White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting. Portvin er en hedvin, som bliver tilsat spiritus. Portvinens udbredelse udspringer af 1600-tallets handelskrige mellem England og Frankrig. Metoden blev så at sige ”genopfundet” af englænderne omkring 1678 for at sikre at vinene under den lange transport på havet nåede frem i god behold.

White! Rose! Tawny! Vintage! There are different ports for different people. Whites are bright and best served chilled, vintage ports are pricier, but ready to sit in your cellar. Rose ports are a happy medium – easy for sunny days, after dinner drinks, and beyond.

My Account

Port is a type of fortified wine produced in the Douro region of Portugal,” describes Anthony Caporale, Director of Spirits Education at the Institute of Culinary Education​. “The name comes from the city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, which was the hub of the port wine trade from the late 1600's. Like other fortified wines, port has a distilled spirit (in this case a neutral grape spirit known as aguardente) added to it to increase the alcohol content and help preserve the wine. The spirit is added during fermentation to stop the process, leaving unfermented sugar in the wine that gives port its notably sweet, rich character. A rich yet elegant combination of flavours - dried apricots, honey, nuts, spices, vanilla - creates anendlessly complex wine that unfolds smoothly and develops in the mouth.

Otima 10 Port is a little dry, fruity with well balanced wood-ageing flavours. The red fruit tones with delicious raisin tastes and touches of wood-aging are well integrated with its acidity. Not too sweet, it finishes with a fresh, rich aftertaste.

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Today we’re taking a belated look at four of the Port wines of Warre’s, one of the major Port houses, including its most widely-known expression, Warrior. We’re also looking at a fresh bottle of the 10 year old Otima Tawny, a wine we’ve reviewed three separate times in the past. These are all nonvintage bottlings, of course. Warre's has established itself as one of the most sophisticated producers in the Port wine industry. Warre's has a long tradition in producing Port wine engaging total dedication to quality and premium innovation. The launch of Warre's 10 and 20 year Tawny Otima brought a revolution in port wine, introducing a completely new concept, helping to rejuvenate the image of Port wine in the world's major markets. Otima is now widely recognized as a premium benchmark. The merit of Otima was to show the versatility of Port wine as a product, to be consumed at any time of the year and for any consumer. The design of the bottle was combined with an excellent wine that won gold and silver medals in the competitions in which it participated. Both tawny and ruby ports could benefit from a slight chill, and white ports should be kept at fridge temperature. There are two kinds of wine that are distinctly Portuguese. One is the very satisfying mostly-white, rosé, and red wines from the Vinho Verde region, and the other is the sweet fortified port wine which also happens to be one of the country’s national treasures. Otima er nytænkning indenfor portvin, og allerede den smukke og anderledes flasketype signalerer, at man her vil gøre op med de lidt stereotype forestillinger om portvin. Den klare flaske gør, at indholdet ligner flydende rav, og serverer man den let afkølet, får man en frisk og liflig nydelse med en smag af mandariner, puddersukker, abrikoser og nødder. Denne gyldenbrune portvin har en flot bouquet af tørret frugt og valnødder og en nærmest cremet smag. Otima har fået bred anerkendelse for sin smagsmæssige stil og har fået en række guld- og sølvmedaljer i Decanter World Wine Awards og International Wine Challenge og flotte udmærkelser hos bl.a. Decanter, Parkers Wine Advocate og Wine Spectator. Warre's 10-årig Tawny fra Douro