Perhaps the most ancient of the ‘big five’, the
Tinto Cão has flourished in the Douro even
longer than Taylor Fladgate possibly from the
16th century or earlier. It offers quality more
than quantity, producing small amounts of
wine, but wine of an exceptional finesse.
Where the Tourigas provide berry aromas of a
rich intensity, Tinto Cão contributes its own
aromatic complexity. Its wines are also
unusually long-lasting, of no little importance in
the making of vintage port.

TINTA BAROCCA

A relative newcomer to the Douro cultivated
only in the last hundred years, but welcomed
for its high yield and the flowery aromas of its
wine. Able to withstand cool conditions, it is
usually planted on north-facing slopes, where
its grapes grow in large bunches. The wines of
Tinta Barocca are robust, with a flowery aroma
that contrasts with the more fruity smells of the
varieties already mentioned. Some consider it
one of the Douro’s top three, and although
different conditions can produce wines of
varying quality, the Barocca has been a
welcome innovation. It can be particularly
useful in softening the final blend.

How is Port Made?

Port is made just like other wines, however, neutral grape spirit brandy is used to arrest the
fermentation process to create a fortified, sweet dessert wine.

The Harvest

In September the grapes are picked by hand, by the
same groups of villagers who gather each year for the
harvest. As the grapes ripen at different times, picking
commences near the river, the hot valley floor,
reaching the upper parts of the vineyard a 1,000 feet
higher, three weeks later.

The vineyard is planted in such a way that those grape varieties that prefer the
extra heat, such as Touriga Nacional, are planted near
the river, and Tinta Cão at the top of the vineyard.

From Grape to Wine

The grapes are taken to the winery for pressing. At
Taylor's most of the grapes from the vineyards are still
trodden by foot in large stone tanks called lagares.
Each lagar holds a day’s picking, about 6,000 litres of
grape juice or must.

Treading is not done for show - maceration by human
foot brings out the full concentration of flavor from the
grape skin, from which it draws a deeper color. Port
production, unlike table wine, has only a three day
production cycle (as opposed to seven days) giving
little time to extract the maximum color and flavor.

Grapes not trodden are made into port using a number
of possible methods from ‘pumpover’ stainless steel
vats and ‘vinomatics’ to the most recent Taylor
experimental fermentation tanks, emulating the
maceration technique of the human foot.

Whichever technique is used, all port is fortified with
grape spirit of 77º alcohol, before it has fully fermented
- normally when only half the natural grape sugars
have been converted into alcohol.

This stops the fermentation, keeping the wine sweet, but raising its
alcoholic strength to almost double that of a table
wine: between 19 and 22 degrees of alcohol.