Port wine

Port wine is a full-fledged, alcoholic, red and white wine from the Douro Valley, ranging from young, fruity and sweet, to intense, matured and full of flavor. Port is being made in the Douro which is in the north-east of Portugal. Port owes its name to the city of Porto (Oporto), where he has to mature according to legal obligation. This ripening must take place in Vila Nova de Gaia, a district of Porto. Only portshippers can trade from here, which makes checking of these wines easy.

Port, Porto or also port wine, called, has an alcohol content between 18 and 20%.

There is sweet red, white or rosé and is served as an aperitif, a digestive or a dessert wine.

There are several types of ports, the most commonly used subdivision is ruby, vintage, tawny, white and recently there is also a rosé port called porto pink.

Usually the port can be served from the bottle in which it was bought. A ruby and a modern LBV should always be served at room temperature (not too hot because then the alcohol flavor will dominates). A tawny at room temperature or chilled like in Portugal. White port wines, both dry and sweet, must also be chilled. The lighter and drier the wine, the lower the temperature must be.

Interesting to know: A vintage port is made of grapes from a single harvest. It is bottled 2 years after harvest and can rip on bottle for 5 to 15 years, sometimes even longer. On the label the harvest year, and the year in which the wine was bottled has to be mentioned. It is only made in the best wine years, hence he is so exceptional.

Historically is port wine traditionally passed to the left. The host first fills the guest's glass on his right hand, then his own glass and then the carafe goes round the table clockwise. Each guest donates himself and only the host may drop the carafe. There are even special carafe with a round bottom that can only be put in special containers so that the carafe is guaranteed.

Cheers !

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How long can you keep an opened bottle of port?

The shelf life depends on the type of port. Thus, the most common port, the young (filtered bottled) Ruby remains well for 3 to 4 weeks. Immediately after opening, the taste can even progress: through the contact with oxygen the port becomes softer and fuller.

Also the (Ruby) Reserve and Late Bottled Vintaged (LBV) port remain well drinkable until one month after opening, provided that you always close the bottle with the original stop cork and keep it at a constant temperature of about 12 degrees.

The Tawny and Colheita can last for a few months. Because these wines have already been in contact with oxygen during the vessel storage, the touch of oxygen later affects less.

Only the vintage port, which is bottled unfiltered, is very durable and will best be used within a few days.