Portuguese Wine
Although Portuguese table wine has a lesser reputation than the French or Italians, Portugal is nonetheless one of the greatest wine producers in the world, specialising in the fortified wines of Port and Madeira.
The best table wines are produced in the north of the country around the River Douro and you will find a number of good full bodied reds such as the Quinta do Crasto and Redoma originate from this region and a few good white wines from south of the river. The world famous Mateus Rose comes from the coastal region of Bairrada but the carbonated medium sweet flavour is not rated highly by wine connoisseurs. From north of the River Douro which reaches the sea in Porto, is the Vinho Verde region that produces both red and white wine although modern production techniques may spoil the drinking experience to purists. The slight fizz originally created through secondary fermentation is now often added by way of injected carbon dioxide but you could have some fun using the old methods of trial and error to find your favourite bottle from the region.
Port is a red wine fortified with brandy that was originally added to provide a preservative function to the red wine whilst being delivered over extended sea journeys. The affect of adding brandy to the red wine is to kill the yeast and so stop the fermentation process but the eventual alcoholic content is still higher at around 20%, compared to an average bottle of red wine at around 12%. It is possible to buy Port as either a red or a white variety although the former is far more abundant.
Madeira is produced in the island of the same name that lies to the west of Morocco and it has similar characteristics to Port. The fermentation process is stopped in a similar way but the wine is heated to around 50 Celsius and then cooled very slowly over a period of months. The result is a smooth and long lived fortified wine of alcoholic content of approximately 20%.
