Today is a slow sea day as the ship travels to La Havre, France, the site where the excursion buses will transport us to Paris for a short self-guided tour day.
There is not much going on on the ship today except for the show at 9:15 pm. Earline, Bonnie and Earl are going to be jocks and go to the gym on the ship. We’ll see how that works out. I’ll save my energy for pre- and post-dinner dancing where I can demonstrate my best moves. :)
They revised the schedule for today and added several activities. At 3:30 there is a lecture on Port Wine.
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Port Wine Talk (Gregory Bowden)
Port is grown in the Douro region of Portugal. Porto was a Roman port, but that is not where Port wine was grown. Douro is divided into 3 sections: Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo, and Duro Superior (the best area).
These are among the steepest vineyards in the world, making it difficult to harvest the fruit. The temperature is too hot to make wine in the areas of harvest, so they transport the juices down river to where it is cooler…to Vila Nova de Gaia.
In 1386 the marriage of John I of Portugal to Phillipa of Lancaster started the Anglo Portuguese alliance. Jean-Baptiste Colbert of France, the French finance minister under King Louis XIV, closed the import of English wines. He brought the French economy back from the brink of bankruptcy but in retaliation, Charles II of England put trade restrictions on French wines and other goods. Because of this, the English started to buy wines from Portugal.
The wines on the coast of Portugal were not ideal as they were weak and astringent and did not suit the English palate. They sought more robust wines from the upper Douro River valley but transporting them via road was difficult. They therefore began to transport them via the Douro River to the city of Oporto in the coast for shipment to England. Although the wines came from the Douro River Valley, they took the name of the city from which they were sent. Thus Vinho do Porto meant Oporto wine.
In order to make the wine keep during the long voyage, they started to fortify the wine with a small amount of “grape spirit” or brandy. However, this fortification should not be confused with the method of making port wine in which some spirit is added during the initial fermentation. This addition of alcohol killed the yeast leaving residual sugar. This is what makes port wine sweet.
In 1703 a treaty was signed between Portugal and England whereby wines produced in Portugal would pay 1/3 less duty than wines produced in France. This, along with royalty liking the taste of the sweet port wine from the Douro region cemented the port wine business.
Evolution of the Port bottle. They went from a rounded bottle to a more typical port bottle. The exporters found that it was best to bottle the wines with the “leaves” (dead yeast) in place rather than take it from casks. This bottle shape was meant to store the bottles on their side so that the cork would not dry out.
In 19th century, railways arrived into the Duro. In 1879, when the railroads reached the Duro, they could then send wines rapidly to the Oporto. Still, they continued to use boats until dams made it impossible to go down the river. Getting back up the river was difficult and could take two weeks.
Making of Port
Fermentation is stopped after 36 hours by the addition of strong spirits. It raised the alcoholic content above 15%, killing the yeast. This leaves the sugar behind, making the port very sweet. It doesn’t give much time to extract the phenolics. Thus the phenolics had to be extracted in stone trays called lagars where the grapes are stopped by foot. Now robotic lagars are in effect but are not as good as by human foot.
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| Stomping Port Wine Grapes |
Aguadente is a strong spirit of 70% alcohol that is put in the port. It is added until 19-22% alcohol content. The initial fermentation only makes about 5% alcohol. Today aguadente can come from anywhere in the EU. In the past it only came from the Douro region. In the Spring the wines are shipped to the lodges at Vila de Gaia where the temperature is cool to store and mature the port. The best ports are stored in oak casks. It allows the wine to oxidize more slowly. They only use casks used previously for other red wines. They rack the wine three times to get rid of the leaves. Before final bottling, they blend the ports to get a consistent product.
The harvest in the Duro is almost entirely by hand. About 80 grape varieties can be used in port. Normally only about 5 varieties are most widely used. Touring Frances grapes are most commonly used. Tina Roriz (tempranillo) makes good port and represents about 10% of the plantings. Tina Barocca grapes are the first to ripen. Touriga National is only 2% of plantings. It is low-yielding and suitable for those trying to make a top quality port. Quinta do novo nacional is one of the finest ports (1963). Tinto Cao is difficult to grow and is a low yield. It is late ripening and has a great balance of alcohol and acidity.
White port: Quite rare. It is drier than red port. Served chilled as an appetitive.
Pink port: A new product introduced to get ladies interested in drinking port. It is not to be taken seriously.
Ruby port: The cheapest type of red port. It is stored in cement tanks. It is ready to drink in about 2-3 years.
Premium ruby port: Fonseca Bin #27
LBV Port: 4-6 years in casks. This won’t age well. They are ready to drink when bought. They should be drun within 2-3 weeks after opening them.
Crusted port: Aged in oak 2-3 years and are bottled without fining.
Tawny Port: Port aged in oak for 6 or more years. It loses color. Choose tawny up to 20 yrs but not more. Ready to drink when sold and do not age. The cheapest tawny are not the best buy as they are made from cheap grapes. A good tawny can survive in an open bottle for up to 8 weeks.
Colheita Port:
Garrafeira Port - private reserve. Aged 5 yrs in casks nd 5 years or more in delimiters before bottling after blending
Single Quinta Port: Product of a single quinta in a single year. Ready in 8-10 years.
Vintage port: The ultimate style of port. It is expensive. It is all about the year. Only the best years of grapes go into this. 2 yrs in casks. Placed in bottles unfiltered and with the leaves. You should wait 20 to 30 years after bottling. 1963’s are exquisite. Once opened, they do not last long. They only last 2-3 days.
Top shippers: Symington Family, Floodgate (Taylor’s, Croft)
Churchill, Ramos Pinto, Ferreira.
Decanting and serving: You must decant them before serving. Bottle upright for a few hours before decanting. Chip off the wax from the bottle top. Stop pouring when leaves begin to enter the decanter.
Port is always served by passing to the left. There is a Celtic tradition that going to the right is unlucky.
Top vintages: 1963, 1966, 70, 83, 85, 20000, 2003, 2005, 2011, 1991, 1994, 1997 (on;y god, not special)
National 1963 - about $3000
In 1993, there was a damp spring, cool summer and made the wine weak. Don’t buy it.
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Following the enrichment talk on Port Wine, it was followed by an excellent talk on sharks.
Lecture on Sharks
- About 360 species of sharks. Sharks are very old…more than 300 million years ago. Sharks are cartilaginous fish.
- Jawless fish today - lamprey eel and hagfish. It’s teeth are derived from skin or branchial bar scales. It sucks onto its prey. Its tongue rasps some tissue from its prey. The gill slits evolve into jaws.
- Megalodon was a 50 ft long shark with giant jaws. One tooth is the size of your hand.
- Sharks are layered according to depth. Whale sharks stay at the surface. Greenland sharks are the deepest at about 5,500 feet deep.
- Whale shark is the largest fish in the world. Up to 40 feet long. The Dwarf Shark is the smallest shark.
- Megamouth shark is very deep and has a gelatinous body. There is bioluminescence in its mouth.
- Mako sharks are very acrobatic and can leap from the water
- Walking sharks are on the bottom and are bottom feeders.
- Bull sharks. 9 ft long can move from salt to fresh water and back. They are in the Amazon river and the Mississippi, etc. There have been bull sharks found in the Potomac.
- Goblin Shark - deep water. It has a large snout and extensible jaws.
- Frilled Wobegon is a strange shark.
- Oceanic White-tip Shark. Very dangerous. They are curious and feel with their mouth.
- Cookie Cutter Shark - makes holes in other animals
- Sharks use only the tail fin for propulsion. The pectoral fins arrange depth. Sharks do not have a swim bladder but they have a liver that changes the amount of oil in it and thus buoyancy. Some sharks have to always move to respire. The sharks have a spiracle to pump water over their gills.
- The constantly swimming sharks have a lot of red muscle.
Finding prey: The ear is the sensitive organ. It can hear 1000’s of yards away. It can smell hundred’s of yards away. The lateral line of the fish is sensitive yards away. It detects pressure. The eye is only good for a few yards. They have electroception that can detect electrical activity in the water.
Great White sharks migrate long distances. They can go from South Africa to Australia and back again.
Not much else was happening during this sea day. They continue with infection control measures that include hand washing upon entering and leaving the food areas, the pool and hot tub are drained and now unusable and the crew needs to serve all food to the passengers, even at the buffet line. This has slowed down the eating process a lot. Mixed with this are crazy cross-contamination measures.
I watched one staff member gather up used napkins from tables without gloves. She placed the used napkins into a container and then without hand washing, she proceeded to wrap up utensils in new napkins for placement on the tables again. Wow... who is the infection control officer? I never saw the ship's doctor except once when he was introduced on stage.
