Poor old port! Why does it always get the blame for the hangover? It may be a fortified wine, but if one drinks port of good quality, there is no reason why it should be responsible for any problems the morning after. What is more probable is that you have drunk too much anyway, and the port is the last thing you can remember, or that you have started with a grain-based spirit (whisky or gin) which reacts uncomfortably with the grape.
    Port is made from grapes grown in a strictly demarcated area on both banks of the upper reaches of the river Douro in northern Portugal - a lovely bit of country where many of the port houses have beautiful farms, that often double as guest houses. The grapes are harvested in the autumn, are pressed straightaway before fermenting in large vats. Before the fermentation is finished, a quantity of young local brandy is added. This has the result of stopping the fermentation, as it kills the yeasts that are turning the sugar in the grape juice into alcohol. The other important effects are obviously to make the wine a lot stronger, and to retain some of the residual sugar, making it relatively sweet. It is now taken down the river to Vila Nova da Gaia, at the mouth of the Douro, where the technicians decide what sort of port it will become.
    I believe port to be one of the greatest of all wines, but the manufacturers have done quite a bit to confuse the consumer with a proliferation of different styles and names. You must start by differentiating between wood port and vintage port. Vintage port is the product of only one year, and is the quintessence of port. It is bottled when it is a maximum of two years old and matures in the bottle, retaining a wonderful deep red colour that only fades after many years. It also throws a heavy deposit, hence the need for decanting. All other ports are wood ports and are matured in wooden casks, where with time they lose their redness and take on a tawny colour. They are also blends of different years, depending on the characteristics the technicians are aiming at.
    Ruby port is young wood port, before it has had a chance to become tawny, and at its simplest, tawny port is wood port that has been in the cask long enough to make it tawny! Good tawny is not often available under ten (average) years old and is delightful, without being heavy. Tawnies without an age claim are often a blend of red and white (yes, port can also be white). They are called by meaningless names like Special Reserve, Signature &c., but some, like Warre’s Warrior, or His Eminence’s Choice from Delaforce are superb. Watch out for Vintage Character, or Late Bottled Vintage. These are wood ports, not vintage ports, even if they have a date on them, and are the technicians’ attempt to make a port that resembles the style of a vintage port, at an approachable price. Some are more successful than others, the best probably being Graham’s (£10.49 at Oddbins), but as usual there is no substitute for diligent research.
    Why am I writing about what is usually perceived as a fireside drink for the Summer issue? Because a bottle of chilled tawny port is the most magnificent way to wind up a Summer meal. It even goes well with ice cream!