2008 Kopke - Vintage White Port

The white Ports, with which many consumers are less familiar, use indigenous white grapes like Viosinho, Folgazão, Rabigato, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina, Cercial and Arinto. They are mostly field blends, although sometimes, winery representative Tânia Oliveira said, they "vinify different grapes together (the old style technique) ... If it’s going to be aged for a long period of time, we sometimes vinify different grapes together. The same for aged tawny ... In the winery the [white] grapes are 'treated' like they were red (lots of maceration and extraction for the aging potential). The only difference is in the fortification. Because it’s white and we want to preserve the aromatics, we need to integrate the brandy in three, four times and not at once like we do in the 'aged tawny.' That way the alcohol is more integrated without losing the aromas. Aging is done in Gaia, in old pipas, average of 50 years old."--Wine Advocate