10 best ports and fortified wines to ring in the cosy season

Sandeman prides itself on being the most awarded port wine brand in the world. Over the past nine years, it has collected nearly 600 medals and, with wines such as this 20-year-old tawny on offer, it’s not hard to see why. A single sip and you’re enjoying intense flavours of dried fruit and nuts with added honey and vanilla. It has a rich and layered mouthfeel that’s hugely satisfying, too. I’d recommend savouring it slightly chilled – the perfect drink to end a memorable meal.

Costing less than £20 per bottle, this port is named ‘sotto voce’, meaning ‘softly with emphasis’, and the fortified wine’s character certainly lives up to its name. Subdued but vibrant, this is a rich and intense reserve ruby port that delivers bold red and black fruit flavours, along with a soft and silky finish that pairs well with a camembert cheese or a chocolate dessert. If you enjoy ripe fruit flavours, this one could be for you.

The combined talents of winemaking husband-and-wife team Sandra Tavares da Silva and Jorge Serôdio Borges have resulted in this fresh and intense vintage port. The Pintas vineyard consists of just 2.5ha of very old vines, with 40 different grape varieties, and the port produced from them features full-on flavours of ripe black fruit and berries, along with hints of spice and convincing tannins. Like all good vintages, it can be enjoyed early but many will want to wait a few years until those flavours have matured fully. This bottle can be cellared until 2044, for those willing to wait that long.

‘Colheita’ (Spanish for harvest) simply means it’s a tawny port from a single, specified year. This example sourced from traditional Portuguese grape varieties has spent at least seven years maturing in wood, leaving it with a complex, layered but wholly enjoyable flavour. A sweet nuttiness is offset by rich notes of damson, firm tannins and a touch of spicy acidity. It’s one to enjoy with a sumptuous creamy cheese.

Port producer Barão de Vilar has put together this box set with the subtitle “Everything you always wanted to know about port wine (but were afraid to ask).” What you get are 10 60ml samples of port, ranging from white and rosé through tawny and late-bottled vintage (LBV) to colheita and vintage. There are copious notes to go with each sample as you work your way through.

Of particular note were the reserve ruby, withs its luscious and deep black fruit flavours; the attractive nuttiness of the 2001 colheita; and the evolving elegance the 2017 vintage port. The set would make a beautiful gift but it’s one you might want to keep for yourself – especially if you’re keen to try different varieties of Port but are unsure where to start.

Founded in 1981 by Johnny Graham, Churchill’s is now the last remaining independent British port house. It has a simple philosophy, with minimal intervention in every aspect of the winemaking, from the natural fermentation to the sustainable packaging. This 20-year-old tawny, with its beautiful brick-red colour, is jam-packed with dried fruit and salted caramel flavours, complemented by notes of spice and pepper. It’s superbly balanced, and best enjoyed with two years of bottling.

An LBV (late-bottled vintage) is a ruby port from a specific year, aged in wood for a longer period before being bottled. It can have all the characteristics of a vintage port but at a more reasonable price. This example comes from a Douro Valley estate established in 1864 and with more than 500 acres of vines. A prize-winning port, it has lush dark cherry and black fruit notes with hints of chocolate and liquorice, and the finish is long and velvety. This is a port you can enjoy right now.

Less expensive than the Sandeman and Churchill 20-year-old tawny ports, this younger option shares many of the same characteristics – beguiling walnut and hazelnut notes backed up by full-on black fruit flavours. Noval, a port house that can trace its history back to the early 18th century, uses a blend of old ports from different vintages, with an average age of 10 years.

Like all good ports, the traditional grape varieties that go into making it were trodden by foot in traditional granite lagares (treading tanks) before being aged in huge 640l wooden casks. Take a sip of this tawny port and you’re sampling more than three centuries of history and tradition.

You’ll come across the word ‘quinta’ a lot in Portugal. It’s the name given to a rural estate specialising in wine or port making. This particular quinta was acquired by the Fortunato family in 1941 whose family winemaking skills are still evident today. As tradition dictates, the grapes were picked by hand, trodden by foot and then aged in wood for five years before bottling in 2022. The complex flavour includes lots of full-bodied dark fruit and welcome tannins. The port is also unfiltered, to release the full potential of those fruit flavours, so it needs decanting before serving.

Like all other ports, white port (made with white grapes from the Douro Valley) has brandy added to it to halt fermentation and preserve the wine’s natural sugars. In this case, however, it’s added later, when much of the sugar has already turned to alcohol. This gives the port a dryness that others lack. So along with the expected mellow fruit flavours, you also gain a long, dry finish. Poured over ice, it’s a perfect aperitif or it can be enjoyed served with tonic water and a sprig of mint.