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Port

History and Tradition

The terraced vineyards of Port

Hailing from the Douro region of Portugal, Port is one of the world's most recognisable fortified wines and is produced in one of two broad categories - bottle-aged or cask-aged. Bottle-aged styles such as 'Vintage Port' or 'Single Quinta Port' are typically fermented and aged in wood for only a short period before spending longer periods ageing in glass. These styles tend to offer more complex fruit-forward flavour profiles. Cask-aged styles such as 'Tawny Port' and 'Colheita Ports' are lighter with a pronounced nutty savouriness. As the name suggests, cask-aged Ports are kept for many years in barrel and are often blended to produce specific styles.

Famous names in the world of fine Port include Graham's, Taylor's, Warre's and Dow's. Many of these companies have been bottling and shipping Port for hundreds of years, farming grapes on the dramatic stepped vineyards of the Douro Valley since the 18th century and earlier.