When the Romans arrived in the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC, they loved it so much they stretched out their stay for another 500 years. Besides the local tourist attractions, the Romans also enjoyed the wine making that was going on along the Douro River.

At the risk of overstaying their welcome, the Romans finally left, leaving behind the winemakers who knew that one helluva party was going to be thrown with lots of wine. Said wine eventually gained favour especially in England, and getting it there though wasn’t an easy task. This was solved by bringing the casks down river to a city right on the peninsula where they could be then shipped off to England.

By 1756, the Douro region was established as an official wine making region. 

Portugal’s gorgeous Douro Valley

As for the wine, it soon took the name of the city from where these barrels were exported from: Porto.

While Porto was being enjoyed by many for its berry, chocolate and cinnamon flavours, it was also being hailed for its so-called medicinal properties. Before becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, William Pitt the Younger drank a bottle of Porto a day at the age of 14 to help him deal with his gout. This was indeed smart marketing on the part of that particular Porto exporter as alcohol is known to trigger bouts of gout (I too, approximately aged as Mr. Pitt “medically” partook in Porto. My experience was just for one evening and left me rather fuzzy the next day).

[Sidebar: Just as only whisky from Scotland can be called scotch, or bourbon can only be called thus if it hails from the U.S, only wines from Portugal’s Douro region can be labelled ‘port’]

The ageing of spirit-to-eventually-become-whisky in one barrel has been going on quite for a number of years with zeroes added to it. The art of finishing whisky, which involves putting said spirit into another cask for further maturation however, is relatively new. While there aren’t defined lengths of time for this, this also isn’t a fleeting Tinder hookup either: this extra finishing is typically between six months and two years.

So why Port? 

Because as there are different types of port styles, a distiller will be able gain different complexities, depths and subtleties. While my first (fuzzy) experience with port led me to believe that port is sweet and therefore all port cask whiskies will naturally be sweet also. For example, a ruby port cask finished whisky would be indeed be sweet whereas a tawny port cask finished whisky is drier and nuttier. A cask that once housed a dry port will not affect the colour of the newly tenanted whisky. A cask that contained a sweeter port will darken the whisky’s colour (all these cask options are basically just like a liquid version of Bits & Bites).

Anyway, grab an empty glass -or two – and break off a piece of dark chocolate – or two – then sip and explore:

I suppose instead of writing a whisky pentalist, I could just write “Try them all”. Sure, on the surface, that would minimize the typing cramps. While Everestian a challenge indeed, how cool would it be if we actually did “try them all”.  So, if that’s the peak we must climb, hopefully the suggested choices – as well as your own – make getting there a lot quicker. 

Cheers.

– Renaud Timson