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Sousa's Discount Liquors & Portuguese Specialties |
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Madeira And Ports In the 15th Century, wayward Portuguese sailors lost in the Atlantic
literally bumped into a large, heavily tree-covered island that they simply
named "wood", in Portuguese "Madeira." When this island was colonized, a
million trees were burned to clear the land for vineyards, but because the
island is literally a dormant volcano, the angled and terraced slopes produced a
poor quality wine by mainland standards. One day, some bright hero,
forever anonymous, added brandy to fortify the wine so it could be shipped and
sold on the mainland...and viola...the birth of Madeira wine, called Malmsey by
the British, who developed a real passion for it over time. So if adding brandy to flabby local wines helped on Madeira, could it help on the mainland too? You bet! And so was born Port wine from the area of Oporto in the Douro River Valley in the northern third of Portugal. Madeira is made from four varieties of grape: Sercial (dry), Boal (sweet
golden), Verdelho (medium gold) and Malvasia (chestnut and very sweet).
Whatever Madeira you buy is created from a single one of these varieties, then
the wine is aged in the cask 20 years and in the bottle for two years.
Extra Reserve has a few more qualifications and 15 years in the cask. In the winemaking process, the grape juice ferments, then either sugar cane or brandy is added to the juice. Next, the mixture is heated or "cooked" (called estufagem in Portuguese). Madeira (Malmsey)_ wine may only be manufactured on the island itself, nowhere else. Port is made using the same principles, but the number of grape varieties that may be used runs to forty in type. As much as 20% alcohol is added to the grape juice which is sent from the vineyards by barge from the valleys east of the city o Porto. Porto lies just across the river from the suburb Vila Nove de Gaia. it is in this little area that all these different barrels of port are blended by a small army of experts. The blenders create the enormous variety of port that is available in the market place. Remember we spoke of the British? The are still the primary consumers of the world's port, although the beverage has made it around the world and has a following the U.S. as well. Ironically, the Portuguese themselves are not really port drinkers. We have made just a few recommendations of ports below to give you an idea of some of the better offerings available today. There are many more. Price differences are due to the age of the selection and the type of grape used and whether there is a specific vintage on the label. There is something for every taste and pocketbook Taylor Fladgate 20 Year Old Port, 20% - $49.99 Taylor Fladgate 1997, 20% - $79.99 Porto Souza 30 Year, 20% - $99.99 If you don't have time for a quick trip to Portugal, visit Sousa's Discount Liquors for wines and other Portuguese specialties. Prices Subject To Change |
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