They have given the sweet red or amber coloured Portuguese fortified wine, which is traditionally sipped as an accompaniment to the cheese course or dessert, a makeover with a lighter ros version that is 20 per cent alcohol.
Its port without rules, Adrian Bridge, chief executive of Taylor-Fladgate in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, said of his ros, Croft Pink.
His 320-year-old, family-owned port house, which also has the Fonseca and Croft brands, was the first to make a ros port in 2005 though others, including smaller producers Poas and Krohn, have followed suit.
Croft Pink, first sold in Holland, Canada and Britain, was marketed in Texas last fall before its 2012 roll out to the rest of the United States.
One restaurant was going through three bottles a day thats an awful lot of port, Bridge said.
He discovered that rather than sipping the drink, the bartender at the restaurant was pouring the bottles into a slushy machine to make icy drinks.
They were selling it as slushies, sort of ice cream for adults, he explained. This is definitely not your fathers port.
Port takes its name from Oporto, the seaport where, since the 17th Century, British ships have brought back barrels to a thirsty nation.
The British were so fond of the drink that families sent their sons to Portugal to become wine merchants and port producers.
There are many types of port including vintage, tawny, ruby and white. While some are aged for years in wood, or for decades in bottles, ruby port is aged for most of its three years in stainless steel or concrete vats. By port standards, it is young and meant to be drunk upon re! lease.
Ros port is a ruby that has had light contact with the grape skins giving the wine its color. It tastes fruity and has aromas of grapefruit, berries and honey.
Like all port, the ros is fortified with a neutral grape spirit, which means it is about 20 per cent alcohol. By comparison, most table wines are between 12 per cent and 15 per cent alcohol.
But unlike port, sales of ross in 2009 and 2010 increased by 14 per cent and 22 per cent, according to the Wines of Provence, a trade association that represents the French region synonymous with the wine.
But in 2011 ros sales dipped by about six per cent.
Despite the slide, Bridge thinks more consumers will buy his pink port.
Ross still make up 15 per cent of the wine market and ross are zero per cent of port, he said. Were having a lot of success with it and you know why? Its sweet, its high alcohol, and its really simple. Reuters
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