label terms used in Port

[Sanjit Keskar]

I understand that port MUST be aged for a minimum of 2 years (right, na?)

From what I am reading at this site an other 'authoritative' sites on Port wine. Can you verify these conclusions

- apart from special category ports like LBV, Vintage etc) labels such as Reserve, Fine etc are NOT DEFINED by IDVP and are really market usage evolved terms

- ports that are bottle aged after maturing for minimum stipulated time in wood the IDV never specifies how many years it must be reductively aged in the bottle. So produces use their discretion. Possibly, once in the bottle, the IDVP cannot control the product so to speak..... As a corollary, is it possible that one company may release its Vintage after 12 years and another after 19 years ??

- one query about these bottle aged Ports - is the ageing done by the Port house and then released to the market when they are at their peak? can these vintage ports be bought say after 4 years and laid down by the purchaser for cellaring himself??

- If one reads the rules for inspecting and authorizing the bottling of Vintage Port, it works out to 18 months or so if earliest date rules are taken advantage of or inspection and bottling. So how does the minimum 2 year rule for maturation actually work. (if thi is not understood I can elaborate with a chronological example)

Thanks again and yet again folks at FTLOP

By the way all my equiries are for the purpose of education (not merely curiousity

[Eric Menchen]

- apart from special category ports like LBV, Vintage etc) labels such as Reserve, Fine etc are NOT DEFINED by IDVP and are really market usage evolved terms

Actually, "Reserve" is a defined category and special term. That's article 28 in the regulation: https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/988313 . And if you look at that section, it further states that if you age it for 6 or more years, you can label it with one and only one of "Especial ou Special e Finest." So those word are regulated as well.

When a bottle is released is pretty open, but on the subject of aging in bottles and labels, for LBV, if you age it in bottles for at least three years, then you can label it with "Bottle Matured, Bottle Aged ou En-velhecido em garrafa."

I'll leave it to you or someone else to find any further bottle aging requirements in the regulations.

[Sanjit Keskar]

Sorry I missed Reserve as I was reading through with Google Translate....
As regards, LBV that labelling would apply only IF it is minimum 3 years bottled aged!
Entry level standard tawny and Ruby are not defined
Thanks Eric

[Glenn E.]

The minimum 2-year maturation is actually only 18 months, but it looks like 2 years on the label due to the timing of harvest and bottling.

The grapes are harvested in the fall of the year, and Vintage Port then cannot be bottled until the spring of 2 years later. So grapes harvested in the fall of 2020 cannot be bottled as Vintage Port until the spring of 2022. So it looks like 2 years later (2020 + 2 = 2022) but it's actually only 18 months.

For VP, it must be bottled by the spring of the 3rd year, which is a maximum of 30 months after harvest.

[Sanjit Keskar]

This means that the overall generic minimum ageing duration for PORT WINES are not SPECIFICALLY STATED by IDVP or have I missed something here (I did not spot it in the translated norms)

Neither is the duration of ageing for Ruby Reserve ort specifically mentioned, so the 5 year figure is based on market evolvement?

So how does one make statements about the ageing for generic Rubys and Tawnys without age indication though I agree they are entry level ports?

[Glenn E.]

As I recall all of the permitted age ranges are defined in the regulations, but it has been several years since I have gone through the regulations in any detail. Eric knows them much better than I do.

[Eric Menchen]

I haven't studied the regulations much lately. While they do have dates and timeframes for VP, LBV, and terms like "bottle aged," I don't think basic ruby has any requirement for aging. I thought tawny might, but I didn't see anything in there on that. Reserve tawny, yes; basic tawny, I don't think so. There are some other regulations out there related to grape varieties, the beneficio, etc. But for dates and aging, the one referenced would be where I would expect to find the aging requirements.

[Andy Velebil]

I haven't studied the regulations much lately. While they do have dates and timeframes for VP, LBV, and terms like "bottle aged," I don't think basic ruby has any requirement for aging. I thought tawny might, but I didn't see anything in there on that. Reserve tawny, yes; basic tawny, I don't think so. There are some other regulations out there related to grape varieties, the beneficio, etc. But for dates and aging, the one referenced would be where I would expect to find the aging requirements.

My understanding is also that non-reserve tawny's don't have a min year requirement that "Reserve" tawny's do.

[Sanjit Keskar]

So the bottom line is that the statement "all ports have to be aged a minimum of years" is incorrect as a generic fact??

[Andy Velebil]

So the bottom line is that the statement "all ports have to be aged a minimum of years" is incorrect as a generic fact??

Yes. There's a lot of generic "facts" in the wine world. Port seems to have more than some others, LOL.