Everything you actually need to know to order the right bottle in a Douro cellar — and nothing you don't.
Port intimidates people, and it shouldn't. Strip away the centuries of ceremony and there are really only two questions: was it aged in a barrel or a bottle, and for how long.
Aged in wood: tawny
Tawny Port spends years in cask, slowly oxidising, turning from purple to amber and picking up flavours of almond, fig and caramel.
If you remember one thing: tawny tastes of dried fruit and nuts, ruby tastes of fresh fruit. Start there.
— Miguel Sá
Aged in bottle: vintage
Vintage Port is the opposite philosophy — bottled young, after barely two years in wood, and left to evolve in glass for decades.
M
Miguel Sá
Wine writer · Douro Guide