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Alcoholic drinks from Douro Demarcated Region, Portugal

Port (Porto)vinho do Porto

Port is a fortified wine from the Douro valley in Portugal. The grapes ferment on their skins for about two days, then grape spirit of about 77 % is added, which stops the yeast and leaves the wine sweet. The finished wine holds 19–22 % alcohol and is aged in wood, tank or bottle.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks2 days – 3 daysPDO Porto (PDO-PT-A1540)Family: Red wine

Recipe

Port (Porto), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe IVDP harvest rules allow 65 to 120 L of certified wine spirit for every 550 L of Port made; the rest of the 550 L is fermenting must.
Fermenting grape must from the DouroThe must's natural potential alcohol must average at least 11 % vol[ivdp-spec]
Certified wine spirit (aguardente vínica), 77.0 ± 0.5 % vol (76.5–77.5 % vol)65–120 LThe amount for each harvest is set every year in the harvest notice[ivdp-vindima][ivdp-aguardente]
Starterspontaneous (native yeasts)

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 days – 3 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Ripe grapes are picked on the Douro terraces

Step 1 of 5
Harvest grapes in the Douro Demarcated Region
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Saccharomyces
Hanseniaspora uvarum
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Output: ripe grapes.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Port is a fortified wine from the Douro valley in Portugal. The grapes ferment on their skins for about two days, then grape spirit of about 77 % is added, which stops the yeast and leaves the wine sweet. The finished wine holds 19–22 % alcohol and is aged in wood, tank or bottle. Made in 5 steps over 2 days – 3 days. The longest step, ferment on the skins until about half the sugar is gone, takes 2–3 days (Warre's 2026) and runs at 17–18 °C (Ribeiro S.G 2023). Native non-Saccharomyces yeasts of spontaneously fermenting Port must, mainly Hanseniaspora uvarum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which in wine fermentation in general gradually replaces the non-Saccharomyces yeasts as the ethanol rises do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 daysReported[warre][ribeiro2023]Ferment on the skins until about half the sugar is gone
Temperature17–18 °CReported[ribeiro2023]Ferment on the skins until about half the sugar is gone

What makes this one different

Unlike table wine, Port's fermentation is cut short by adding strong grape spirit, so about half the grape sugar stays in the wine. The spirit itself is regulated, at 77 % vol and between 65 and 120 L for every 550 L of wine.

Related ferments

Variants

  • RubyShort ageing in tank.
  • Tawny and colheitaLong oxidative ageing in wood; a colheita comes from one harvest year.
  • Vintage, LBV and crustedVintage and LBV come from a single harvest; crusted is a blend of years that forms a deposit in the bottle.
  • White and rosé PortMade from white grapes, or with a short skin contact for rosé.

Safety

The wine spirit used must meet IVDP limits, including methanol at no more than 100 mg per 100 cm³ of pure alcohol. Red Port may hold at most 150 mg/L of sulphur dioxide and white Port 160 mg/L.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

In 1678 two representatives of a Liverpool wine merchant visited the Abbot of Lamego, bought his fortified wine and shipped it to England. Port became very popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703 let merchants import it at a low duty. In 1756 the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro was founded to guarantee the quality of the wine and a fair price.

  1. [ivdp-spec] Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho 2011, Porto PDO technical file and single document (PDO-PT-A1540), Ares(2011)1406798, eAmbrosia registerspec
  2. [ivdp-aguardente] IVDP 2010, Regulamento n.º 84/2010 on wine spirit for the Porto and Moscatel do Douro designations, Diário da República 2.ª série n.º 26, 8 February 2010, Annex Igov
  3. [ivdp-vindima] IVDP, Regulamento de Comunicado de Vindima na Região Demarcada do Douro (multi-year harvest rules), article 4gov
  4. [mateus2020] Mateus D., Sousa S., Coimbra C., Rogerson F.S., Simões J. 2020, Identification and characterization of non-Saccharomyces species isolated from Port wine spontaneous fermentations, Foods 9(2):120paper
  5. [ribeiro2023] Ribeiro S.G., Martins C., Tavares T., Rudnitskaya A., Alves F., Rocha S.M. 2023, Volatile composition of fortification grape spirit and Port wine, where do we stand?, Foods 12(12):2432paper
  6. [warre] Warre's, Winemaking (Port house web page), read 2026-10web
  7. [WP:Port wine] Wikipedia, Port wine (outline only)wiki