Whenever the temperature begins to drop, I start eyeballing the port that I have in my liquor cabinet. Port can be enjoyed any time of year, but I quite enjoy a little port on a cold winter night or after a big holiday meal.

Port is a fortified wine, which means they add alcohol to it during the fermentation process to increase the alcohol content to greater than what the yeast can produce on its own. The alcohol generally added into the mix to fortify port is brandy. Because it’s fortified, port can last open on the shelf a lot longer than a standard wine (up to several months depending on the how it’s stored).

Most of the port produced comes from the the Douro River Valley in Portugal and from five major grape varieties: Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão, Tempranillo, Touriga Francesa, and Touriga Nacional (although there are many more which are “approved” for port making).

There are a number of different styles of port, including white and late bottled vintage port, but we generally see three major styles here in the US:

Tawny Port: A barrel-aged variety of port, tawny port is a mix of several vintages and typically aged for at least two years, but often much longer. Port wine is fortified and then put into barrels where it oxidizes and transforms from a deep red into a lighter, golden amber color. The strong jammy fruit also gives way into more honey, nut, and caramel flavors while still maintaining some of its wine characteristics. You can also find tawny port that’s been aged for a specific amount of time (10, 20, 30, and even 40+ years). These are often a blend of multiple years of port with the youngest port being no younger than the age stated on the bottle. Because tawny port has gone through significant oxidization in the barrel, they lose a lot less of their characteristics when opened for a while than other styles.

Ruby Port: The focus of a ruby port isn’t oxidization or interaction with the wood as much as it is about concentrating the lush deep fruit notes in the wine (think of ruby port’s aging more as a reduction sauce than anything else). Ruby ports can be aged in oak, but they are also often put into stainless steel casks and then into bottles where they’re given time to mellow. Some consider ruby the “lesser” style of port because it isn’t aged to the extent of a tawny, but I tend to prefer it. I enjoy the deep, lush flavors and the way it preserves the big, bold flavors of the wine.

Vintage Port: Made entirely from grapes of a single vintage. Vintages have to be declared, which is typically only done on the best of growing seasons. A vintage port is like a ruby as it’s briefly aged in casks (sometimes stainless steel) for a very short time and is often bottled within two or three years of the vintage. Vintage ports continue to mature in the bottle and can be aged for long periods of time. This Thanksgiving I had a Vintage port from the 1980s and it was spectacular. Vintage port is also sold in “Single Quinta Vintage Port,” a vintage port made from the grapes of a single vineyard; these, too, can be spectacular.

There are quite a number of producers of port, each with their own take on these different styles. I’m particularly fond of Fonseca, whose tawny still preserves some of the fruity wine qualities. Their ruby is well balanced while still being lush, and the Quinta Do Panascal 2001 Vintage is just spectacular. Other ports I recommend are Dow’s, Graham’s, and Sandeman.