Port Wine Port is one of the great classic European wines and its history is a long and fascinating one. February 23, 2014

Thank You Silver Coast

AWS and Chapter News  NC Newsletter issued for February  Update on Conference Planning  Next Glass….Chemistry for Wine Lovers  AWS news issued.

Future Chapter Events  Mar 23 rd Wines from Austria and Germany  Apr 27 th New York Finger Lakes Wines  May 3 rd Wine Fest  May 25 th Next Glass  June 22 nd Summer Wines  July No Meeting  Aug 24 th National Wine Tasting Project  Sept 28 th TBD  Oct 26 th TBD (May be an issue for Silver Coast)  Nov No Meeting

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Recycle Your Wine Corks…

Sherry  True sherry is only made in 3 Andalusian town in Spain Jerez, Puerto De Sanata Maria and Sanlucar de Barrameda  All Sherries are white wines that have undergone deliberate, long- term oxidation which yields two basic types…. Fino (fine) and Olorosa (fragrant) and have higher alcohol.  All Sherries, dry or sweet, are fermented to dryness before the addition of alcohol. Sweet Sherries have sweet wine added later.  Solera System barrel aging/blending system involving 5 to 15 barrels.

Port (porto) Origins of Port are tied to the endless wars between Britain and France (16 th to 19 th centuries). British merchants setup shop in Oporto The wine very good so the merchants took control and built an industry…. Dow, Graham’s Harris, Taylor Fladgate, Warre’s… Like many of the world’s fine wines, Port requires a lifetime of study (and drinking).

Rabelos, a type of boat traditionally used to transport barrels of port down the River Douro for storage and aging.

Port (porto)  Port is a red wine whose fermentation has been deliberately interrupted with the addition of brandy to the must.  The addition of brandy not only fortifies the wine, raising alcohol to 20%, but it also insures that the wine remains sweet.  Port is made into 10 distinct styles which vary by how long the wine is aged in barrels, whether filtered or not, how long it will be bottle aged, whether it is a blend from different years or a single vintage, where in the Douro region the grapes are grown.

Distinct Styles  Ruby Ports are relatively simple young wines….blends from different years that have been aged 2-3 years in barrels.  Tawny Ports two very different basic varieties: young tawny and aged tawny Ports.  young tawnies are insignificant wines made from not great grapes  Aged tawnies are by contrasted extremely impressive. The label indicates how long the wine has barrel aged 10, 20, 30 or 40 years  Vintage Ports since most ports are blends a vintage port requires all the grapes to come from the same harvest. The decision to declare a vintage must include the Port Wine Institute. They see a max of 2.5 years of barrel aging, before bottling, and require 10 to 40 years of aging. They are not filtered and require decanting.  Late Bottled Vintage Ports (LBV) was wine that was destined for vintage bottling, but for lack of demand was left in the barrel 4-6 yrs. They can be filtered or not.  Colheita is a tawny port from a vintage year.

Happy Birthday John and Pat Barnes