Producers throughout Northern
Portugal have started speculating, the Ideal Wine Company recently learned,
that 2015 could be a pretty amazing year for port wine.
What is port?
Port is a fortified wine that’s
produced in the Douro Valley region of Northern Portugal. It’s made with a
variety of grapes traditionally grown in the Iberian Peninsula including Touriga
Francesa, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca. Port is a
protected product under the European Union Protected Designation of Origin
guidelines, meaning that only vintages that are made in a specific way are
allowed to use the label ‘port.’
As with other fortified wines,
port is sweeter, heavier, richer and more alcoholic than standard wines. If you
learn
how to prepare port, the Iberian tipple will provide you with a drinking
experience like no other. However the final quality of the drink often depends
on the vintage; if the grapes used to make the port were grown in a year that
boasted favourable weather, it’ll taste amazing!
Great year for port
It looks like we’re in for some
pretty amazing port this year. Decanter
recently reported that despite the fact that not a single grape has yet
been picked, port producers expect the 2015 vintage to be a good one, due to
the hot dry weather that hit Douro Valley this summer. The reason for this hope
was explained by the head wine maker at the Fladgate partnership, David
Guimaraens.
He compared the 2015 growing
season to 2011’s, which according to critics produced outstanding
vintages. Guimaraens said: “Conditions
are similar to 2011. Both years experienced warm dry springs and summers,
although the winter preceding 2011 was wetter. The ground water reserves this
year are fine so we are hoping for a very good harvest, although it will be
starting earlier than usual. We expect to receive the first grapes at the
Quinta da Nogueira winery during the last week of August.”
Antonio Magalhees, the head
viticulturist at Fladgate, also explained that they’ve already seen signs which
suggest that 2015 will be a great year for port. Magalhees said that “a very
good indicator of an early harvest in our vineyards is the development of
our Touriga Nacional. It is always a late developer but it has already changed
colour to a deep purple.”
Trust Taylors, Croft and Fonseca Port
Fladgate Partnership is the
company which owns Taylors, Croft and Fonseca Port. They’re famed for making
some of the best ports in the world, including the Fonseca
vintage Port sold by Ideal Wine Company. You can trust them when they say
that 2015 could be a standout year for port!
