Seasonal Ports: 15 of the finest bottles to try this winter

There is a Port for all seasons if you know where to look.

When the weather turns cold, there is nowhere like the Douro Valley for capturing the warmth of summer. The slatey schistous soils and drought-resistant grape varieties combine to produce wines that can be wonderfully satisfying in their first flush of youth or transform into something gloriously ethereal with age.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 15 top seasonal Ports

Colder months

Deeper, darker fruit-driven styles tend to be the first choice for the winter months.

Ruby, crusted, late bottled vintage (LBV) and vintage Ports have provided centuries of central heating for adults (with apologies to the Ready Brek advert!).

Warmer months

Tawnies and colheitas are my choice for warmer, even hot days when they can be supremely and sublimely refreshing. These wines – bottled either with an indication of age or the year of harvest (‘colheita’) – are aged in cask until their youthful ruby colour and spicy tannins fall away.

They should be served cellar cool to capitalise on their subtlety and silky smoothness. And they don’t need to be drunk in one go: you can return to an aged tawny over the period of a month or so if the wine is kept cool in the fridge.

Don’t miss out on dry white Port, where the same ageing rules now apply as to tawnies. I am usually too much of a purist to be a fan of wine as a mixer, but an aged dry white Port and tonic has a refreshing biter-sweet twist akin to a low-alcohol Negroni.

The 15 wines I have selected, are some of my highlights from a year of Port tasting (and drinking) – through spring, summer, autumn and winter alike.

Value

You don’t need to spend a fortune to taste good Port. The wines here range in price from a modest £12 bottle to a lavish £3,900, for a bottle of wine dating from the late 19th century. There is real value to be had in the middle-ranking wines (£15-£35 a bottle): LBVs, crusted and single quinta vintage Ports.

From tasting these wines year after year at the Decanter World Wine Awards, I can assure you that their quality has never been better.

All but one of the wines below are perfect for drinking now, however for anyone with the future to consider (a godchild or grandchild, perhaps), I have included a wine from 2019 – declared as a vintage earlier this year by some shippers (a full write-up of these wines will appear on Decanter Premium).

I thoroughly recommend you dip into all but one of these Ports over Christmas, keeping one or two of the wines back for a very happy New Year in 2022.

Mayson’s sumptuous selection: 15 seasonal Ports to try

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Which Ports should you drink this winter?