surrogates. Some good vintage ports produced at that time can be noted:
- Livadia, South Coast Red Port (Massandra, Crimea);
- Kardanakhi (Georgia);
- Akstafa (Azerbaijan);
- “Aygeshat”, “Getashen” (Armenia);
- “Derbent”, “Kizlyar” (Dagestan)
The difference between Soviet port and modern
According to modern regulations, Soviet cheap ports should be called wine drinks. Similar products are still produced and sold. But I advise you to refrain from using it. It has nothing to do with real port wine.
Good fortified wines in modern Russia are produced by the following producers:
- Massandra;
- “Koktebel”;
- “Sunny Valley”;
- Inkerman factory of vintage wines.
This production is created without violation of technology. Her exposure is 3 – 4 years. Fortress 17 – 18,5%.
Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health. Take care of yourself!
At that time, I bought port wine in the store. It was Massandra red. It turned out to be a very tasty wine. Now sometimes I will indulge myself with this strong, fragrant drink. What is your relationship with port wine? Do you remember the taste of Soviet port wine?