In the 14th century, because England and France were hostile to each other, English wine drinkers began to look elsewhere for a supply of their favourite beverage, and Portugal, as an ally, was a natural source.
By the 1700s, it was considered downright unpatriotic for an Englishman to drink French wine, and demand for Portuguese wine grew rapidly. To ensure the wine didn't deteriorate during the journey to English ports, brandy was added to fortify and stabilize it. Many British merchants set up shop in the coastal towns of Portugal to expedite shipments and even today, port houses like Taylor's, Graham's, Dows, and Churchill retain their British ownership and names despite their location.
Skip ahead a few hundred years, and now the European Union regulates the labeling of wine throughout Europe to provide accurate information on the origin and quality of any wine. Champagne, for example, can't have that magic word on the label unless it comes from the Champagne region of France; otherwise, it's sparkling wine. One of the EU's most recent restrictions on labeling prohibits the use of the term "port" unless the wine has been produced in Portugal.
Respecting their wishes, Canadian wineries like Lakeview Cellars and Sumac Ridge are producing port-style wines and using names like Starboard and Pipe for them. At the moment the long arm of the EU doesn't reach across the ocean, so winemakers here have a little more freedom to use the term Port, however Domaine de Grand Pré is alone among the four Nova Scotia wineries that make port in choosing to call it something else.
"We came up with "40" which stands for fortified wine, of course," says Jurg Stutz, winemaker at Domaine de Grand Pré. "40 was our first port-style wine, made from Leon Millot grapes. It was from the 2001 vintage, and we used some of our own Marechal Foch and Muscat brandy to stop the fermentation and fortify it to 19.5 per cent."
Domaine de Grand Pré released 40 in 2006, selling 500 numbered bottles. Then last December, Stutz unveiled 41, a port-style wine made from white grapes.
"41 is our first fortified white wine made from the Muscat grape," said Stutz. "It's from the 2006 vintage and the grapes were left in the greenhouse for some weeks to allow them to dry, which results in a concentration of flavours and sugars. After pressing and adding the yeast, the fermentation was arrested just after a few days. With this process, we retained lots of the natural sugar and reached an alcohol content of about 20 per cent. The wine was aged in American oak for two years prior to bottling."
Today, port is still made with the addition of brandy, but the process has changed considerably. Traditionally, grapes are crushed by the supple feet of children. Then a process called remontage begins, in which grape juice is continuously pumped over the skins, and within 48 hours the grape sugars ferment to six to nine per cent alcohol. The wine is then separated from the skins and placed in barrels partially filled with grape spirit, which immediately kills any active yeast, leaving behind much of the natural grape sugars and creating a sweet fortified wine.
Most of the ports made in Nova Scotia follow the same traditional method. Sainte-Famille's 2001 Acadianna Reserve Port was made from local grape varieties Marechal Foch and Michurenitz and aged in a combination of French and American oak for five years. Available at the winery and at the farmer's market for $19.99 (750 ml), it is no surprise the nearly 200 cases produced are nearly sold out.
"We only make about 2,000 litres, and not every year. It really depends on the season and whether or not I think the concentration of flavours is there for port," says Suzanne Corkum of Saint Famille. "We will probably sell out of our current port by summer and the next vintage will not be ready for another year or two. It represents less than one per cent of our volume, so it is not a huge market, but customers of late seem to be more interested in dessert wines, and port is a nice option for those who find ice wine too sweet and are looking for something more robust."
On the back of bottles of non-vintage port made by Jost, the label reads "enjoyed sipped slowly in comfortable surroundings." Intrigued, I asked Hans Christian Jost, owner of Jost Vineyards, what he meant.
"You know, Sean," he said. "After a long day's work, right before bed, I sit down with glass of port and my newspaper and no distractions. I sip my port and I think, 'life is good.'"
Sold at Jost Vineyards and the farmer's market for $17.99 (750ml), there's enough for many before-bed sips. Port has the ability to age longer than wine because of the fortification with grape spirit. A good rule of thumb with a bottle of wine: there are five glasses of wine in the bottle and if you drink two glasses, you have three days left to drink the rest before too much air penetrates the wine, causing it to oxidize and basically turn to vinegar. With port, the aging potential is extended well beyond the number of glasses per day left in the bottle.
Not that the people who buy Gaspereau Vineyards Reserve Port take long polishing it off. A gold medal winner at the All Canadian wine championships, Gaspereau's port made is somewhat differently. Winemaker Gina Haverstock uses Lucie Kuhlmann grapes, fermenting all the grape sugars to alcohol, leaving very little residual sugar behind. The addition of distilled L'Acadie Blanc fortifies the port and increases the alcohol to 18 per cent, while a unique ingredient makes this a port unlike any other.
"Our port is made by combining older oak-aged red wine and locally made maple syrup. The alcohol is a little bit lower than our Portugal counterpart, but it is made that way to bring the alcohol into balance with the maple syrup and wine," said Haverstock.
At $19.99 (500ml), it's worth a Sunday drive to the winery. "I think the Gaspereau Reserve Port has changed a lot of people's minds about fortified wines," added Haverstock. "Our port, in my opinion is a very approachable port-styled wine with a balance between the alcohol and the sweetness of the maple syrup. As a result, more people are willing to try it and they're loving it!"
Sommelier Sean Buckland is a co-founder of Valley Wine Tours.