Types of wine
Port wine’s characteristics distinguish it from common wines. All varieties of Port have rich, intense, and very persistent aromas and flavour, with high alcohol content (usually between 19% and 22% vol.). They exist in a variety of sweetness and colours. In order to identify the several types of Port, some designations are used.
Vintage
Vintage is an excellent quality wine made up of one single harvest. It is considered the king of Port wines, representing only a small percentage of the total production of Port.
It is bottled between the 1st July of the second year and the 31st December of the third year after harvesting. Although it can be immediately consumed, it is usually kept in ageing cellars for a period that can last up to 40 years.
It is a very dark, full bodied red wine that becomes softer after ageing in bottle.
Single-Quinta is a wine that undergoes the same production process as a vintage, but comes from a single farm (big companies considered that the year was not enough to qualify a wine as vintage).
In Portugal, IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto – Port and Douro Wines Institute) is the entity responsible for recognising and classifying Port wines as “vintage”.
Other Denominations
Port wines have different denominations according to the type of ageing.
Ruby
Wine whose colour resembles that of the precious stone called ruby. This happens because the ageing process has little or no oxidation (usually up to three years in wooden barrels). It is a young, full bodied wine rich in fruity aromas.
Tawny
Port wine obtained from blends of, usually, 3 year-old wines aged in wine seasoned casks. This way, they don’t present the characteritsics of oak ageing. During the ageing process several rackings are performed in order to force oxidation and endow the wine with a golden colour.
Reserva
This category is applicable to Tawny and Ruby wines. Tawny Reserva wines have higher qualities than Tawny and their tones vary according to the winemaking processes: they can be red, similar to rubies, or brownish, resembling the colour of oldest tawnies. Tawny Reserva is obtained from the blend of 5 to 7 year-old wines. Ruby Reserva are more aromatic, fruity and have a more complex structure than Ruby. The blends used in the production of Ruby Reserva undergo a more careful selection than the ones used in the Ruby category.
Age designation
Good quality Port wine with permission to use age designation. Age designations are: 10 year old, 20 year old, 30 year old and over 40 year old. This Port is a tawny obtained from a blend of wines from several harvests in order to join different organoleptic characteristics (colour, aroma and flavour). The ageing period in wood is variable and the age on the wine’s label corresponds to the average age of the different wines used in the blend (mixture of two or more grape varieties).
Colheita
Good quality tawny Port from one single harvest. Before being bottled, the wine goes through an ageing period in wood of, at least, seven years. Although Tawny is not a blend wine, it undergoes rackings and fillings during its ageing process. While the wine ages, its fresh, fruity aromas oxidise and are transformed into a bouquet (group of aromas), from which the aromas of dry fruit, wood and spices stand out.
L.B.V. (Late Bottled Vintage)
Good quality Port wine with good ageing potential. It has a harvest date and is usually obtained from a blend of wines from that harvest. Its ageing takes place in large vats, oak tuns or stainless steel tanks in order for the oxidative evolution to be extremely slow. LBV is bottled between the 31st July of the fourth year and the 31st December of the sixth year after harvest.
In the Late Bottled Vintage category one also finds the “Envelhecido em garrafa” or Bottle Matured Port. This is a high quality Port that ages in bottle for, at least, three years and can thus create a deposit.
Crusted
High quality Port wine. It is obtained from a blend of wines from different harvests and bottled after 3 to 4 years of ageing in wood. The wine’s peculiar characteristics create a deposit (crust) in the walls of the bottle.
Lágrima
Very sweet Port wine whose sugar content exceeds 130g per litre. When poured into a glass it resembles tears running down the glasse’s walls, hence its name (Lágrima – tears). It is usually obtained from a blend of 2 to 5 year-old wines.
Sweet
Sweet Port has 90 to 130g of sugar per litre. Sweet White Port has several tones of yellow and is obtained from blend wines of different age: some wines use two to three year-old blends, while others use older, five, six and sometimes nine year-old blends (these will be included in the White Reserva category).
Dry
Wine whose sugar content is between 40 and 65g per litre. The Light Dry White Port variety has a colour similar to that of still white wines and a lower alcoholic content than the other varieties of Port wine (16.5%). This is a slightly aromatic wine that does not undergo an intense oxidative ageing. There is also the Half Dry White wine, with 60 to 90g of sugar per litre.
