What would be a good affordable port wine?
I know a little about wines. Mostly I drink Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon so I’m a slightly experienced wine drinker however my Boyfriend really likes Ports (which I know nothing about) and I wanted to find a nice bottle to get him for Valentines day any help with specific vineyards that are good and years would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Tagged with: cabernet sauvignon • ports • wine drinker • wines
Filed under: All Things Wine
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Port wine is an entire wine experience than most of the wines, so it also requires steep learning curve.
For your purposes, however, you should aim for learning about the taste of Port Wine. Basically, Port is made from partially fermented grape juice, which had Brandy added to stop the fermentation process. As a result, you get a liquor that is high is alcohol content (from 18% and up) and alcohol content (hence the sweetness). Port can be made from a variety of red wines, and some winemakers also make fortified sweet white wine in the same process. By the way, Port are first produced in Portugal, near the city of Porto, hence Port wines.
There are many types of Port, from Tawny to Late Bottle Vintage (LBV) to Ruby to Vintage. Honestly, these will not mean much to you expect for prices at this point. On the other hand, what you should know is that the higher the price, the more likely the Port will be need to be aged.
I would recommend for you to go to a large liquor store and go to the wine section and pick up a bottle or two of lower priced wine, maybe $20-30 per bottle. These would be of reasonable quality and a good introduction for you for Port. Often time, you can buy Port in half bottle (375 cc). As for brand, I like Sandeman, Taylor, Warre, Cockerham in these price range. These are good choices and all produced nicely drinking Port. If you want something expensive, LBV would be a good choice. Honestly, I would not spend the money for Vintage Port for that to be opened right away. What you can do is to buy a cheaper bottle to drink now and get him a nice Vintage Port to save for that 20th year anniversary.
Cheers!
All port is pretty good. If you want something a little nicer than a regular ruby port, try a colheita or LBV port. These are a little more expensive but made from a better single vintage juice. If you don’t mind blowing some money, vintage ports are made from juices declared to be the finest and are best when bottle aged about 20 years. Otherwise look at tawny ports. These are cask aged for at least ten years and often more. A 20 year old tawny port is usually affordable and very good.
I included a link that defines these types simply and well. The other link explains serving suggestions and fun port rituals.
Christian Brothers Ruby Port
Not exactly sure where you live so it is a little hard to recommend a specific wine that you will be able to find in your local wine stores. However, there is one piece of advice I can give you. Anything specifically called Port is required, by legislature, to be from Portugal. Some wine producing areas allow their wineries to call port style wines as Port but it is not legal to do so in most cases. However, having said that, those port style wines can be just as nice as Port from Portugal and can cost a fraction of the price.
Some of my favourite "ports" have come from California where they have gotten inventive with the grapes they use. It is possible that you will be able to find one using your favourite grapes - Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon - as well. If you have a local wine shop, go in there and see what they suggest since they will know what they have available that fits into your budget and preference.