PORT Wine – Grape To Glass

Styles of PORT:

• White Port NV: After fermentation White Port is aged for a short time in neutral oak casks or stainless stank tanks, before it is blended and then bottled. The taste can vary from dry to slightly sweet in flavour.

• Ruby Port NV: Ruby Port has an *average age of 2 years, aged in large oak vats prior to being blended and then bottled. It has a rich red colour and a vibrant, red berry & stone-fruit flavour profile.

• Tawny Port NV - *(+ Aged Tawny Ports): Tawny Port is aged for a minimum of 2 years in the smaller oak casks - before being blended to the 'house-style' and then bottled. It has a deep mahogany/tawny colour and a combination for dark fruits & mixed nut taste. Aged Tawny Port is usually aged for 10, 20 or 30 years but some of the more expensive ones have been aged for more than 40 years. *NB: The year on the label is the average age of the wine in the bottle.

• Crusted Port: Crusted Port is a Ruby Port that is aged for about 3 years in cask and then finishes the aging process in the bottle. It is a blend of grapes from several different years and it is not filtered before being bottled which is why it will have sediment in the bottle.

• Colheita Port: A single 'vintage-dated' Tawny Port, (all grapes come from one year’s harvest) - *(but not a declared vintage year) - they are then aged in small used oak barrels for a varied number of years (with some up to 50+ years). In Portuguese the word ‘Colheita’ means ‘harvest’ - during this extended time in cask the Port takes on flavours of dried fruits, nuts and exotic spices, while becoming very smooth and complex as they age.

• Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) Port: Over time this style has become two distinct styles of wine, both of them bottled between 4 - 6 years after the vintage, but one style is fined & filtered before bottling, while the other is not.

• Reserve Port or Vintage Character: Reserve Port is a premium Ruby Port - it has no single vintage (usually being a blend of several vintages 6-8 years of age of Ruby Port) nor the typical character of Vintage Port.

• Vintage Port: Vintage Port is aged in oak barrels for approximately 18 - 22 months prior to being bottled and then it is allowed to age for ten to forty years in the bottle. It is one of the most sought after wines in the world and can be one of the most expensive.