Port, or Porto, is a fortified wine produced only in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. Blended from numerous grape varieties, it comes in a number of styles.
Port comes in many different styles but generally these can be broken down into a few different categories. Bottle aged Ports, are arguably the most important and prestigious. For many years Vintage Ports, i.e., Ports made in a declared vintage from a single year, were the pinnacle of quality, but as shippers continue to seek new ways to distinguish themselves, we are seeing wines such as Single Quinta Vintage Ports. Elsewhere in the wine world these singe origin wines, from a single year would be considered a benchmark of quality but in Ports its not so understood. There is an argument to say that blending a diverse selection of raw materials is likely to produce a better, more complex wine. While this may be true, single Quinta Ports give us more of an insight into the terroir of different aspects of these steep river valley terraces.
