All terms

Portvin (Port)

Port is a fortified wine from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. What makes port special is that you stop the fermentation before all the grape sugar has been converted into alcohol. This is done by adding a neutral, flavourless grape spirit (aguardente), which kills off the work of the yeast. What remains is a wine that is both sweet and powerful, typically around 19-22% alcohol. The grapes are native Portuguese varieties, and among the most important you will find Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz, which grow on steep terraces in an area with warm, dry summers.

The taste and style depend a great deal on how the wine is aged. Ruby port is aged briefly in large vats and is young, dark and fruit-driven with notes of dark berries. Tawny port, on the other hand, spends a long time in smaller oak barrels, where it slowly oxidises, fades to an amber colour and develops soft notes of dried fruit, caramel and nuts. Vintage port comes from a single outstanding vintage, is aged only briefly in barrel and then matures for a long time in the bottle, where it forms sediment.

A widespread misunderstanding is that any sweet, powerful wine may be called port. It may not. Only fortified wine from the defined Douro area carries the name. If you want to enjoy it, a ruby goes nicely with dark chocolate, while a tawny suits strong cheeses really well.