These days, Portugal’s famous fortified wines can sometimes be seen as somewhat futzy, associated with the post-dinner sips beloved by English nobility. Many drinkers shrug port off as too sweet or too strong—a shame, because it offers a full range of applications beyond digestifs and dessert pairings.
Port is extremely misunderstood. It’s often seen solely as a dessert wine, which is a gross misconception.
Consider port a sleeper agent of a bottle. Unlike lower-proof fortified wines, an open bottle has a shelf-life of months, ready to be shaken or stirred into any number of cocktails in a snap. And its uses reveal port as a bit of a chameleon: It can sub into spritzes just as easily as it can into cold-weather cocktails. Sip it neat or dose a Tiki cocktail or a cobbler with a healthy dash of port.
Beating the Bad Rap
Why isn’t port the bar staple it deserves to be? The biggest misconception is that all port is just sweet. Port possesses a depth and complexity that many people do not expect to find.
Many Americans group port wine with brandy. While it is correct in that both are made from grapes, the two are very different drinks.
Bartenders often are confused by technicalities. “Does it go off within hours? Days? Do you keep it in the fridge? When do you serve it? All of these queries may seem intimidating if you aren’t familiar with the port.” (The answers: Drink it with anything, refrigeration isn’t mandatory, and you should finish an opened bottle within a few months).
A Port Primer
Port is a type of fortified wine produced in the Douro region of Portugal. Its name comes from the city of Porto, located at the mouth of the Douro River, the hub of the port-wine trade from the late 1600s, when it began to grow popular abroad.
Like other fortified wines, port has a distilled spirit (in this case aguardente, a neutral grape spirit) added to increase the alcohol content and preserve the wine. It’s fortified during fermentation to stop the process, leaving unfermented sugar in the wine that gives port its notably sweet, rich character.
While many people group all styles of port together, there’s really a rainbow of red-port styles, ranging from ruby and tawny to vintage, colheita, and late-bottled vintage (LBV) ports.
Ruby ports drink like a full-bodied fruit-forward wine. Think plums, cassis, and berries. These are generally the least-expensive ports, made from red wine aged in concrete or stainless-steel vessels without exposure to air, which preserves the wine’s original red color—thus the name of the category.
Tawny port is aged in wooden barrels, allowing contact with air to oxidize the wine and impart deep gold colors and nutty flavors. This style of port is much more mellow in flavor and color, lighter-bodied and takes on more nuttiness. Think hazelnuts, dried fruit, and butterscotch.
Vintage ports, like vintage wines, are made only from grapes harvested in the labeled vintage year and spend most of their aging time in the bottle. LBV ports start as vintage ports but spend more time aging in barrels before they're bottled, and are usually ready to drink without additional bottle-aging.
The drinks pros are unanimous in their preference for tawny port, particularly for using in cocktails. Probably because it’s perfect for fall and winter. It’s barrel-aged for longer and has darker, more complex flavor profiles. It’s great: high-quality, inexpensive, and bright.
The medium-dry styles have a wonderful nutty flavor, rich, golden color, and slightly less sweet character. There are also lots of different types and prices to choose from, so you can find a tawny port for every drinker and every occasion.”
Pour It with Port
Speaking of cocktails, don’t stick to an antiquated idea of only pairing port with cheese and sweets. Port is versatile and pairs with all kinds of food. It works really well as a base in cocktails and just as well as a modifier. Try using port in place of other fortified wines in classic cocktails, subbing it in for the vermouth in a Manhattan or Negroni or the sherry in a cobbler.
Experiment by swapping in port wine in place of syrups or liqueurs. Ruby port is an easy swap for crème de cassis or Chambord and makes a fantastic Aviation when substituted for crème de violette. A tawny port can stand in for amaretto, Crème de Noyaux, or Frangelico, and makes a fantastic Portuguese Margarita when used in place of triple sec.
Port wine is an underappreciated gem. Introduce people to port and watch them realize during that first taste that it isn't what they expected. The flavor sells itself. Port is delicious, approachable, and easy to enjoy, even if you don't generally like wines.
