A Tasting of Ports - Tawnies, Reds and Vintages

When many people think of port, they think of a stodgy old-fashioned drink that people in smoking jackets sip from giant glasses as they sit by the fire. The truth is so much more interesting! It's a delicious, sweet, thick wine from Portugal. Just about anybody can enjoy port - especially new wine drinkers and even those who normally don't like wine. Even better, port goes perfectly with chocolate, making it a wonderful end to just about any meal.

Port should really come from the town of Oporto in Portugal. They have special grapes there that they put into their ports - none that you would recognize from your wine drinking times. Four of the most popular grapes used are tinta rariz, tinta francisca, touriga nacional and touriga francesca. In addition, port is made using special techniques, and is fortified with brandy to help it last longer and to give it its distinctive flavor.

That's not to say that other countries don't make port-like beverages, just using their own grapes and their own techniques. Australia and California are two regions that are making several port-style drinks. They may taste similar to a real port, but the differences are still pretty marked. In the end it only matters if you personally like something, and not where it's from, but it's good to know why things taste the way they do!

Winter is the perfect time for ports. The air gets chilly, people are giving each other lots of chocolate (or so I always hope), and sipping delicious port by a roaring fire while eating chocolate is about the most perfect way I can imagine to spend a snowy evening. To get prepared, I recently did a tasting of a number of easily available ports to see how they compared. To be able to report fairly to wine drinkers of all port-levels, I did tastings with both people who loved port and also with people who had never tasted port before and only liked a few wines.

Come along to see the results!

Part 1: The Tawnies


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