Could Port still taste good at 17-18% alcohol by volume?

[Roy Hersh]

Please give a reason to back up your thoughts on this. Thanks!

[Moses Botbol]

I would like to think so. What's 1 or 2 percent decrease? Croft pink is fine with a ice cube... I bet there is logic to say why I would be wrong. This is just a shot from the hip opinion and I have never made wine before...

[Glenn E.]

I've had several ports (not Ports) at 17-18%, and I thought they were fine. They weren't as good as real Port, but I'd blame that more on the different grapes and different terroir than on the fact that they were only 18% alcohol. There's a winery in Bryan, Texas (Messina Hof) that makes a tawny reserve from the lenoir grape which has so much sugar in it to start with that they don't even have to fortify the port - they just let it ferment to somewhere in the 15-18% range and then bottle it up. It's quite pleasant.

[Frederick Blais]

I think it is a very good question for the Port Trade Roy! My intuition tells me that it is probably a question of balance. We sometimes see VP varying from 19,5% to 21% of alcohol, these are small variation but higly probable necessary to achieve the balance in the components that is needed.

I do believe too that it would still be good, probably sweeter as Pink and white Port with lower alcohol level are really sweet. By lowering the volume of alcohol in the liquid, the volume of sugar gets a higher share of the % of components.

Is 20 the magic number, Madeira is aiming to get it... ?

[Eric Menchen]

I do believe too that it would still be good, probably sweeter as Pink and white Port with lower alcohol level are really sweet. By lowering the volume of alcohol in the liquid, the volume of sugar gets a higher share of the % of components.

I think by varying the amount and more importantly the timing of the aguardente addition, just about any sweetness level can be achieved. And I also think 17-18% abv Port could be made to taste just as good. I think the perception of alcohol sometimes is based more on higher alcohols, esters, and phenols than the percentage of ethanol. But this is just me guessing based on a tiny bit of knowledge, which is perhaps more dangerous than no knowledge at all.