Port tonic--great drink

[Food Inventors]

Try one before summer is over. You will love it.

In a tall glass with ice mix equal parts white port and tonic water.
garnish with a big slice of lemon.

It is also really good with soda instead of tonic if you want something less sweet.

Other good points about the drink:
White Port is usually pretty cheap (~$10/bottle)
It is lower in alcohol than Gin or Vodka so your guests won't get drunk before dinner.
Enjoy

 

[Rom]

White port? I have never heard of White port. I love port...what am i missing out on here!?!?!

I want to try that, but have never seen white port.

 

[GPSMD]

White Port Wine

White Port Wine is very good. Here, in Portugal, it wasn’t well known until 4-5 years ago.
Is softer, good to drink before dinner.

 

[QSis]

Oooo! White port! Never heard of it, but I will look for it!

Welcome to DC, GPSMD, and thanks for posting to bump up this thread!

Lee

 

[GPSMD]

Port Wine (Part 2)

Thank you.
Well, I can say some more things about Port.
But I'm not a specialist...
White Port Wine has less Alcohol than Red (Tawny ou Ruby), but that's a little difference, something like one or two degrees.
The taste is slightly different, and the color is very beautiful. Normally, we see Red Port Wine in dark bottles, but the white one is selled in green bottles, for easy identification.

Port Wine is cheap. The real Port is produced in Portugal, in the Douro region. In a portuguese home, there's always a Port bottle... Is a "must have"... and a "must drink". We can drink in formal or informal events. That's always OK because is not very alcoholic. Is quite a "conservative" drink.

The better Port is that with classification "Vintage". A Vintage Port is not so cheap. A centennial vintage could be very, very expensive. A vintage is done from "single year" grapes. (Port wine can be bottled from a mix of several years). We can have 2 or 3 vintages in 10 years, in so-called "good years".
Im my opinion, a vintage is to drink "alone", not to mix in cocktails.
But a Port Tonic, for example, is a very good cocktail, with a "not so conservative" image. In the summer, is spectacular!
Port is a sweet, good taste drink. We must drink not so warm and not so cool, but "more cool than warm", something like 10-12 ºC.

Is said that Washington and is fellows drank some Port wine, after the Declaration of Independence signature.

Port Wine's history is very interesting. I recommend to read, for example,
in Wikipedia.

"Alto Douro Vinhateiro" region (Wine-producing "High" Douro Region) is a world heritage site.

Well, I only can say: go, buy and drink.
But please confirm: "Produced and bottled in Portugal".

 

[QSis]

Does white port say exactly that on the labels?

I just came back from the package store and saw only labels with "Tawny" or "Ruby" or just "Port". The wine guy wasn't in yet, and the woman at the register isn't very bright.

I missed the part about the green bottles the first time I read the above post. So, is all white port in green bottles and ONLY white port in green bottles?

Lee

 

[Bilby]

Here's one made in Perth, West Aust.
Jane Brook Estate Wines :: Wine Information

I found it to be sweeter than the normal red ports.

 

[GPSMD]

White Port and the REAL Port

No. Is not a question of "never", "always", or "only". I'm not very sure about that, because White Port is something new for us. The few bottles that I know, normally are different from those with red port wine, in green color, maybe for marketing reasons. In Portugal, Port is bottled in dark bottles, normally black, for better preservation. White Port bottles could be not so dark, and in a different color, normally green. A trade mark of Port, normally produces Red port, the "normal" one. And you don't see the word "red": you only read tawny, ruby, that are color types. If the trade mark also produces white port, they have a different bootle. The bottle could have the same form, but the color is different.

And Bilby, excuse me, but Jane Brook Estate Wines don't produce Port, but port. Got the difference? The capital case?
Real Port is produced in Portugal. Is something registered.
That's like scotish Whisky or french Champagne.
After you taste the first time, you understand the difference.

If you want, I send you a photo with a real Port bottle.
They have a seal, from the Portuguese Republic.

 

[Bilby]

Thanks GPSMD. I know about the naming rights issue but the one with Port and Sherry haven't been enforced in Australia yet, so they remain Port and Sherry here until then!! Only the wines and some cheeses have suffered the naming issues so far.

I like or dislike a product for the product's sake, not where it comes from. Original is only that - the first. Best will always be a personal issue.

I haven't tried Portugese Port. Have tried Spanish Sherry and have to say, I prefer the Australian version. But as I say, taste is a personal thing and possibly even has something to do with the tastes we grow up with.

 

[GPSMD]

Port or port

I understand that point of view. Here, in Portugal, we have some "champagne-like" wine. That´s very good. But isn't "Champagne".
Portuguese "champagne" (we call that "vinho espumante", something like "sparkling wine") is more cheap and has a different taste. And I prefer the portuguese one. And, for example, you have an italian Champagne-like wine, called "Asti" (probably this name is registered), sweeter, very cheap, and very popular here in Portugal.

Portuguese Port Wine is protected in European Union and United States.
To distinguish both, Port and port, is used the name "Vinho do Porto".
As portuguese, I'm suspect smile, and is very difficult to imagine a clear (not dark) bottle to a very special wine, with so special needs of care for conservation reasons. For us, something is wrong about that.
If we talk about the cheapest Port, like "Ruby", that doesn't get better with time. But if we talk about a "Tawny", or, specially, a "Vintage", is totally insane to use a clear bottle.
So, there is a big difference between Port and port.
I only can say to you to try the "Vinho do Porto".
I recommend. Is not a question fo chauvinism.
It's only one of the best things we have, here in Portugal, to offer to a friend, specially to a foreigner. So, as a friend, I recommend what is very good.
I understand if you prefer the australian one, but we have the obligation of offering the best to our friends.

Cheers!

 

[Bilby]

I understand your point of view, GPSMD, entirely! We are all somewhat patriotic about our nation's products when "talking" to someone from another country. Australia is rather laid-back about somethings and I think the naming issue is viewed more as a pain than as anything beneficial.

I think the clear bottle used here is as a marketing tool to show that it vastly different from the usual port. All I can tell you about it (other than it being sweet) is it sells out really quickly and I guess they aren't expecting people to use it as a keeping fortified wine.

 

[GPSMD]

Port Wine

Yes, I agree with you. After all, the great majority of portuguese people, don't know what is a "vintage", never noted the words "ruby" of "tawny", and if so, never asked their signification. People just wants good and cheap Port. Just few persons have two qualitys: money to buy a good vintage, and curiosity / culture to knows what he is drinking...
I bet that a lot of millionaires don't know what they are eating or drinking.
But is real pleasure to listen the "connaisseurs", for example, in some television programs. That people that produces the very good Port, speaks like they were "in love" with that. Is a real passion.
And did you know that were the British that have started the Port saga? Yes, is true. The British, during the napoleonic wars, because they couldn't buy french wines anymore. So, because Luso (Portuguese) - British alliance was (and still is) the oldest in the world, they started to produce, to bottle, and transport that to Great Britain (and colonies). For conservation reasons, they started to add some kind of brandy or spirits ("eau de vie") (in Portugal, "aguardente" -"firing water").
But, and thats very important, they never put sugar on that.
The fermentation is interrupted by the spirits addition, so, maintaining the sugar resulting from fermentation.
Some ports have sugar, but not the "Vinho do Porto".
So, like you see, our Port is more closer to you than you think...

 

[Bilby]

Being one of the Colonies, it is probably where the desire to make our own port has come from! Didn't know the historical background to Port at all.

Galway Pipe is probably the best port I have tried but I don't know how it is truly ranked. I know it was the best for reasonable money at the time (very popular with the young doctors set). (When I say reasonable, it was about 5 times more expensive (at least) than the ports most people were drinking.)

 

[GPSMD]

Port Wine

Interesting! How you can imagine, I have no ideia about australian port wines, so I don't know how is it ranked. But Galway Pipe, in a "first sight" appears very similar to Vinho do Porto. The bottle, the age, the barrel maturation... And I noted the expression "port-style wines". It's a way of being "politically correct"... The taste is the same? I don't know. But I noted the interesting care about doing a port-style wine, very similar to the portuguese one. Is not a Port, but it sames to respect the spirit of Port. In the same (net) site, you have some portuguese wines and a Vinho do Porto, Barros 20yo. (What is "20yo"? 20 years? I don't know that notation) If so, It must be a very good wine. Is not a vintage, but a very good tawny (blended, barrel-aged port). But you can have 40 years tawnys! Barros is well known in Portugal but is exagerated to say that "is the largest and most respected Portuguese-owned port house". Barros is one of several respected old houses. Others houses include Sandeman, Offley, Burmester, Calem, Ferreira (very popular in Portugal, for the association with "Ferreirinha" (something like "little Ferreira", the famous XIX century widow and businesswoman, that picked-up the family business and maked it famous, againt that time ideas - There is a very popular phrase in Portugal: "Foi você que pediu um Porto Ferreira?" (It was you that asked for a Porto Ferreira?")), and so on... He have a lot of big names in Port business. Some of them, are not family businesses anymore, and were integrated in big entreprises in beverage industry. But the original names are still used because the names have some "aura" and the production methods and traditions are still used and respected. Is something quite untouchable...

 

[Bilby]

The "yo" bit is "years old". Back when I had Galway Pipe, it was just known as port, not port-styled. Like you say, politically correct.

The auras of businesses are huge business in themselves, regardless of the industry. And their names can often outlive the greatness of their product. Compared to the rest of the world, Australia doesn't truly have those names - we are too young. Most of our (historical) businesses were from England or Europe. Establishing businesses here had to compete with those big names in a different way to a new business in the homeland of the big named business. And now, most of our biggest reputable names are owned by foreign countries. Nothing seems to be "untouchable" here - except certain high flyers that dodge shareholders, employees and the Tax Dept!!

 

[kitchenelf]

Well...all I can add is I have a bottle of 2000 Port and I couldn't be happier! I'm broke from buying it...but I couldn't be happier 2000 was a GREAT vintage!

I will reserve this Port for sipping - the other port I have I would be interested in trying the above drink. It sounds very refreshing and I will be using soda, I'm sure.

 

[Rom]

yum Galway and also Whiskers Blake..and Bluestone from Penfolds lol

 

[jet]

...
Portuguese Port Wine is protected in European Union and United States.
...

Are you sure about that? It's my understanding that the US does not recognize EU PDO's.

 

[Bilby]

Rom!!!!!!You're around again!! Welcome back!

 

[Rom]

Thanks Bilby, couldn't resist the port thread lol