Port: not just for Christmas

Everything looks better after a glass of port but why do we only seem to reach for this life-enhancing fortified wine during the festive season, asks Jonathan Ray

Six of the best ports chosen by Jonathan Ray

Croft Pink Port (£12.75 per 50cl)
The Whisky Exchange

No, don’t laugh: pink port is light, fresh, vibrant and gloriously tasty served chilled.

Taylor’s Chip Dry White Port (£14.50 per 75cl)
Waitrose

The original white port, sublime when served with tonic, ice, slice and mint.

Dow’s Fine Ruby Port (£18.99 per 75cl)
Tesco

Fresh, juicy, rich, accessible and a very decent entry point.

2012 Quinta do Noval LBV (£24 per 75cl)
Focus Wines

The finest of all the Late Bottled Vintage ports, almost as fine as pricier full-blown vintage.

Quinta de la Rosa 10-Year- Old Tawny (£29.99 per 50cl)
Quaff Wine

A fabulous nutty, toffee-rich, marmaladey port that finishes ever so slightly drier than most.

1997 Graham’s Vintage Port (£74 per 75cl)
Davy’s

In its pomp, a magnificent vintage from a great house.

The joy that is port

We really ought to consider the joy that is port more often. Just as we should eat Brussels sprouts more regularly. The sprout is the only thing that makes Christmas bearable – well, that and the booze. Was there ever a finer vegetable? Roasted with shallots, pan-fried with lardons and chestnuts, deep-fried and smothered in pomegranate molasses, puréed with butter and nutmeg or simply boiled, the sprout gets my vote every time.  It’s a rare week I go without. I’m not suggesting that we drink port every day (although I know someone in their nineties who does, swearing that it’s the key to a long, happy life) but we could at least make an effort to drink it once or twice a week. (Read our advice on how to use a decanter.)

Porto tônico

A large porto tônico – Portugal’s gift to the world – is pretty much the perfect place to start. Everything, even the sight of an approaching Christmas, looks better after a large porto tônico. And do, please, make sure it’s a large one. Don’t fall into the trap of making a small one, which is no good to anyone.

It’s a cinch to make, being composed of a large slug of white port with – don’t be swayed by the lightweights – an equal measure of tonic, garnished with ice, a wedge of orange or lemon and a sprig of mint. Misguided folk will tell you it should be one measure of port to two of tonic but this is nonsense, as explained to me by none other than the Porto/Douro royalty that is Alistair Robertson, former chairman of the Fladgate Partnership, owners of such stellar port houses as Croft, Fonseca, Portal and, of course, Taylor’s.

Robertson pointed out that the tonic was there to enhance and lift the port, not to drown it. A perfectly made porto tônico should be fresh, citrusy, nutty, uplifting and euphoria-giving, not watery, feeble and wishy-washy, and it should make you think happy thoughts, fortifying you for the hours ahead.

Types of port

Other than white port there are two main types of port: vintage and tawny, both made like any other wine until the fermentation is arrested by the addition of brandy, leaving the wine rich in sweet fruit and high in alcohol – 20% vol. After two years in barrel, vintage port is aged in bottle and continues to mature therein; tawny port is aged in barrel and stops maturing once bottled, and the two are very different. Vintage will be sumptuous and rich, crammed with luscious, sweet, dark fruit; tawny will be lighter and more about nuts, toffee, raisins, candied orange and spice.

LBV port

Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) port is similar to vintage, although it spends longer in barrel (between four and six years) before bottling and is ready to drink earlier. It makes a great-value alternative.

Both vintage and LBV will need decanting, as they will throw a sediment (keep this gunk and smear it on a trivet of toast adorned with roast woodcock). The tawny won’t, as it doesn’t.

I enjoy a tawny lightly chilled as a mid-morning sharpener, as a partner to apple pie or tarte tatin or on its own after a meal. Vintage port is better enjoyed at room temperature on its tod or with hard cheeses, nuts, dried apricots or a ruminative cigar. Port is so versatile and so tasty. Don’t just keep it for Christmas.

Pass port to the left?

Oh, and don’t fret. Although the fuddy-duddies insist we pass the port to the left, the Tower of London will not fall down if you attend to your thirsty neighbour and pass it to the right.

This review was originally published in the December 2025 issue of The Field. For more articles on food and drink, subscribe to our monthly newsletter, The Field to Fork. 

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