Port

Port is a beverage that is made from a combination of fermented grapes and brandy that results in a sweet wine that is high in both alcohol and sugar. When the brandy is added to the wine during the production process, it halts the fermentation process of the grape, leaving much of the fruit sugar alive and well in the wine, along with the additional alcohol of the brandy that combines to create a particularly rich and luscious dessert wine.

Heavily fortified and particularly thick on the tongue, port is particularly pleasant as an after dinner beverage or as a winter warmer. When enjoyed as an after dinner wine, port is most famously paired with strong cheeses, particularly that of stilton . While the port wine style originated in the northern provinces of Portugal, production of this popular wine has spread to many other corners of the earth, most notably that of Australia.

Port is made in a wide variety of styles, the most well known of which are tawny port, ruby port, crusted port, late vintage port and vintage port.

Tawny port is an oak barreled wine that is aged in wooden barrels that expose them to slow oxidation and evaporation as the wood of the barrel barrels.

Ruby port, instead, is aged in concrete or stainless steel vats that let the wine keep its original ruby grape coloration and can be produced under much cheaper conditions.

Crusted port is made of a mix of various ages vintage ports that are mixed together for the sake of economy; this wine gives all of the character of an aged port without the individual identity of a lone vintage port that has been aged on its own.

Late vintage port, or LBV, is a single batch of port that has been aged on its own and incorporates all of the character and identity of the wine and the land that it came from as the wine ages over the years.

See all of our Port Wine Auctions here.