You must taste the tradition of Port wine
Port wine took its name from this city and may be the most famous type of Porto wine to the foreigner’s ear. Port wine itself is actually made in the Douro valley almost 80 miles from the city. (The “Douro”, or Duero in Spain’s is the same river than gives its name to Spain’s remarkable tipple Ribeira del Duero).
The wines are transported from the vineyards upriver and aged in the famous Port wine cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia (that’s the part of Porto across the river). Port wine is sweet and has high alcohol content, due to the adding of brandy to stop the fermentation process during its ageing. This also stopped the wine going bad and made it easy to transport as far as the thirsty trading ports of Britain!
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Port wine tradition had eager clients in UK
Basically all port wines are made in this way. The different grapes and ageing techniques account for all the different varieties: tawny, ruby and white etc. Exporting Port wine to the UK really took off in the 18th century when the Brits were at war with France but needed to maintain a steady flow inwards of booze to keep happy! So they cut the import duties on Porto wine and it was suddenly open season!
The increasing involvement of British trading families in the Porto wine business is what accounts for the number of English sounding names you’ll see painted on the roofs of the wine warehouses all over the city.
One thing that you must do while in Porto is to visit one of these warehouses or wine cellars and get not only the knowledge, but the special buzz of this fantastic fortified wine.
Who’s that bloke in the cloak?
What is it about Port wine, Sandeman and all that cloaked Orson Welles figure mystique? Was El Zorro from Porto ? Why is port wine such a British (and not Portuguese) thing ?
After all, what’s all the fuss about, isn’t it just a sweet sherry-like thing that your aunty has at Christmas which you went through a phase of drinking when you were 15 but which is not really a cornerstone of your future inebriation strategy ?
Well, maybe but read on…it’s not quite as simple as all that.
A few points about Sandeman booze and all that
Let us just explain a few points (oops almost wrote pints…) about Port wine, Port wine drinkers and Porto wine like Sandeman. And let’s keep Orson Welles out of it (till the end).
What is Sandeman ?
Sandeman is a brand of Port founded in 1790. Founder George Sandeman was a (red-nosed) Scotsman from Perth. As well as Port, Sandeman produce Sherry, Brandy and Madeira. According to the Sandeman legend, the geezer on the logo is a caped man named Don (enigmatically) and the cape and clobber is actually a Portuguese student’s cape and a wide Spanish hat.
This fits in with the tradition of students carousing around Porto, basically on the lash. The Spanish bit is actually from Andalucia, probably nicked from the sherry drinking lands near Jerez (where Spanish “Dons” or squires would roam).
Is “Don” El Zorro – the caped what’s-it?
Actually yes, maybe. It appears that Sandeman commissioned the original artwork for their classic logo in the 1920’s from an artist by the name of George Massiot Brown. This was another Scottish piss artist who liked to up his artistic street cred pretending he was French by leaving the “Brown” out (well, wouldn’t you?) and signing his stuff “G. Massiot”.
Turns out, just before submitting his artwork, GMB had been to see Douglas Fairbanks (Senior) as El Zorro in “Gaucho” at the flicks in London. Don’t say we don’t supply you with some pithy chat-up lines!
What about Orson Welles’ caped look?
Probably nothing to with Porto, except for the sherry connection. Welles was a true hispanophile who loved a drinky and a cigar. It was logical step for him (if artistically punching below his not inconsiderable weight) to do some Domecq sherry ads in the 70s and get some extra cash for cuban cigars and hanging around at bullfights.
The Count of Montecristo?
That’s quite enough now…
Need a bevvy to fully understand the issue at first hand? Thought so. Book a Porto wine cellar visit or a Porto bar crawl here