Port guides

Types of Port

From a pale tawny to a deeply-coloured vintage Port, there’s a Port for all tastes and budgets.

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Ruby Port

Author:

Master of Malt features editor and award-winning drinks author

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Ruby Port

This is the most basic type of Port. It’s usually aged for a couple of years in huge wooden vats which don’t impart much flavour and then bottled young. Better quality rubies might spend longer in wood, have more complex spicy flavours, and be described as ‘reserve’ though the term has no legal meaning. Rubies should be bursting with sweetness and simple fresh fruit flavours. They make great cocktail ingredients or in simple long drinks like a Port & Lemonade.

Three Ports from Fonseca, Taylor's and Croft.

Two single quinta Ports with a Taylor's vintage Port in the middle.

Late Bottled Vintage (LBV)

These are Ports from a particular vintage which spend four to six years ageing in wooden or sometimes concrete vats. They are then bottled ready to drink but should have more intense concentrated flavours than a simple ruby Port. The very best LBVs will improve in bottle, offer incredible value for money, and can give vintage Ports a run for their money. They usually don’t need decanting, but some are unfiltered and may throw a small deposit.

Single Quinta Ports

‘Quinta’ means ‘estate’ in Portugal and refers to specific properties around the Douro valley. A single quinta Port comes from one estate and one vintage. Wines like these are usually made in years which aren’t quite good enough to make a proper vintage Port so tend to mature earlier though the best can easily last 20 years or more and improve. These are usually aged for two years in wooden vats or casks before bottling.

Vintage Port

For many, especially old school British wine lovers, vintage Port is the top of the tree. These are only made in the very best years and are made up of the ripest grapes from the most prestigious properties around the Douro. So like grand marque Champagne, vintage Port is a mixture of different vineyards, in contrast to Bordeaux, for example, where the best wines come from single estates. Vintage Port is usually aged for two years in cask before bottling. It’s traditional to keep vintage Port for 20 years or more before drinking to let the tannins soften, and the fruit and alcohol to integrate but young vintage Port can be great fun especially with chocolate. It’s really a question of taste. A mature vintage Port will always need decanting.

Crusted Port

This is a rare kind of Port made from a blend of vintages, bottled (there will be a bottling date on the label) with very little ageing and then kept, like a vintage port, to mature in bottle. It will need decanting. The idea with crusted Port is that you are getting some of character of a proper vintage Port but at a more moderate price.

Tawny Port

And now for something a little different. The previous kind of Ports are aged briefly in wood and then bottled without oxygen contact but tawny Port has an ageing process more like sherry or whisky. Following harvest, wines destined for tawny Port are aged in used pipes of about 550 litres so there’s more oxygen and wood contact than with other types of Port. After time, the colour of the wine starts to fade, hence the name ‘tawny’, and the wine starts to take on flavours of nuts, orange peel, cooked fruit and sometimes a slight tang of vinegar (in a good way.) Most tawnies are sold with an age statement like 10, 20, 30 or 40 years. These are average ages, not minimum as with Scotch whisky. You will also see tawnies from a single year which are called colheitas. Tawnies are sold ready to drink and do not need decanting. They are a great introduction to the category for those who find vintage or vintage-style wines too heavy.

White Port

This is made in a similar way to red Port but after crushing the white grapes, the fermenting wine is taken off the pulp quickly so you’re not getting much or any flavour or tannin from the skins. Some white Ports are fermented for longer so there’s less sugar when the brandy is added. Traditionally white Ports were aged in casks or vats, and took on a golden hue and an oxidative nutty taste but you do see wines nowadays that are aged in stainless steel or concrete to preserve fruit flavours.