Port Winemakers Can Now Use Lower-Quality Brandy

(WineSpectator) - A new law allows cheaper brandy for fortification; producers react with caution.

Port is fortified wine, which means winemakers add distilled alcohol to arrest fermentation, leaving behind residual sugars and adding complexity. A new law is changing what kind of alcohol they can add, which could lower production costs, but is also triggering anxiety over whether quality might be lowered as well.

Fortified wines can be made with a lot of different spirits. Another Portuguese wine, Madeira, employs distilled wine, though originally cane sugar liquor was used. In the case of Port wine, traditionally and by law, neutral grape spirit—basically unaged brandy—made from wine was used. The Port Wine Institute (IVDP) has to certify the brandy’s quality, but each Port house is allowed to buy its own.

In June, authorities changed the regulations, allowing the use of brandy made from press wine for the fortification. This brandy is distilled from wine squeezed from the leftover solid matter of wine production, mostly the skins and stems. Producers can also use wine racked off with the winemaking lees, the dead yeast cells that settle after fermentation. While both brandies are cheaper to produce, they can have an herbaceous, rustic character. Some winemakers worry that such flavors could damage Port's image as a premium product.

The change comes as a consequence of huge increases in wine brandy prices—from $4 to $18 per gallon from 2009 to 2013—that badly hurt producers' bottom lines, as brandy makes up 20 percent of all Port. The price increases were caused by multiple factors, including the end of European Union subsidies for distillation and an increased demand from Asian markets for European bulk wine.