Vintage Port is a high quality, fortified wine produced in the Douro region of Portugal that is considered to be of the highest quality and produced only when declared, two years after harvest, that the quality merits “vintage” designation. By comparison Maury is a Grenache based Vin Dou Naturel of Southwest France in the Roussillon area that is also a fortified wine style. Fermentation is the chemical process of yeast and sugar reacting to create alcohol, carbon dioxide and heat used in the production of wine and other alcohol beverages. In both cases, the sugar is contained in the grape and the yeast are ambient, native yeasts present on the bloom of the grape. Fortification is the process of adding a high alcohol by volume spirit to a base wine during or after fermentation is complete to increase the alcohol levels, stop fermentation for those cases when a wine is fortified during fermentation and timed when the residual sugars (the remaining sugar in the must) is at the desired levels. Vintage port is the highest quality and fermentation starts in the processing system used. For many high-quality vintage ports, the traditional lagares system, a 18 inch deep concrete rectangle in which workers crush the grapes with their feet, is used to crush the grapes and the fermentation will begin with the ambient yeasts at temperatures of 28-32 degrees, ideal to create a rate of fermentation that allows for adequate extraction of color, flavors and tannins (tannins in particular are more soluble in alcohol rich medium). Extraction is very important for Vintage ports since they are designed to age for extended periods (up to decades) and the extraction helps create strong structure, color stability from the binding of color and tannin compounds as well as the high alcohol and good acid structure in a vintage port). When the fermentation reaches a point of 5-7 percent alcohol, the winemaker will decide to drain the fermenting wine for fortification, taking into account the time of drainage. Fermentation will continue until the fortification occurs, continuing to consume sugars. The winemaker looks to maintain a residual sugar level of 100-120 g/L for a vintage port and must calculate the entire process so that the wine is fortified when these sugar levels are present. The fortification of Port is done with 77% alcohol by volume spirit and is added to achieve a total alcohol level of 18-20% abv. With the relatively low 77% abv of the spirit (compared to 96% for the Maury wine and most other categories of fortified wines) the final wine will contain 20-25% of spirit in its final volume. For Vintage port, the highest quality spirit will be used adding to price and with winemaker judgement regarding its overall spirit character within the wine. Some styles may prefer more character while others may choose a more neutral spirit to allow more primary flavors to show through. Maury ports are red VDN’s made in a range of styles (e.g., aging terms for unaged, some aging and extended aging including Rimage, Hors d’Age and Rancio) that undergo similar processes for fermentation and fortification which is limited in this question. Fermentation is done typically in a more protective environment using stainless steel with temperature control at temperatures in a similar range to Port wines, 28 degrees in this case. Fermentation is commonly done on the skins to increase extraction of color, flavor and tannin. Similar to port this is important for wines intended for extended aging. Maceration (contact and cap management to keep the cap wet and integrated) will continue during fermentation for a few weeks. For Maury wines, fortification timing is similar in that it is done during fermentation. In the case of Maury, a 96% fortification spirit is added when the residual sugars are in the 45 g/l range up to 100 to 120 g/l, depending on style and winemaker intent. The fortification is added when the base wine reaches 5-8 % abv and the wine is fortified to 15-18% abv. With the higher abv of the spirit, less overall spirit is present by volume in the final wine (if 77% is added, more is required to reach the 15-18% abv than with the 96% spirit), being about 5-10% of the total volume and having less influence in the final wine style and price (less spirit is less price) In both wines the fortification timing results in sweet style fortified wines.
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Wine Up and DownDennis Smith, IWP, AWE, WSET 3, NPWE Archives
October 2021
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