10yo Tawny Port

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. All grapes are picked by hand in September. 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. Treading by foot brings out the full concentration of flavour Grape spirit alcohol is added to halt the fermentation process Storage The wine is stored in great oak casks, resting over winter in the wineries where it was made. In the spring of the following year it is brought down to the Taylor lodge at Vila Nova de Gaia, opposite Oporto at the mouth of the Douro River. Prior to arriving at the lodge, the wines are tasted to decide in which blend they will be used. Those destined for Tawny will be put in small casks (known as pipes) which contain only 550 litres, but allow the wines to mature to their characteristic orange-brown color.