10 setembro 2007

O 'vinho do Porto' da China... ou da África do Sul.


'Port enjoys, in England, the privilege of being recognized and protected by the law of the land. Since 1916, no wine has been allowed to be sold in England under the name of Port, if not made from grapes grown at the Valley of the Douro, fortified by the addition of brandy at an early stage of its fermentation, and eventually shipped from Oporto [...] There are fortified wines made in many part of the world where grapes grow and where wine is made on a commercial scale: all of them are made to resemble Port as nearly as possible, and some of them succeed in approximating the colour, strength, sweetness and flavour of Tawny or Ruby Port. None of them, however, can hope to match Vintage Port; they do not even try [...] Vintage Port, however, is above all imitations: it is safe from that dangeroius form of flattery; it is in a class by itself, and it is the only type of Port that I propose to deal with in this review of the past hundred years'.

André L. SIMON [1946] Vintagewise, A postscript to Saintsbury's Notes on a Cellar Book, 3rd imp, London: Michael Joseph Ltd., pp.30-31

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