Port wine

Abstract

Port wine is a fortified wine with its origin in the Douro Demarcated Region but also includes Oporto city and the Entreposto of Gaia. Soil, climate, and viticultural conditions are important parameters used to classify and select the best vineyards to produce port wine. Taking into account the winemaking process, two major groups of wines can be distinguished: The wood ports and the bottle-aged ports. These distinct conditions and processes ensure that there is not an unique port wine but, several ports, whose colors range from white to deep purple and that present a wide variety of flavors: vintage, late-bottled vintage, crusted, indication of age, colheita, reserve, white, tawny, ruby, and rosé.