Port Wine

Port Wine, a Portuguese wine which takes its name from Oporto, since the district in which it is produced consists of a mountainous region along the Douro, extending 12 miles inland, and beginning a few miles above Oporto, with which it is connected by railway. Its natural colour varies from pale rose to deep red, though it is often coloured artificially, and is much fortified with brandy for the English market, thus becoming a very different wine from what one finds it abroad. The special qualities of this wine are the outcome of the soil and climate. After the autumn vintage the wine is kept in vats till spring, and is then transferred in casks to Oporto, where it is fortified. The brandy departs with age, and the wine then becomes of a tawny colour. In the 16th century it became known in England, and an English factory was founded, in Portugal, and obtained such a monopoly that the Marquis of Pombal in 1756 made a successful effort to break it down. The Peninsular War doubtless contributed to making port popular in England.