Skip to main content

What is port wine? All the different types and how to drink it

port wine fireplace
Renate Solhaug

Even among people who know and enjoy their wine, port can sometimes remain something of a mystery. It’s an usual flavor, with the tannin of a red wine but the sweetness of a liqueur, and it’s not that common as a regular dinner or bar staple. However, despite port’s somewhat stodgy associations with old men sipping glasses in front of the fire with a cigar in hand, port is a delicious and fascinating drink with as much complexity and interest to offer as any other type of wine.

It’s also enjoyed in its home country of Portugal as relaxed, easy drink to enjoy with friends in a casual setting before or after dinner, so it doesn’t need to be a stuffy affair. If you’re interested in trying out port, we’ve put together a guide on the key essentials you need to understand and enjoy this often-overlooked delight.

What Is Port Wine?

Port is a fortified wine, which essentially means that it’s a careful blend of wine and spirit (in this case, brandy). The blending achieves two things: It makes the drink stronger (better for customers) and it makes the drink more shelf-stable (better for producers). Historically, though, the blending was done to achieve the simplest way to export wine cheaply and safely over long distances.

Because of the rich, syrupy liquid that results from the process of adding spirits to wine, however, port is located on a far corner of the wine world’s diagram along with other strong wines like Madeira, sherry, marsala, and vermouth. It can be used more or less in the same ways as those spirits: consumed straight, mixed in cocktails or punches, or as an ingredient in cooking when a recipe calls for a lot of flavor and a little de-glazing.

port wine styles glass
CatLane/Getty Images

Styles of Port

There are four main styles of port. They are:

White

A bright and fruity unaged white grape fortified wine. There are some older ones that can be consumed on their own, but most of the white port on the market today is best in cocktails. (You can read more about Porto Tónicos, the current most popular way to drink white port, here.)

Ruby

The most common style of port, it’s vibrant red and equally vibrant in flavor. Generally, they’re aged in steel or concrete tanks so they don’t take a lot of flavor from wood or oxidization. They can be used in cocktails and are great in punch recipes. Reserve Port is a particular subcategory of Ruby.

Tawny

Tawny ports are aged in oak barrels and mellow in flavor and color over time. They’re great neat as a dessert wine or as a casual beverage early on in the night. They’re typically aged about five years.

Vintage and Late Bottle Vintage

Vintage ports are made entirely of grapes from a single vintage. The main difference between vintage and LBV is that the former is more expensive, coming from a year that is a Declared Vintage, which are years when the wine industry collectively agrees that they have had an exceptional harvest. LBV may not have notoriety, but it’s often significantly cheaper (and sometimes just as good) as regular Vintage port.

How to Drink Port

Vintage, LBV, and tawny ports belong in your hand, in a glass, on their own. With few exceptions, there isn’t a lot of reason to mix these beverages, though you will occasionally find tawny used in some cocktail recipes in place of vermouth (which we enjoy thoroughly).

We mentioned using ruby port in punch recipes, but one of our favorite drinks is the white port and tonic. It’s a simple half and half mixed drink, to taste (we like a little more tonic in ours). It’s good for day-drinking and surprisingly well balanced for warm or cold weather. A few drops of citrus bitters can spice it up, but, honestly, the traditional lemon, lime, or mint garnish is all you need.

What is the Difference Between Red Wine and Port Wine?

If you don’t often drink much wine, let alone port, we won’t judge you if you don’t know the difference between port and red wine. The two typically look pretty similar in the glass, but they have very different flavor styles and are drunk on different occasions. You do get white port, but typically when people talk about port they mean one of the version which is a fortified red wine, meaning that the port house has taken red wine and blended it with a stronger alcohol such as grape spirit. That means that port is significantly higher in alcohol content than red wine, which is why it typically comes in a much smaller glass.

The flavor and texture of the two are different as well. Red wines are typically dry and tannin-y, but port wine is sweet and more syrupy in texture. If you find red wine off-putting because it’s too dry for you, you might enjoy the sweetness of a port instead. This is also why red wine is very often served during meals, especially with rich foods like red meats. The hearty quality of the wine matches well with heavy food, but wine is still light enough to be sippable throughout a meal. Port, on the other hand, is typically drunk after diner. It can be enjoyed like a desert wine, in place of a desert or as an accompaniment to a cheese course. It’s much richer and heavier than wine, so it’s best drunk on its own or maybe with a small snack.

In the United States, port exists mainly as an occasional after-dinner treat for diners who are visiting restaurants. But in Europe, and particularly in Portugal, the home of port, it’s enjoyed in other contexts too. Mixed drinks made using port are popular, like a port and tonic, and it can even be used in cocktails such as in a twist on a negroni. It is also sometimes enjoyed as an apéritif before dinner, particularly the lighter white port, so it’s not something that’s exclusive for late at night.

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
The Most Influential Black Voices in Wine
Simonne Mitchelson profile pic on Jackson Family Wine Facebook.

Wine is not fair. Despite a diverse American population, only roughly 1 in every 1,000 winemakers in this country is Black. The percentages are a little better for the industry at large, but not by much. The wine tides are changing, thankfully, but there's much work to be done in the name of creating an inviting, diverse, and dynamic community.

The drinks industry is evolving and there are more and more Black voices entering the conversation. Wine has been particularly slow to shift, perhaps because it's always been so bound to tradition and has a history of elitism. Fortunately, it's shifting towards a younger, broader core audience, just ask boxed wine and Pinot Gris in a can. A major part of that shift involves having the wine scene actually reflect the landscape it inhabits.

Read more
What Is Terroir and Is It Really Controversial?
science of drinking at high altitude holding wine vineyard getty

Terroir is a trendy term that relates to the flavor and nature of a food's origin. It began in wine, where it's still a prominent concept, but has crept into everything from coffee and tea to baked goods and specialty salts. Has the t-word tread too far?

It began, like so many wine-related things, in France. Terroir was used as a way to account for the place-ness of a particular wine. In other words, the many conditions at play that make Champagne uniquely Champagne and Burgundy uniquely Burgundy. Over the generations, we learned more and more about how these conditions -- the climate, the soil type, the elevation -- shaped the resulting wines. Now, we have more distinct wine regions on the global wine map than ever, with some 260 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the states alone, with a few more added every year.

Read more
An Idaho Wine Guide to the Burgeoning World of the Gem State’s Wine
Colter's Creek

By now, if you like wine, you probably know that places like Sonoma, Oregon, Walla Walla, Washington, and the Fingerlakes aren't the only shows in town. Because there are so many types of grapes suitable for countless types of terrain and climates, wine is made just about everywhere. Increasingly, it's being done in Idaho, one of the American West's most up-and-coming wine regions. Like Virginia, there's experimentation and a real pursuit of quality, all happening mostly before the big tourist busses and front-page acclaim.
Here's a rundown on the scene. Idaho, long known for its potatoes, is a massive state wedged between Oregon and Washington to the west and Montana to the east. The mountainous north is rugged and home to the Rockies while the south is an agricultural hotbed, a prime spot for wheat and other grains (making it very attractive to brewers and spirits producers) but also more and more rows of vineyards. In fact, more than 70 wineries call Idaho home now, sourcing from 1,300 planted acres ranging from 600-3,000 feet in elevation.

The Gem State is made up of three unique American Viticultural Areas, including the Snake River Valley, the Lewis-Clark Valley, and the Eagle Foothills. Expect that number to increase in the coming years, as more producers take advantage of the abundant potential here. What to expect? Well, being inland and a bit warmer and more arid than fellow regional appellations like the Willamette Valley, Idaho is making some excellent Riesling, Syrah, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Chardonnay, Merlot, and more.
Split Rail

Read more