Step into Port
You’d think that in today’s world of technology and mechanization there’s no need for wineries to employ people to pick grapes and then stomp them to release the juice from the skins and seeds like they do at Quinta de Valbom.
But in the steep sided river valleys in Portugal’s northern Douro region, where electricity was uncommon in the remote wineries until the 1980s, the grapes that go into the finest wines and ports are picked by hand and trodden by foot, making the wines both handmade and foot-made even today at the best wineries including Quinta de Valbom.
The view of the Duoro river and winery Quinta de Valbom, as seen from above their steep hillside vineyards.
Why do they foot stomp instead of using a machine at Quinta de Valbom?
Feet are a lot more gentle and pliable than stiff stainless steel machinery. Soft, bendable, flexible and all natural, feet make the ideal tool to crush the berries but not the bitter tannic seeds, and this gets the fermentation going.
In the steep slopes and hillsides of the Douro, where Quinta de Valbom is located, an area so spectacular that in 2001 the Douro was made a Unesco World Heritage site, the tradition of foot trodding apparently started because that challenging terrain made it difficult to rush the recently harvested grapes to the wine making facility. When they noticed that fermentation was starting naturally, they adapted with foot trodden fermentation.
And the wines from the Douro that are foot stomped are better also, according to numerous blind tasting exercises.
If you think about it, when feet stomp the grapes, each foot must go up in order to go back down. Imagine you’re walking in thigh deep water, lifting your legs up and down. Except instead of water, it’s grapes in the process of separating the juice from the seeds and the skins, and this almost bicycle motion adds oxygen into the mix. That oxygen seems to play an important role in producing a high quality dry red wine or Port from grapes in the Douro. Of course, mechanical feet are available, but they just don’t seem to produce the same quality of wine as the human stomped wines.
Perhaps the wine is also better because it is infused with the party atmosphere in the winery where large crews enjoy loud music as they work in unison, supporting each other with their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders or waists as they tromp on the grapes in the large traditional lagares made of granite. These wide, open-top vats or troughs allow exposure to oxygen, and there is plenty of room for the energetic stomping which works the skins better.
Some suggest that it is the warmth of the human contact that makes the difference. After all, humans are much warmer than machines! This may aid in the extraction of the deep intense color and flavors that make the wines from the Douro so powerful and popular.
Foot trodden or not, we humans have been making wine in the Douro since the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, according to archeological evidence, and the earliest known mention of "Port wine" dates from 1675. The Methuen Treaty between Portugal and England in 1703 established British Port lodges in Porto with Port wine the primary product of the region.
As a valuable commodity, in 1756, a royal Portuguese charter defined the production region for Port wine making it the world's first wine region to have a formal demarcation. While those vineyards were in the western area, over time vineyards have progressed east.
What exactly is Port?
Basically, Port is a wine made from grapes grown in the Douro region of northern Portugal that has had fermentation arrested by the addition of a distilled spirit which typically leaves behind sugars and so it is generally sweet and fruity on the palate. Being fortified also allowed the wine to be shipped from Portugal to England starting in 1678; when England was at war with France a few years later, and French wine became less attainable, the sweet and smooth Port became very popular with the English. This also helps explain why so many Ports have English names: the English were that much involved with the trade.
While Portugal has over 2000 indigenous varieties of grapes, and over 100 varieties of grapes are grown in the Douro that can be used to make red port, most Ports include one or more of these five varieties: Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Francesa, and Touriga Nacional. This last one is the most well-known and desired but also the most difficult to grow and only giving a small yield.
What types of Ports are there?
These steep vineyards of Quinta de Valbom in Portugal create a delicious and complex wines like this LBV Port and dry red reserve wine.
Port comes in several styles, ruby, tawny, vintage and late bottled vintage, and as well as in all three colors, red, white, and rose:
Ruby: Bottled the soonest out of all ports, it is the brightest and fruitiest. After fermentation the wine is aged in cement or steel and blended with other vintages to match the house style. Most affordable and easiest to attain.
Tawny: Aged in barrels over a number of years, the wine oxidizes and turns from red to "tawny" with the older vintages more brown than red.
Vintage: Based on growing conditions, some years are designated as ‘worthy’ of making Vintage Port. Grapes are aged in oak or steel for 2 years and then they are bottled and aged in cellar.
Late Bottled Vintage: Sometimes a winemaker will decide to age a Vintage Port for longer before bottling, hence the category Late Bottled Vintage or LBV. For example, Quinta de Valbom LBV Port is aged for 4 years before bottling. What results is a port that is great for drinking earlier and, thanks to its rich structure and tannins, it is also great for aging. Reports from a 1990 tasting of an 1815 Port indicate it showed well.
If you're new to port, you should know that like any wine, you should store it in a cool, dark, but not cold place, and to keep it on its side to keep the cork damp to make it last longer. Exposing the wine to light and heat will cause it to deteriorate. Serve it in a small Bordeaux shaped glass at cellar temperatures around 60 degrees. Once it's open, Port will last longer than wine, but it will be best if enjoyed within a few weeks, and be sure to keep it in a cool, dark place with a stable temperature.
Wait, Port is made as a Dry Red Wine too?
Well not ‘officially’. Port is steeped in tradition and rules whereby a dry red wine made from a Port ‘designated’ vineyard cannot be labeled as Port. However, ‘Port made as a dry red wine’ has always been produced in the region, but it didn’t get past the locals until just recently! Take for example Quinta de Valbom Red Reserve which takes on many aspects of Port, from the 90 year old field blend vineyards with up to 20 varieties from which it is made, to foot trodden fermentation which allows for increased extraction and tannins. Hence why this 2013 vintage was just recently released. This is not a wine to drink while young!
Quinta de Valbom Winemaker is Considered the Best in Portugal
Head of Winemaking at Quinta de Valbom, Luis Duarte began making wine over 30 years ago. During his career, he has earned many accolades including Best Winemaker in Portugal three times in 1997, 2007, and 2014. In 2015 the President of Portugal, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, honored Luis with the Order of Business Merit, in the Agricultural Merit class, and a German magazine named Luis as the Best Winemaker in the World.
While it may cost more to create a wine that’s foot trodden by humans rather than by machine, in the end, wine is an affordable luxury, and every detail, from the beauty of the label, to the presentation in the box, to the color of the wine in the glass, all adds up to an exceptional experience.
Taste the Wines of the Duoro River Valley in Portugal from Quinta de Valbom
2013 Quinta De Valbom Douro D.O.C. Red Field Blend
These 100 year old grapes usually land in a Port wine. A field blend of a dozen grapes that ripen at different times, it has its challenges-- and its rewards.
While eight years old, this wine is still very lively and benefits from being opened early. Consider decanting it! The color is a dense dark, ruby, and on the nose, a rich spicy decadence with cherry, cherry tobacco, Morrocan spice, prune, plum, and Mediterranean herbs. The palate delivers on the promise of cherry and also offers black pepper, red chili pepper, jalapeno jelly, tart red fruit cranberry raspberry, and cherry snuff with a beautiful balance between leather, tobacco and fruit on the palate and a leathery texture.
With a riff on a traditional pork and mussel dish, the wine loves the seasoning and the spices. It is all about the herbs in the wine and the herbs of the foods. The wine with all of the different spices and herbs shines.
2012 - Quinta de Valbom - Late Bottled Vintage Port
Bottled in 2016
The super rich dark dense wine reminds of Mulberry fruit, and it brings mulberry on the nose as well along with sarsaparilla, violets, patchouli and plum. On the palate, plum, prune, toasted oak, tang, leathery, textural, rich and layered. Black pepper, cloves cinnamon and baking spices. This is chewy and rich.
The gallette was very tart, which made the wine shine. With a bit of sweet cream the port becomes creamy itself. The dessert was a bit too tart for most to handle (raspberries are tart) but Sue suggested that a bit of honey could be drizzled across the top to enhance it. Even more, she has a chocolate, port, balsamic reduction, that a friend of her family made that would be very nice on the dessert
Many people think of Port as a dessert wine, and a dessert wine only. Granted, it is fabulous at the end of a meal with a Belgian chocolate, a cheese platter with stilton, drizzled on ice cream, or perhaps just with an ice cube on a warm summer evening. With its rich and nuanced complexity, Port brings a meditative moment.
But less well known is how port can be used in dishes for the table or dishes at the table. A LBV Port like Quinta de Valbom can be delicious with a rib eye steak with blue cheese or serve it with Beef Wellington.
