Taylor's Select Reserve Port 75cl

Product Information

That’s barely scratching the surface of Port, but it’s certainly enough to get you started. Enjoy Port like you enjoy any other glass of wine, noting its color, aroma and the balance of its tannins, acidity and flavors. Try different styles, different producers and take notes. And after you’ve developed your own taste for Port comes the best part: introducing friends, dates, family, business associates and others to the lost arts of the aperitif and digestif. Further Port reading:

Broadly speaking, there are two main distinctions of Port wine: bottle-aged Port and barrel-aged Port. A more apt term might be “barrel-matured” or “bottle-matured,” since all Port spends some time in a barrel. In general, bottle-aged Port tends to be smoother and less tannic. Barrel-aged Port tends to take on some of the qualities of the wooden barrels, including taste (remember “oakiness”?) and color. Further, barrel-aged Ports (or “wood Ports”) end up more viscous, due to a slight amount of evaporation.Did you enjoy your first bottle of Port? I thought you would. Now that you’re beginning to develop a taste for Port, you can start exploring some bottles from higher up on the shelf. Taylor’s Select Reserve Port is blended from carefully selected young red wines produced in the Baixo Corgo and Cima Corgo areas of the upper Douro Valley, chosen for their depth of colour, intense fruit and full, firm palate. These Port wines are matured for about two years in oak vats, where they soften and develop without losing their fresh, intense fruity character and their deep ruby colour.

This lighter style of Port has an amber colour, mellow flavours of ripe berry fruit, butterscotch, figs, prunes and spice The rules governing Port lend it a clear-cut terminology that’s a far cry from the ambiguous fluff and puffery that other bottles of wine may try to confuse you with. For starters, the way to tell you’re holding an authentic bottle of Port is dead simple: look for the Selo de Garantia, a white seal that reads “Vinho do Porto Garantia.” RESERVE TAWNY - For each of the historic bottles in the series, Taylor’s skilled blenders have created a wood aged Reserve Port drawn from the company’s extensive reserves and matured in oak casks in its ‘lodges’ in Oporto. Fully aged, these superb limited edition blends are ready for immediate enjoyment. You can spend a lifetime exploring the nuance and history of the types Port wine. But all it takes to get started is 10 minutes of reading. Start here. What is Port Wine?For the Love of Port– Hands-down best online guide for Port. Great beginner articles and massive archive of thoughful blog posts, interviews, features and more. Port is produced by adding aguardente (sometimes referred to simply as “ brandy”) to (usually) red wine. This does a few things. Obviously, it ups the alcohol content (20% ABV on average), but it also preserves more of the natural sugars from the grapes by stopping the fermentation process. Lastly, the fortification in Port brings warmth to your body. (On that note, Port is often used as communion wine for its sweetness. When I was a kid, I thought that warm fuzzy feeling was Jesus’ love. True story.) Except for Vintage Port, Port is relatively resilient and can be stored upright or sideways in a cool, dark place. You can buy specially made Port glasses, which are 8 ounce stemware glasses meant to be filled halfway, but eyeballing 4 ounces into a wide-mouthed red wine glass works, too. Since most Port is red wine, the rule of thumb of serving it at a cool room temperature around 64 to 66 degrees Fahrenheit applies. But aged, less tannic Ports can easily be enjoyed slightly chilled. Ruby Reserve Port (formerly known as Vintage Character Port, until the term was banned in 2002) is similar to Ruby Port in that it’s affordable, bottled ready-to-drink and blended from several vintages. The difference is that Ruby Reserve Port is blended from higher quality wines and is barrel-aged for about five years. Apéritifs and digestifs are alcoholic drinks served with meals; Apéritifs are served before to stimulate the appetite, digestifs served after to aid digestion. Barrel-aged Port vs. Bottle-aged Port