| Port wines derives it name from the the city of | | | | casks and then bottled. It has a deep mahogany |
| Porto located in the Douro Valley in northern | | | | color and a drier wine with a nuttier taste. |
| Portugal. Port wines are usually made from | | | | Aged Tawny Port |
| combination of up to five different grape | | | | Aged tawny port is usually aged for 10 years but |
| varieties, Touriga Nacional, Tinto Cao, Tina | | | | some of the more expensive ones have been |
| Barroca, Tinta Rozi, and Touriga Fanacesas. It | | | | aged for more than 40 years. |
| tends have a much richer, sweeter and heavier | | | | Colheita Port |
| flavor than other wines. It is usually served as an | | | | Colheita port is aged for at least seven years in |
| before or after dinner drink because if its rich | | | | the smaller casks before being bottled. It also only |
| fruity flavor but is also goes well with sweet | | | | uses grapes from a single harvest year and is not |
| desserts, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate and | | | | blended with grapes harvested from other years. |
| other sweet foods. | | | | The label will have the year of the harvest. |
| Port wines are forfeited which means that | | | | White Port |
| additional grapes spirits are added to the blend | | | | White port is aged for two to three years in |
| during processing to increase the alcohol content | | | | casks and then bottled. The taste can vary from |
| making it have a much higher alcohol content that | | | | very sweet to a light dry flavor. This is the type |
| other wines. There are several different | | | | of port usually reserved for the drink called the |
| classifications of port wine and it is based on the | | | | Port Splash. |
| aging process. The first type of aging process is | | | | Crusted Port |
| called reductive aging. This is when wines are aged | | | | Crusted port is a ruby port that is aged for about |
| in large sealed wooden tanks or bottles with very | | | | 3 years in cask and then finishes the aging |
| little exposure to oxygen. The large wooden vats | | | | process in the bottle. It is a blend of grapes from |
| have a very small surface area for the volume of | | | | several different years and it is not filtered before |
| wine involved which gives the wine its bright red | | | | being bottled which is why it will have sediment in |
| color and fruity taste. | | | | the bottle. |
| The second type of aging process is called | | | | Single Quinta Port |
| oxidative aging. Wines are stored in smaller cask | | | | Single quinta port is Tawny port that uses grapes |
| where the surface area to volume is larger than | | | | from a single vineyard and has been aged in |
| in the large wooden tanks. This type of port wine | | | | casks for 2 years before being bottled. The wine |
| will have a mahogany hues and complex tastes. | | | | is allowed to age in the bottle for five to fifty |
| The wines are tasted regularly to determine what | | | | year more. |
| effect the aging time is having on the wine. | | | | Vintage Port |
| Ruby Port | | | | Vintage port is aged for two years in large vats |
| Ruby port is aged for a minimum of 2 years in | | | | prior to being bottled and then it is allowed to age |
| large vats prior to being bottled. It has a rich red | | | | for five to fifty years in the bottle. It is one of |
| color and a full fruity taste. | | | | the most sought after wines in the world and also |
| Tawny Port | | | | one of the most expensive. |
| Tawny port is aged for 2 years in the smaller | | | | |