No one knows exactly when Port, as we know it, was created, but sometime during the end of the 1600's or beginning of the 1700's, someone came up with the idea of stopping the fermentation with brandy while the wine was still sweet, fruity, and strong. There are over 90 different varieties of grape permitted to be grown in the Port wine region. Of these, about 30 different varieties can actually be found there, but only five are considered to be of exceptional quality: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão and Touriga Francesa.   More

No one knows exactly when Port, as we know it, was created, but sometime during the end of the 1600's or beginning of the 1700's, someone came up with the idea of stopping the fermentation with brandy while the wine was still sweet, fruity, and strong. There are over 90 different varieties of grape permitted to be grown in the Port wine region. Of these, about 30 different varieties can actually be found there, but only five are considered to be of exceptional quality: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão and Touriga Francesa.

There are many styles of port, but two broad categories define port—bottle aged or cask aged. The two processes produce distinctly different wines. Bottle-aged ports keep their color and generally their fruitiness into their maturity They are aged for a short time in wood and are bottled without filtration where they are meant to mature. Cask-aged ports lose much of their pigment and become tawny in color. These are aged in wood and then filtered and bottled. They are ready to drink right away.   Less