Port wine is a fortified wine from Portugal, produced exclusively from the Douro Valley. It’s a sweet wine, often served as dessert, with dessert or for special occasions. When you’re shopping for Port wine, it can be confusing and intimidating, because there are so many categories and quality levels. This article covers the two main categories of Port and the levels of quality within these categories.
Port wines fall into two main categories: Ruby, which matures in the bottle, and Tawny, which matures in wooden barrels. Here's how to make sense of the dizzying array of Port wines in each category.
Ruby Wines
Thanks to low oxidation, Ruby wines retain their fruity aromas (blackberry and plum) and dark ruby color. In ascending order of quality, the types of Ruby Port are: Ruby, Ruby Reserva, Crusted, Late Bottled Vintage, Vintage Single Quinta and Vintage.
Ruby: Ruby is the most produced and cheapest Port wine. It's a blend of different vintages with an average age of three years, and it's meant to be drunk upon purchase.
Ruby Reserva: This is a Ruby Port from a high-quality lot; labels may bear such terms as Vintage Character, Special or Finest. Usually it's more robust and concentrated than Ruby and is the cheapest way to get a sense of how a Vintage Port might taste. This is one of the best quality Ports for price. Drink now.
Crusted: This is a blend of good vintage Ports, usually two or three. These wines need to stay two years in barrel and three years in bottle (the date on the label is the bottling date, not the harvest date). They are considered a good alternative to the expensive Vintage and usually are ready to drink when purchased.
Ruby Ports with vintage year:
Late Bottled Vintage (LBV): As the name indicates, the LBVs are bottled later than the Vintages. After four to six years in wooden vats, they may mature in the bottle, in which case they can be labelled as Bottle Aged or Bottle Matured. Those labeled as Unfiltered were not filtered before bottling. This type of Port is a dense, full-bodied wine.
Vintage Single Quinta: In those years that the wine quality doesn't achieve the Vintage status, the alternatives are the LBV or a Single Quinta declaration. These wines come from a single estate and usually are less concentrated and complex than a Vintage – and also quite a bit cheaper. Some houses market this type as a high-end product, removing the main house name from the label.
Vintage: Vintage is the highest classification declared by the Denomination. It must be bottled between the second and third year after the harvest year and usually requires aging in the bottle (sometimes for dozens of years). When most of the houses declare a Vintage, that year is called Classic (fun fact: there has never been a Classic vintage in a year ending in 9). Usually there are three to four declarations in each decade.
Tawny Wines
Tawny wine is made from the same grapes as Ruby and matures in 600-liter wooden barrels, where the oxidation make these wines lighter in color, with tones of brown and amber (hence their name). Their aroma also becomes more complex, with hints of nuts (walnut and almond) and wood (toast, coffee and chocolate). Tawny wines, in ascending order of quality, are Tawny, Tawny Reserva, Tawny with age indication (10,20,30,40+) and Colheita.
Tawny: Tawny wines are the least interesting of Ports, although their quality is increasing. Typically they age an average of three years in barrels.
Tawny Reserva: Wine in this transitional category between Tawny and 10-year Tawny has spent a minimum of six years in barrel. This style keeps some fruit characteristics and has oxidation notes from the barrel stage. Some houses don't even declare this category.
Tawny 10, 20, 30, 40+: The age declaration of this category doesn't apply to every component of this blended wine. A 20-year Tawny has fewer notes of oxidation than a 30-year, and it may include vintages with ages less and more than 20 years. The blends are executed to try to maintain a house style and because of the great investment, a 40+ year Tawny is usually expensive.
Colheita: This is the only Tawny from a single vintage. If compared with a Vintage, the Colheita will stay in a wooden barrel for at least seven years and it is filtered after bottling, whereas the Vintage stays less than three years and will be bottled unfiltered. It is possible to find in the market 100-year Colheitas.
Reference: Joao Paulo Martins, O Prazer do Vinho do Porto
Photo: Traditional boats carrying barrels of Port wine on Douro River.
