Fortified Wine - PORT
The currency of the old saw "The best wine is the wine you like
best", has just about run out. When we first heard it from Mr Tom
Seabrook, of Melbourne, about 25 years ago, it was the comment of a then
mature man, very, very wise in wine lore, to a brash young fellow
sounding off on a subject about which he knew nothing. We know now, 25
years later, that what Mr Seabrook meant was "When you are experienced
and your palate is educated, you will know what the best wines are and
will like them". The Australian port that we like best, comes from the Rutherglen
district, in Northern Victoria, and it is probably not an accident that
it comes closest of the Australian ports, in our experience, to the
ports of the Portuguese Duoro. The different methods of making many
fortified wines are dealt with in another part of this book, but it is
appropriate to make these comments here for they give point to the
process of fortifying a wine, and the variations that may be introduced
in these processes to produce wines of varying qualities.
Good Australian ports are made from the red wine grapes, Shiraz, mataro,
malbec, grenache, and a very little by Brother Hanlon, at the Jesuit
Sevenhill, in South Australia, from the rare cabernet sauvignon of which
he has enough and to spare—pressed and fermented in their skins until
their sugar is reduced from a content of about l4deg Baume to about 6 to
8deg. The result is a well made but over-sweet wine; nonetheless it is
the winemaker's judgment of the taste of his market. One winemaker in
Northern Victoria, and there may be others, allows his fermentation to
proceed until the wine contains not more than 4deg Baume of sugar.
Baume is a word that occurs frequently in wine literature. Again quoting
Walter James' WINE IN AUSTRALIA, Baume is "The most widely used
hydrometer in wine making. Zero is the point to which it sinks when
floating in plain water, and 15 degrees the point to which it sinks in a
solution of 15 parts by weight of salt in 85 parts of water. This
graduation is arbitrary and the Baume hydrometer is in use among
winemakers only because degrees Baume in unfermented grape juice
approximately indicate the percentage of alcohol obtainable in a
complete fermentation. Each Baume degree fermented yields one percent
alcohol by volume or 1.75 proof. This however is only rule-of-thumb,
applying to average cellar conditions with large open fermentation
tanks.
Two percent proof spirit has been obtained in Australia by testing
yeasts working in hogsheads."
At 4deg of sugar in the fermenting red wine, alcohol is added to bring
the strength of the wine to between 32 and 34 proof. The amount added is
critical. If it is too little there is a risk that the unfermented
residual sugar left in the wine may again begin to ferment at some stage
in the maturation of the wine if, by chance, a very strong yeast happens
to find its way into the cask. If too much is added it merely increases
alcoholic strength for no good purpose, and wastes money, for spirit is
excisable and therefore expensive. If a secondary fermentation starts up
in the maturing wine, particularly when it is in the bottle, the wine
may be ruined.
But the important thing, the thing that makes one maker's port a very
good port, is the care and attention paid to the quality of grape spirit
used. This, combined with the relative dryness of the base wine at 4deg
Baume, compared with 6 to 8deg of most winemakers, produces a port of
dryness and flavor nearest, to our palate, to the famous ports of the
Duoro, of Portugal.
Three kinds of Australian port are available from one's wine merchant;
vintage port, tawny port and ruby port. Vintage port is the wine of one
year, made at vintage from sound fruit, preferably not exceeding a sugar
content of l4deg Baume and fortified by a spirit of brandy character. It
should spend about two years in wooden casks, during which it should be
racked two or three times, then bottled, using good long corks (of size
and quality to be found in the best dry wine bottles, and not the little
plastic-topped flange corks). It is surprising how drinkable such a well
made port will be after a year in bottle. It is even more surprising how
much better it will be as the years go by.
Tawny port, as its name implies, is usually lighter in color, a rich
brown. Tawny ports are matured in the cask and are finished wines when
put into bottle.
 Ruby ports are tawny ports to which young wine has been added. They are
excellent for making trifle and for giving to Aunt Alice, with a
biscuit, when she comes to visit.
Do not despise port because you have discovered a taste for dry wines,
or because you associate this fortified wine with "plonkos" or the old
wine saloons of ill-repute. It is a noble drink and there are occasions
at table when it is the perfect accompaniment. (Of this, more in a later
part of this book.) But do not be like some of our English Victorian
ancestors who scorned the taste of their sons for the effeminate
burgundies and clarets of France in preference to good "English" port. |
