Port has an image problem in a lot of countries: something sweet and heavy that appears at the end of a long dinner once a year. In Portugal it is a category rather than a drink, spanning everything from a chilled dry white aperitif to a dark bottle laid down for thirty years, and the range is wide enough that most people who think they dislike port have simply met the wrong style. Here is what actually separates them and how to find yours.
How it is made
Grapes from a steep terraced valley upriver from Porto, grown on schist in a hot, dry landscape that is one of the oldest demarcated wine regions in the world.
Fermentation is stopped early by adding grape spirit, which kills the yeast before it has eaten all the sugar. That is why port is both sweet and strong.
Then it ages, and how it ages is what creates the styles.
The lodges downriver in Gaia are where much of that ageing traditionally happens, in cool cellars near the coast.
The styles that matter
Ruby. Aged in large vessels with limited air contact, staying dark, purple-red and fruity. The everyday style, and the one that tastes most like young wine.
Tawny. Aged in smaller barrels where slow contact with air browns the colour and shifts the flavour towards nuts, caramel, dried fig and orange peel. Frequently sold with an indication of average age, and it is the style most people fall for.
White. Made from white grapes, ranging from sweet to genuinely dry, and served cold. The dry version with tonic and citrus is a standard Portuguese summer aperitif.
Late bottled vintage. From a single year, aged longer in barrel before bottling, giving something of the character of vintage at a fraction of the price and without most of the fuss.
Vintage. A single exceptional harvest, bottled young, aged for years in the bottle, throwing heavy sediment and needing decanting. The prestige style and the least useful place to start.
Rosé and other modern styles exist and are aimed at cocktails rather than contemplation, which is a legitimate thing for them to be.
How to taste your way in
Start with a comparative tasting rather than a single glass, since the differences only make sense side by side.
Ruby against tawny first. This one comparison does most of the work and usually settles your preference immediately.
Then try a dry white, cold, which surprises almost everyone.
Add a late bottled vintage if you liked the ruby side.
Leave vintage for later, once you know you like the category, because it is expensive and it is a specialist pleasure.
Drinking it in Portugal
As an aperitif, chilled and white, which is how you will most often see locals drinking it in summer.
After a meal, tawny with something nutty or a caramel dessert.
In a bar, by the glass, which is inexpensive and the easy way to try a style you have not met.
With cheese, and the classic pairing with strong blue cheese is a genuinely good one rather than a cliché.
Buying and bringing it home
Taste before buying, since preferences here are strong and personal.
The lodges sell bottles that are difficult to find abroad, including single-harvest tawnies from specific years, which make good gifts for a birth year.
Check the airline and customs rules for liquids in hold baggage and allowances before committing to a case.
Ask about shipping if you are buying more than you can carry, which several houses arrange.
Where this fits in a Porto trip
The cellars are across the river from the city and are the natural place to do all of the above, and our guide to the port lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia covers which houses to visit and how the tours work.
For the wider picture of eating and drinking in Portugal, from the seafood to the green wine and the coffee culture, our guide to Portuguese food and wine covers the country’s table.
And if you have one day in the city, our one-day Porto itinerary shows where a lodge visit fits without eating the whole afternoon.
The short version
Port is a family of wines rather than one drink. Taste a ruby and a tawny side by side and you will know within two sips which side you are on. Try a dry white port cold, ideally with tonic on a warm evening, because it is the style that changes people’s minds. Treat late bottled vintage as the value option and leave true vintage until you already know you like the category. Serve tawny and white cool, buy after tasting rather than before, and check the baggage rules before you fall in love with a case.
