Here, there is lots of youthful black cherry and plum, but age has brought out leather and a little tobacco. Port is made by taking very ripe grapes grown in the Douro Valley and crushing them to extract as much colour and flavour as possible (the top wines are still trodden by foot). White Port – Briefly aged before bottling, these are meant to be drunk young, and range from crisp dry wines, best served with tonic, ice and lemon, to sweeter versions, which go well with puddings. A late bottled vintage is from a single year but aged for up to six years in wood, so once bottled it's ready to drink. The cheapest style of port but made one of the Douro Valley’s smaller producers, Quinta de la Rosa, there’s not a shortage of class.

port 2023: We round up the finest Ruby, Reserve, Single Best port 2023: We round up the finest Ruby, Reserve, Single

Not too sweet, not too oaky, this is a fine example of a characterful port that’s a great crowd pleaser – and all the more so if you have eco-warriors at your dinner table. With often only half the alcohol content of vodka or gin, you’ll find a growing number of bar lists featuring port in all sorts of ways you had probably never imagined. It smells like muscovado sugar wrapped in orange peel, on the palate more oranges and tangerines with nutty notes on the finish. Ruby Port – Aged for 2-3 years in barrels or vats, these are full-bodied ports that are meant to be drunk young. This delicious example from Graham’s is at the lighter end of the style, with soft tannins and a delicious cherry and almond flavour.

Whereas most port should be drunk within a week or so of opening, an open bottle of tawny will last for months, if not years. Tawny Port – After being aged in oak barrels, tawny ports are further aged in bottles for periods such as ten, 20, 40 years, etc. Made from a blend of two or three vintages, the idea is you get the best of all the harvests, and this one is both creamy and smooth and pairs well with puddings, especially berries and chocolate, or with strong cheeses. You’ll know the name of Graham’s – they’ve been making port since 1820 – but you might not know much about white port, which is made exclusively from white grapes and is actually nearer a golden colour. For regular wine deliveries direct to your door, sign up to the BBC Good Food Wine Club for discounts on exclusively curated wine cases chosen by experts and the BBC Good Food team.

for Christmas | BBC Good Food 10 best ports 2023 – top bottles for Christmas | BBC Good Food

Aged for a bit longer, they offer more sophistication and complexity but have the same deep red colouring and fruity flavours. Delivering cherry and blackcurrant jam on the nose, with undercurrents of molasses and woodsmoke, this is a rich and aromatic wine with a soft, lingering finish. Made by one of Porto's great families, the Symingtons, this is another wine that offers great value.It can be drunk now or laid down – but you’ll absolutely need to decant it when you do decide to go for it. If you open it up among a group of friends, we would be impressed if the bottle lasts until the end of the night – this stuff is seriously moreish. It’s intensely aromatic with floral, honey and citrus fruits, and makes a cracking alternative to gin when mixed with tonic. Then there are tawny ports which are barrel-aged for longer with oxygen contact, like with sherry, until they lose their colour and take on a nutty quality. It's a blend of wines with an average age of 10 years, giving it the ripe strawberry fruit of young wines but with the nuttiness of older ones.

Top 25 Tawny Port wines right now - Vivino Top 25 Tawny Port wines right now - Vivino

Vintage Port – Made from the best grapes of a single year, the “vintage” refers to an outstanding harvest.The wines then spend some time in wood, with the lowest quality sold ready to drink as ruby port and the best, only made in special years, bottled as vintage port.

Crusted Port – A blend of outstanding young ports from two or three harvests, these are left to mature in the bottle, forming a “crust” (natural sediment) as they age.Traditionally made with foot-trodden grapes in Noval’s old granite lagares in the summer of 2018, this port is dense, rich and velvety, with leather, liquorish and damsons. It has nuts, dried fruits and orange peel coming through in the aroma, then follows through in the rich, slightly sweet and very smooth taste. Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) Port – Aged for 4-6 years, these ports have lots of character but are lighter than traditional vintages. Single Quinta Vintage Port – These ports are produced from a port house’s best vineyards in a great year, but may not be quite good enough for a declared Vintage Port. In Britain, we tend to associate port with stilton but it is a surprisingly versatile wine: white port is great with tonic; ruby and cheaper tawnies can be used in cocktails in place of vermouth; a chilled tawny makes a nice aperitif; and young vintages are a perfect fit with dark chocolate.