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About Port Wine

Port wine stands for wine from Portugal. Port wine is also known as "Port" but was change to "Porto" about a decade or two ago, to avoid confusion from "Ports" from other countries in the market. Port wine was first imported into England in the the late seventeenth century by the first English Port house, Warre in Oporto, Portugal due to the shortage of French wine. To ensure its stability on the journey to England, brandy is added to the finished wine.

Port wine is made from a blend of wine grapes grown on the steep slopes of Douro region in Portugal. There are as many as 15 different local grape varieties in the Port wine. The grapes are not the same as those from other countries, even for the most important of them are relatively unknown. For example: Touriga, Sousao, Bastardo, and the Tinta (red) versions—Tinta Cao, Tinta Madeira, and Tinta Francisca.

Different Port wines

Late-bottled vintage Port wine comes from one vintage that is cask-aged for at least four years before bottling. Most of the sediment will settle during cask-aging.

Ruby Port wine is a blend of vintages which usually lacks the intense purple colors and flavors of a higher quality Port wine. It's cask-aged for roughly three years.

Tawny Port wines are deep garnet or brownish in color, but they need no more aging than a ruby.

The top quality tawny port wines state their average age on the label 10, 20, 30, or 40 years.

White Port wine rarely is seen outside Portugal or France. White port wine is made from white-grape varieties and drunk as an aperitif.

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