Port from Portugal comes in several styles, which can be divided into two broad categories: wines matured in sealed glass bottles, and wines that have matured in wooden barrels.
The former, without exposure to air, experience what is known as "reductive" ageing. This process leads to the wine losing its color very slowly and produces a wine that is smoother on the palate and less tannic.
The latter, being matured in wooden barrels, whose permeability allows a small amount of exposure to oxygen, experience what is known as "oxidative" aging. They too lose color, but at a faster pace. They also lose volume to evaporation (angel's share), leaving behind a wine that is slightly more viscous.
Ruby
The most common type, ruby port is stored in tanks of concrete or stainless steel after fermentation, to prevent oxidative aging and preserve its bright red color and full-bodied fruitiness.[14] The wine is usually blended to match the style of the brand to which it is to be sold. The wine is fined and cold filtered before bottling and does not generally improve with age, although premium rubies are aged in wood from four to six years.[14]
Reserve
Reserve ruby is a premium ruby port approved by the IVDP's tasting panel, the Câmara de Provadores. In 2002 the IVDP prohibited the use of the term "vintage character", as reserve ruby port had neither a single vintage (usually being a blend of several vintages of the ruby) nor the typical character of vintage port.[15]
Rose
Rose port is a very recent variation on the market, first released in 2008 by Poças and by Croft, part of the Taylor Fladgate Partnership. It is technically a ruby port, but fermented in a similar manner to a rosé wine, with limited exposure to the grape skins, thus creating the rose color.
Reserve
Reserve ruby is a premium ruby port approved by the IVDP's tasting panel, the Câmara de Provadores. In 2002 the IVDP prohibited the use of the term "vintage character", as reserve ruby port had neither a single vintage (usually being a blend of several vintages of the ruby) nor the typical character of vintage port.[15]
Rose
Rose port is a very recent variation on the market, first released in 2008 by Poças and by Croft, part of the Taylor Fladgate Partnership. It is technically a ruby port, but fermented in a similar manner to a rosé wine, with limited exposure to the grape skins, thus creating the rose color.
Tawny
Tawny ports are wines usually made from red grapes that are aged in wooden barrels exposing them to gradual oxidation and evaporation. As a result of this oxidation, they mellow to a golden-brown color. The exposure to oxygen imparts "nutty" flavours to the wine, which is blended to match the house style. They are sweet or medium dry and typically consumed as a dessert wine, but can also pair with a main course.[1]
When a port is described as tawny, without an indication of age, it is a basic blend of wood-aged port that has spent time in wooden barrels, typically at least three years.
Reserve tawny port (produced by Borges, Calem, Croft, Cruz, Graham, Kopke, and other houses) has been aged about seven years.[16]
Above this are tawny with an indication of age, which represent a blend of several vintages. The target age profile, in years in wood, is stated on the label, usually 10, 20, 30, or 40 years. These ports are produced by most houses.
It is also possible to produce an aged white port in this manner, with some shippers now marketing aged white ports.
In some places, such as Canada[17]
Colheita
Colheita port is a single-vintage tawny port[19][20] aged for at least seven years, with the vintage year on the bottle instead of a category of age (10, 20, etc.). Colheita port should not be confused with a vintage port: a vintage port will spend only about 18 months in barrels after harvest and will continue to mature in bottles, but a Colheita may have spent 20 or more years in wooden barrels before being bottled and sold. White Colheitas have also been produced.
Garrafeira
Unusual and rare, vintage-dated Garrafeira combines the oxidative maturation of years in wood with further reductive maturation in large glass demijohns. It is required by the IVDP that wines spend some time in wood, usually between three and six years, followed by at least a further eight years in glass, before bottling. In practice, the times spent in glass are much longer. The style is associated with the company Niepoort, although others do exist. Their dark green demijohns, known as bon-bons, hold approximately 11 L each. Some connoisseurs describe Garrafeira as having a slight taste of bacon, the reason being that, during the second phase of maturation, certain oils may precipitate, causing a film to form across the surface of the glass.
Confusingly, the word Garrafeira may also be found on some very old tawny labels, where the contents of the bottle are of exceptional age.
White port
White port is made from white grapes, such as Malvasia Fina, Donzelinho, Gouveio, Codega and Rabigato,[21] Taylor introduced Chip Dry, a new style of white apéritif Port, in 1934.[22] Made from traditional white grape varieties, brandy is added later during the fermentation process after a greater portion of the sugar has been converted to alcohol giving the Port its unusual dryness.[22]
Late bottled vintage
Late bottled vintage (often referred to simply as LBV) was originally wine that had been destined for bottling as vintage port, but due to lack of demand was left in the barrel for longer than had been planned. Over time it has become two distinct styles of wine, both of them bottled between four and six years after the vintage, but one style is fined and filtered before bottling, while the other is not.[23]
The accidental origin of late bottled vintage has led to more than one company claiming its invention. The earliest known reference to a style of port with this name in a merchant's list is to be found in The Wine Society's catalogue from 1964, which includes Fonseca's Quinta Milieu 1958, bottled in the UK, also in 1964. By the 1962 vintage, LBV was being produced in Portugal and bottled as LBV.
LBV is intended to provide some of the experience of drinking a vintage port but without the need for lengthy bottle ageing. To a limited extent, it succeeds, as the extra years of oxidative ageing in the barrel does mature the wine more quickly.
Unfiltered
Unfiltered LBVs are mostly bottled with conventional driven corks and need to be decanted. After decanting they should be consumed within a few days. Recent bottlings are identified by the label "unfiltered", "bottle matured", or both. Since the 2002 regulations, bottles that carry the words "bottle matured" must have enjoyed at least three years of bottle maturation before release. Before 2002 this style was often marketed as "traditional", a description that is no longer permitted. Unfiltered LBV will usually be improved by extra years in the bottle.
Unfiltered
Unfiltered LBVs are mostly bottled with conventional driven corks and need to be decanted. After decanting they should be consumed within a few days. Recent bottlings are identified by the label "unfiltered", "bottle matured", or both. Since the 2002 regulations, bottles that carry the words "bottle matured" must have enjoyed at least three years of bottle maturation before release. Before 2002 this style was often marketed as "traditional", a description that is no longer permitted. Unfiltered LBV will usually be improved by extra years in the bottle.[23] It can age as long as vintage ports and is very difficult to identify as LBVs when inserted into blind tastings of vintage ports.
Filtered
The filtered wine has the advantage of being ready to drink without decanting and is usually bottled in a stoppered bottle that can be easily resealed. However, many wine experts feel that this convenience comes at a price and believe that the filtration process strips out much of the character of the wine.[24]
Typically ready to drink when released, filtered LBV ports tend to be lighter-bodied than vintage ports. Filtered LBVs can improve with age, but only to a limited degree.
Crusted
Crusted port is usually a blend of several vintages.[25] Unlike vintage port, which has to be sourced from grapes from a single vintage, crusted port affords the port blender the opportunity to make best use of the varying characteristics of different vintages.
Crusted port is bottled unfiltered and sealed with a driven cork. Like vintage port, it needs to be decanted before drinking.[26][27]
Vintage port
Vintage ports may be aged in barrels or stainless steel for a maximum of two and a half years before bottling, and generally require another 10 to 40 years of aging in the bottle before reaching what is considered a proper drinking age. Since they are potentially aged in a cask for only a short time, they retain their dark ruby color and fresh fruit flavours. Particularly fine vintage ports can continue to gain complexity for many decades after they were bottled. It is not uncommon for 19th-century bottles to still be in perfect condition for consumption. The oldest known vintage port still available as of 2018 from a shipper is the 1815 Ferreira.[28] A tasting in 1990 described it as having an "intensely spicy aroma – cinnamon, pepper, and ginger – hints of exotic woods, iodine, and wax".[29]
Vintage port is made entirely from the grapes of a declared vintage year. While it is by far the most renowned type of port, from a volume and revenue standpoint, vintage port accounts for only about two percent of overall port production. Not every year is declared a vintage in the Douro. The decision on whether to declare a vintage is made early in the second year following the harvest. The decision to declare a vintage is made by each individual port house often referred to as a "shipper".
Much of the complex character of aged vintage port comes from the continued slow decomposition of grape solids in each bottle. These solids are undesirable when the port is consumed, and thus vintage port typically requires a period of settling before decanting and pouring.
Single quinta vintage port
Single quinta vintage port
Single quinta vintage ports are wines that originate from a single estate, unlike the standard bottlings of the port wine houses which can be sourced from a number of quintas. Single quinta bottlings are used in two ways by producers. Most of the large port wine houses have a single quinta bottling which is only produced in some years when the regular vintage port of the house is not declared. In those years, wine from their best quinta is still bottled under a vintage designation, rather than being used for simpler port qualities.[23]
