Named after the city of Porto, where the river Douro reaches the sea, Port can be only be produced in the Douro region of Portugal.

Port is derived from grapes. The wine produced is fortified by adding a neutral spirit, ‘aguardiente’, which stops the fermentation process of the wine. This in turn boosts the alcohol content.

The wine is then stored and aged, quite often in barrels.

The most widely produced and least expensive of Ports.

The wine is fermented then stored in inert vessels, such as stainless steel which stops any ageing due to contact with air. This also preserves it’s bright colour.

The wine is then usually blended for brand consistency of flavour and colour.

Ruby Port will be filtered before bottling and is usually drunk young. There are however some examples of premium rubies which have been aged in wood for up to six years.

Reserve
A premium Ruby Port. It cannot have the name ‘vintage’ associated with it as it is neither a vintage or has the character of a vintage.

Rose
As you’d expect – this follows the processes of a rosé wine. During fermentation, there’s limited exposure to the grape skins, hence a rose colour and not a red. 

Tawny Port has been produced using red grapes and is matured in wooden barrels. This exposes the wine to oxidisation and the character of the wood in which they are held – in a similar way maturing whisky is.

Typically consumed as a dessert wine, tawny ports with an age statement are sweet or medium dry.

Garrafeira ports are as rare as they are unusual.

Vintage-dated Garrafeira have a period of maturation in wood (between three and six years), with additional time spent in glass demijohns (at least eight years).

As the name would suggest, these ports are produced using white grapes. Ideal as a mixer or cocktail base, these can be drank alone too.

Sometimes they can matured in wood for long periods of time, giving them a darker colour which may be mistaken for a ruby port for example.

A single vintage Tawny port.

It is aged for at least seven years and is not to be confused with a vintage year; a Colheita may have spent 20 years in a wooden barrel before bottling.

Colheita’s have the vintage year on the bottle instead of an age statement.

Vintage port is made entirely from the grapes of a ‘declared’ vintage year. Not every year is declared a vintage and the decision on whether to declare a vintage is made early in the second year following the harvest.

Vintage port spends only about 18 months in barrels however it continues to mature in the bottle.

These ports only make up a small amount of port production, however they are the most well known and revered.

LBV stands for Late Bottled Vintage. The name came about from wine that had been destined for bottling as a vintage, but lack of demand meant the process wasn’t completed and therefore it was left in the barrel for longer.