"Timothy Hartley" > wrote in
message ...
> In message <1wLVd.39425$uc.3614@trnddc01>
> Bill Loftin > wrote:
>
Snip>>
>> Just go in your favorite bottle shop and look at the
>> selection of Australian
>> Ports. Likely they will all be Shiraz based.
>>
>
> But is it Port - even in a storm?
> I did not think that Syrah was one of the 48 permitted
> varietals for real
> Port - no doubt those more learned than I in this area
> will put me right.
>
> Timothy Hartley

You are right - real port comes only from Portugal. But
Australian winemakers have long called fortified reds
"port" - vintage or tawny - quite legally in Australia. They
have made them from shiraz, grenache, cabernet, whatever.
The mis-naming is gradually dying out due to trade
agreements and regulations similar to those forbidding the
use of the term champagne for sparkling wines. Proposed
alternative names such as "Australian Sweet Fortified Red"
do not quite sound very marketable to me.