Blending of Port
Blending procedures are significantly different from those used for Sherry. Blending may occur during maturation or pre shipping/bottling, with wines from the same vintage or untreated (matured) wines at various ages. The type of wine blended and amounts utilized are dependent upon the required attribute for each style, and thus vary between producers/blenders. Sweetening/coloring wines, which are fortified to 20% alcohol, may be added to ruby/tawny ports, if producing the Portuguese style of port, as opposed to the English style. Vintage ports are blends of the same vintage, which are mixed prior to bottling.
Spoilage
Primarily due to the metabolism of wine sugars by heterofermentative Lactobacillus species that display ethanol tolerance.
Stabilization and Bottling
Stabilization procedures are similar to those used for Sherry wine. Ruby and tawny ports are clarified with fining agents (to remove color and tannins) before being stabilized for one week at cold temperatures, usually - 8°C . Filtration subsequently occurs, using diatomaceous earth, before membrane filtration (1.2 – 3.0µ) proceeds prior to bottling.
Little information relates to the white port styles, although similar procedures to those used for the stabilization and clarification of Sherry would conceivably be used.
Vintage ports destined for bottle maturation are not cold stabilized or filtered, as the sediment is considered essential to the aging of the wine.
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