Adding Port to Wine

I have started adding very small amounts (1 to 2 teaspoons) of port to glasses of inexpensive wines to make them more enjoyable to me. I’m curious if adding port to wine is a known thing already, and if there is some kind of keyword name type thing for it. Also, I’m wondering what the legal category for such a blend would be in various countries, especially the US. If the total alcohol content is still below the limit for wine, is t then a wine, or would it be considered a fortified wine, a liqueur, or something else? Thanks.

Welcome to the forum.
I know people will add things to wine to make it more of cocktail, but I have never run across port as an additive.
What about the beverage appeals to you after you add the port? Perhaps there are some wines the board may direct to you with similar characteristics.

Jennifer - I doubt that anyone on this site would ever add Port to their wine. Port itself is a wine, known as a “fortified wine” because it is made from grape juice to which brandy has been added. So if you are adding Port you’re adding a little more alcohol, but probably not too much by volume. You’re also adding the sweetness of the Port, which I guess is what you are after.

You can just buy wines that are pretty sweet anyway - there’s a big market for them and they’re in every large liquor store and supermarket that sells wine. Things like Apothic and Cupcake are made that way, and a little more expensive but also high in sugar would be things like Meiomi and the Prisoner.

Good luck and stick around!

The definitions of wine can be found at 27 CFR § 4.21

Here are a few definitions from the above regulations:

(2) Table wine is grape wine having an alcoholic content not in excess of 14 percent by volume. . . .

(3) Dessert wine is grape wine having an alcoholic content in excess of 14 percent but not in excess of 24 percent by volume. Dessert wine having the taste, aroma and characteristics generally attributed to sherry and an alcoholic content, derived in part from added grape brandy or alcohol, of not less than 17 percent by volume, may be designated as “sherry”. Dessert wines having the taste, aroma and characteristics generally attributed to angelica, madeira, muscatel and port and an alcoholic content, derived in part from added grape brandy or alcohol, of not less than 18 percent by volume, may be designated as “angelica,” “madeira,” “muscatel,” or “port” respectively. Dessert wines having the taste, aroma, and characteristics generally attributed to any of the above products and an alcoholic content, derived in part from added grape brandy or alcohol, in excess of 14 percent by volume but, in the case of sherry, less than 17 percent, or, in other cases, less than 18 percent by volume, may be designated as “light sherry,” “light angelica,” “light madeira,” “light muscatel” or “light port,” respectively.

I don’t think I would want to waste a $75-100 bottle of good Port on ‘bad’ wine, but that’s just me.

Pretty sure she is just using an inexpensive Ruby or Tawny Port -

I see nothing wrong with this - if you like it and enjoy it, go for it.

Alternatives would be some high alcohol Zins, Roussillon or Southern Spanish reds that can hit 15% alcohol (or more).

Don’t forget The Prisoner. Or for less $$ you can drink Apothic, Big Booty, Bull’s Blood, Gnarly Vines, Dump Bucket Red Blend, Vampire Red, Werewolf Merlot, or anything similar.

I was trying to steer her away from Grape jelly wines -

I’m also genuinely curious about why you do this or what you’re trying to accomplish. Are you trying to get a bit more sweetness or body, or what?

The only inviolable rule of wine consumption is do what pleases you. Like Greg, I doubt anyone here has done this (unless quite drunk, in which case (s)he probably won’t remember) but that means nothing. If you can answer Jordan’s questions, we might be able to recommend wines that achieve your goal without playing chemist. Or not.

Glad you joined the board, Jennifer. In case you didn’t know how Port is made, it is basically made like this:

Red wine grapes (indigenous varieties from Portugal like Touriga Nacional and Touriga Francesa) are grown and harvested in the same way as your typical red wine grapes (and, in fact, these are sometimes just made into regular red table wines, which can be quite excellent in that way).

Normally, red wine is made by crushing the grapes, skins and seeds into a pulp called the “must,” and the must ferments, either because yeast is added or just using the yeast that was naturally in the vineyard and on the grape skins. Fermentation means that the yeast, over a period of something like 5-10 days, eats all the sugar in the must, and it expels two things: alcohol, and CO2. The CO2 bubbles up and out into the air. Once the yeast has eaten all the sugar, they have no food left and die, and you are left with red wine. After that, the must is pressed to get out the juice, which will become red wine, and the solids (skins, seeds, stems, whatever) are discarded.

Port is different in that, part way through the fermentation (so while there is some alcohol but also still some sugar), the winemaker adds brandy, which is a spirit made from grapes, and it usually has an alcohol level similar to whiskey or vodka. I think they may add around 30% brandy by volume. Interestingly, most of the brandy added to Port comes from South Africa.

When you add the brandy in, that causes the alcohol level to become much higher, and that kills the yeast. Yeast can only survive up to certain alcohol levels (varying depending on the type of yeast). Once the yeast are dead, the fermentation stops, and you now have wine which will have (1) alcohol from the partial fermentation of the main grapes, (2) sugar from the main grapes which had not yet fermented because the brandy was added, and (3) brandy itself. That is what makes Port wine. And then it is aged in barrels for different lengths of time.

That is kind of Port 101 in a highly simplified sense, in case you were curious. Port is literally that wine made in Portugal, but wineries in other parts of the world can make Port-styled sweet wines, too, probably using a generally similar methodology. I’m not sure if you’re using actual Port or Port-style wines from elsewhere in the world. For the purpose of beefing up an inexpensive wine, it probably wouldn’t matter very much.

So, the blend you’re making is essentially your original inexpensive wine, with a higher sugar, higher alcohol, fortified wine added in. I would guess it might take a thinner, weaker wine and give it some more body and richness. If you like it, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. But I don’t believe anything like your personal blend is sold already made as a wine product. I think there would be some challenge to labeling it, since if it contained some actually fortified wine (wine with brandy added), you might have to label it as a fortified wine? I’m not sure.

As others have noted, if you’re finding your wines too thin or too weak for your tastes and are looking for riper, richer, lusher, higher alcohol red wine, that category has become very popular and exists on down to lower price points. Wines like Apothic Red, Meiomi, and the Prisoner have thrived making that style, and they’re finding quite a large audience, though they are not generally admired among your more devoted wine enthusiast types like you find here.

I hope that was of some interest. Please stay on the board if you find it interesting.

Thanks all. I started adding port and sherry to whiskeys and liquors some time ago. I learned that many whiskeys are aged in port or sherry wine barrels to impart some of that flavor, and Canadian whiskey can have up to, I think, 10% wine added to it. At this point, I don’t buy unpeated scotch anymore. If I want an unpeated scotch, I just clone it fir a fraction of the cost. I’ve thought about adding liquid smoke to see how that tastes, but I haven’t ventured there yet.

I started drinking wine fir the health benefits. I’m not particularly a fan. I like a balanced wine with a strong finish, but it is difficult to get one of those on a budget. Trig Point is pretty good, and I liked Emilio Moro Select when they were making that one. The Crianza is too acidic to me, and the Malleous is out of my price range right now. In fact, I started adding Graham’s LBV to Cune Crianza and Emilio Moro Crianza just to balance the acid little. Now I’ve tried a few things, and I find that although Rossi Burgundy is just a mouthful of acid with little depth and no finish to me, a small amount of Fonsceca Tawny balances it, adds depth, and even imparts a strong, pleasing finish. I can’t drink port or sherry straight though. Too sweet for me. And I like the degree if control I have over how sweet, or not so sweet, the finished product can be when I start with a dryer wine and add port.

Anyway, hope that answers your questions. Thanks again.

Actually Port is made with neutral grape spirits at 77% alcohol by volume.
A classic technique used by the old time British wine merchants was adding a splash of ruby Port to a glass of too old red Bordeaux. It added a bit of fruit to a dried out wine.
I’ve known quite a few winemakers who tinkered a lot with wines at the table, even their own ones.

A lot of us have tinkered around with other blending, such as some impromptu thing at the table when multiple bottles are open - either to try to balance out “issues” or just inspired. Of course, blending is part of winemaking, so some of us have experience there, though not adding fortified wine to dry. There are grape concentrates that big wineries use to spruce up wines legally. Sounds like you have a good sense for blending.

Somewhat related is the category the U.S. gov’t classifies as vermouth. The real world would call these something like infused wines, of which vermouth is one sub-group. Those are made with wine as a base. Herbs, spices, roots, rinds, barks, etc. are infused in neutral grape spirits, which get blended in, then it’s usually sweetened. Depending on the style, these tend to be apertifs and after-dinner drinks and digestifs. There’s quite a range beyond the name-brand cocktail ingredients.

“Health reasons” for drinking wine. Certainly can be in relation to other adult beverages. But, there’s nothing special nutritionally. The “scientific study” crap that makes media cycles now and then is focusing on compounds that are from the grapes, and in other fruit. You don’t need wine for that.

I had an English roommate 20 years ago that would add Sprite to wine. I caught him doing that once and told him he could never drink my wine again if he did that. Brits :blush:

I grew up in Milwaukee. The used to refer to that concoction as a “wine cooler.” Steidl’s made a killing canning it.
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I’m quite certain you did a few things that made your dorm mate say “Yanks!” with a roll of his eyes as well. neener

Back in the day, say 1979, we were Silver Oak junkies. Had a friend over and decided to treat him with some of my favorite wine. After two sips he asked for some ice cubes. I took his glass to the kitchen, poured a glass from the half gallon screw cap last hope Cab, added ice cubes and gave it to him. He thought it was stellar. But that’s not all. He called his girlfriend and told her to get some potato chips of some sort and come over to try the wine. When she arrived, I poured her the cheap stuff with ice cubes. She sat silently drinking her wine and eating chips from the bag in her lap. When our friend asked if she was going to share the chips, she responded, “These are ours. If they want some they can go buy them.” I should have taken her glass of wine away.

Is your friend still with her?

Nope. The dumb shit married her. They got divorced after he got promoted and she could get a larger alimony settlement. (It helped that he was in a car accident with his “girl friend” in the car.)

We had Bartles and James leading a wine cooler fad here in the early '80s. It seemed national. Those things were awful and pricey. We quickly figured out my Mom’s gawd awful jug wine (the chemically tasting stuff that doesn’t deteriorate while open for months) blended with soda and/or juice was always far far superior.

The wines in question here aren’t anywhere that bad, but have some issues and deficiencies. Jennifer expressed she has explored around with affordable wines a bit. I’m sure there are wines out there she’d find satisfying and affordable, but that’s a quest. Making the best out of the duds, and being prepared for it and intellectually curious about it strikes a chord with me. Winemakers do that all the time. Having a batch or a barrel that’s not up to snuff is common enough. You blend.