Types of Wine: Port Wines
Port is a product of Portugual, commonly called Porto to distinguish it from copies made elsewhere in the world. High residual sugar renders a quality dessert wine that can be enjoyed after a meal or at the end of the dessert course with a sweet dessert. Port wine is part of a European tradition of dining with different wines with each course. Gourmet dining is distinguished by including a Port wine with a specialty dish or fruit dessert.
Touriga National, Touriga Franca, and Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo) are three of eighty wines that can comprise a Porto wine. Light colored Porto will be lighter in flavor and less tannic than its deeper, heavier bodied and full-mouthed Vintage ports suitable for aperitif and dessert servings. Tawny port is a popular specialty wine collectors value for its ability to pair successfully with dessert courses or stand on its own after a meal.
Vintage port can be aged up to four decades and cost hundreds of dollars. This type of Port will be made from the best grapes possible and stored for aging. Lesser aged Port wine can be used for drinking with desserts or alone warmed or cooled to enhance taste. Citrus notes of lemon, orange and other fruit can be present in distinctive Port wines of any price range. Many chefs serve Port with fine cheese to enhance taste and epicurean pleasure.
Port wines can be a conversation point or turning point in a meal or home entertainment or enjoyed when dining out. An LBV Port is a late bottled vintage aged four to six years. A Colheita port is a port wine made from the best grapes wine from a single vintage ready to drink upon release. While vintage ports are aged in oak casks, barrel aged Tawny Ports sleep a much longer sleep to bring out fruit, but and berry flavors.
Whatever your taste in wine for any individual palate, there is a Port wine to please. Words used to describe Port wines are herbed, spiced, with mineral notes, grapy, smoky, vanillin, peppery, chocolate finish, licorice, fragranced, savory, and berried. Blackberry, apricot, lemon, and other fruit flavors reside in Port wines of every vintage. Port wines of every vintage will be freshened up with a splash of soda.
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