Once it reached the cooling Atlantic breezes of Oporto, the wine was aged and blended in barrels and bottles in the riverfront lodges at Gaia, opposite the main city.
The rums are usually blended and are aged from one to four years.
The Jamaican rums are always blended and are aged for at least five to seven years.
Mind you, that's the blend that hasn't been aged -- which is only available to writers, bartenders and spirits geeks who want to do a little A/B testing side by side with the aged version.
Just in case you need your memory refreshed (because heaven knows I'm no cognac expert myself): "VSOP," or "very special old pale," means a cognac blend whose youngest component has been aged in wood for at least four years, and doesn't contain any artificial coloring -- hence the "pale".
A 4-year old blend means that the youngest whiskey used in the blend, not including neutral grain spirits, is aged 4 years.
The gueuze is a blend of three different lambics that have been aged for one, two or three years in old casks.
My single favorite of their sparkling bottlings is the Ouro, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that is aged 36 months on the lees.
The Anglo-Portuguese grandees of the port trade, with names like Taylor, Croft and Sandeman, have been aging and blending new wine from their Douro estates in these lodges since the 18th century, when Great Britain, after foolishly squabbling with France, its principal wine supplier, embraced Portugal on the rebound.
