{"id":215,"date":"2016-03-30T20:26:20","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T20:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=215"},"modified":"2016-03-30T20:26:20","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T20:26:20","slug":"tasting-port-in-lisbon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=215","title":{"rendered":"Tasting Port in Lisbon"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Portugal has some excellent table wines, its glory is in the dessert wines, from grapes grown along the Douro River in the north of the country.\u00a0 The grapes have names that are strange to American ears: Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Tinto C\u00e3o and Tinta Amarela.\u00a0 The name of the wine they are made into comes from the city at the mouth of the Douro, called Porto.\u00a0 Hence the wine famous around the world for its richness, depth and high alcoholic content is called Port.<\/p>\n

But if you are in Lisbon you are three hours south of Porto. So if you want to taste Port, where do you go?\u00a0 The answer to that question is very simple: the Instituto Dos Vinhos Do Douro e Do Porto (the Institute for the Wines of the Douro and of Porto).\u00a0 It\u2019s located at 45 Rua S\u00e3o Pedro de Alc\u00e2ntara, in the district called the Barrio Alto or the \u201chigh neighborhood\u201d.\u00a0 The building is an elegant old palace on a street that winds its way down the hill towards the River Tagus.\u00a0 The Instituto is the august body that determines if a winery\u2019s top production in any given year is good enough to be merited as a vintage Port, so they know their way around this delicious beverage.<\/p>\n

The Instituto operates an elegant tasting room called the Solar, where admission is free.\u00a0 The first thing you notice upon entering is that it is very dark.\u00a0 Once your eyes adjust, you see that it looks very much like a club room, very hushed with large easy chairs for you to sink into as you sip your Port.\u00a0 And oh, the Port you have to choose from!\u00a0 There are more than 300 of them from more than 60 producers, ranging from simple ruby Ports to mature vintage Ports.\u00a0 Prices range from a few euros to twenty-plus per glass.\u00a0 The low end is a real bargain; the top end is also a bargain for what you get.<\/p>\n

\"Solar<\/p>\n

Photograph courtesy of the Instituto Dos Vinhos Do Douro e Do Porto<\/em><\/p>\n

For the most part, the best Ports are sold only by the bottle, so you need to be with a group to savor these extra special wines.\u00a0 It\u2019s quite a show if you do.\u00a0 Your server arrives with the bottle cradled in his arm, wiping away the accumulation of dust.\u00a0 He lays it gently into a cradle that has a small crank.\u00a0 In order to avoid pouring sediment into your glass, he uses the crank to gently tilt the bottle so that only unsullied liquid gets there.\u00a0 He\u2019ll serve you a plate of almonds to accompany your selection.\u00a0 You are now officially in wine-lovers\u2019 heaven.<\/p>\n

If you want to taste by the glass, you are hardly left out of the fun.\u00a0 You can try all sorts of combinations, such as the range from bottom to top of one producer.\u00a0 This is best if you already have some knowledge of Port and have a favorite Port house.\u00a0 Or to gain some knowledge of which houses you like, try tasting similar wines from multiple makers.\u00a0 So for example, you can sample late bottled vintage (LBV) wines from Grahams, Taylor Fladgate, Dow and Fonseca side by side or one after the other.<\/p>\n

Another good tasting is to try a vertical of tawny ports that contain a variety of well-aged wine from various vineyards (or quintas).\u00a0 You can compare one winery\u2019s 10-year, 20-year and 30-year tawnies.\u00a0 Needless to say, the older the wine, the more it costs.\u00a0 There are even some 40-year old tawnies that are quite pricy but are an exquisite experience.\u00a0 Steve once tasted a 40-year old Burmester there and has never forgotten it.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Once you leave the Solar, turn left and walk a hundred or so feet.\u00a0 There\u2019s a little park with the best view overlooking downtown Lisbon and the Alfama hill across the way.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n

The Solar is open until midnight, opening at 11:00 am on weekdays and 3:00 pm on Saturdays.\u00a0 It\u2019s closed on Sundays and holidays, of which there are quite a few in Portugal.\u00a0 We recommend that, since the days are so lovely, you shouldn\u2019t spend them indoors.\u00a0 Go see the sunset over Lisbon and then taste in the evening hours.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Portugal has some excellent table wines, its glory is in the dessert wines, from grapes grown along the Douro River in the north of the country.\u00a0 The grapes have names that are strange to American ears: Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Tinto C\u00e3o and Tinta Amarela.\u00a0 The name of the wine … Continue reading Tasting Port in Lisbon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions\/217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}