The 13 Best Port Wines to Drink

Best Overall

Croft Reserve Tawny

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Tasting Notes: Toasted almond, fig, blackberry | ABV: 20% | Style: Tawny

When it comes to crowd pleasing-meets-quality, Croft’s reserve tawny offers a lot. Made at Quinta da Roeda on a lovely, sunny, river-adjacent plot in the Douro, it combines both older wines from Croft’s rickhouses and younger, fresher wines just coming out of the press. Meaning, the wine has a good hit of complexity and copper color of an older tawny with those rich, concentrated fig notes of a younger port. 

Great value for the price, and since it’s not really meant for aging, it twists your arm to drink it now. It’s affordable, but rich and complex, ideal for wine drinkers and cocktailers.

Best Under $30

Graham's Six Grapes Reserve Port

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Tasting Notes: Floral, plum, chocolate, licorice | ABV: 20% | Style: Vintage

Among the first makers of port to invest in their own vineyards back in the 1890s, Graham’s has earned the accolades as a major port producer to this day. The Six Grapes label has been produced in Portugal’s Douro Valley for over a century and remains one of their most desired wines. Here’s a little secret: in years when Graham’s declares a vintage, the best of the best grapes go into the vintage bottling and the remaining, equally remarkable grapes, are blended into Six Grapes. The vintage-dated bottle runs into triple digits, while Six Grapes remains a sturdy under-$30!

This bottle has strong aromas of plum, bolstered by notes of blackberry, currant, cassis and dark chocolate, with raisin and fig on the palate. This pairs well with rich desserts like fudge or cheesecake and stays fresh for two to three weeks (in the refrigerator) after opening.

Best Tawny

Cockburn's 20 Year Old Tawny Port

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Tasting Notes: Blackberry, current, cassis, dark chocolate | ABV: 20% | Style: Aged Tawny

There’s no right or wrong way to age a tawny in wood barrels, but some believe 20 years achieves the best balance of flavor and structure. There’s no better bottle to prove it than this doozy from Cockburn (pronounced “COH-burn”). Known for their high standards in quality control and for owning some of the largest vineyards in Portugal, gives them an edge that can’t be beat.

You can top an ice cream sundae with the aromatics in this bottle: caramel, walnuts, butterscotch, honey. Raisin and candied apricot coat the palate. This port is smooth with a light touch, but a bold flavor and a lingering nutty finish. This is the tawny to rule all tawnies. 

Runner-Up Best Tawny

Warre's Otima 10 Year Tawny Port

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Tasting Notes: Walnuts, caramel, honey | ABV: 20% | Style: Tawny

And here we are with another winner from Warre’s because, frankly, you deserve it. Only this time, it’s their smooth amber-colored Otima 10 Year Tawny. For the sake of consistency, this bottle also earned great critical acclaim, only this tawny is lighter than your average port making it a wine for any occasion. 

Dripping with oaky notes of caramel, fig, almond, brown sugar, and cherry, this tawny is full-bodied and slightly smoky. This is a great example of balance of fruit and acidity. The tannins are low, but it is high in satisfaction.

Related: Best Sweet Wines

Best White Port

Sandeman Apitiv Reserve White Port

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Tasting Notes: Orange peel, apricot, raisin, balsamic | ABV: 20% | Style: White port

Sandeman’s been making wine since the year 1790. When you’ve been making wine as long as that, one would assume it’s because they’ve been making wine the right way all along. In this case, Sandeman’s Apitiv White Port gets its kick from using ever-so-slightly over-ripened grapes which get fermented in steel tanks. The result is a classic port that’s both traditional and exceptional.

This bottle is bursting with orange peel, apricot, raisin and balsamic notes. Nutty with a balanced structure and fine acidity, this white port has a smooth and elegant finish.

Best Ruby

Taylor Fladgate Fine Ruby Porto

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Tasting Notes: Oak, chocolate, dark fruit | ABV: 20% | Style: Ruby

Another old-timer in the field of port, Taylor Fladgate’s been in operation since 1692. Their port is of such high quality that the business managed to survive past Portugal’s disruptive and devastating earthquake of 1755 and bring you this delicious wine today. To keep up with modern times, the winery commits to sustainable practices for this perfect, efficiently-produced after-dinner wine.

Aged for roughly two years in oak vats, resulting in jammy black plum and blackberry on the nose with an oaky chocolatey undertone. Heavy flavors of dark fruits and a hearty, full-bodied structure give way to a hint of spice on the finish.

Best Rosé

Porto Valdouro Rosé

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Tasting Notes: Cherry, raspberry, pomegranate | ABV: 19% | Style: Rose

From the Wiese & Krohn estate, the Quinta do Retiro Novo off the Rio Torto Valley, comes this phosphorescent rosé. Pressed from temperature-controlled grapes and grown on shale soil vineyards, this bottle is your best bet if you like the sweetness of port, and also like everything to be glittery and pink.

This rosé confection has a heavy cherry aroma and flavors of raspberry, pomegranate and gooseberry. Balanced and medium-bodied, this bottle is the perfect aperitif served extra chilled before a meal.

Best Vintage-Dated

Niepoort Vintage 2007

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Tasting Notes: Mint, plum jam, leather | ABV: 20% | Style: Vintage

There’s incredible depth when it comes to winemaker Dirk van Niepoort’s wines. You get rich chocolate and licorice notes on the palate, giving the deep fruit a tannic balance. Deep purple in color, it’s got oak notes but well integrated fruit and herbal qualities. Try it with your stinkiest stilton. With the 2007 vintage, it needs time to integrate a lot of those powerful notes, but let it decant or let it sit for a few years and you’re left with a real treat.

Best Colheita

Quinta Das Carvalhas Colheita 2007

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Tasting Notes: Mellow toffee, wood, spice | ABV: 19.5% | Style: Colheita

The vineyards at Quinta das Carvalhas have a front-row seat at a sharp bend of the famed Douro River where their vines are over a century old. The wood-aging process for their Colheita bottle is minimal, letting the fine fruit hog the spotlight.

Oaky and spicy with intense chocolate and raisin aromas, this wine is smooth, balanced, and comfortably sweet. Rich and mellow toffee is on the palate with red fruits and caramel flavors. The wood-aging shines through after a hearty gulp.

Best Australian Port-Style Wine

Penfolds Club Tawny Port

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Tasting Notes: Smoked walnuts, spicy chocolate, toffee | ABV: 18% | Style: Tawny Port

Obviously, port is a distinctively Portuguese wine, but there are non-Portuguese winemakers, like Australia’s Penfolds, who do a commendable job of replicating the port-style with their own bent. Penfolds grows their fruit in several vineyards outside of South Australia’s Adelaide region where they’re known for producing a wide spectrum of fantastic wine varieties, namely shiraz. Their scrumptious tawny, a blend of mataro (mourvèdre), shiraz, and grenache grapes, is a testament to their versatility.

Warm, syrupy, and pleasantly mellow, this bottle has notes of caramel, spicy chocolate, toffee, raisin and smoked walnuts. This is rounded out with sweet tannins and a long satisfying finish.

Best Splurge

Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port Capela 2017

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Tasting Notes: Black tea, tannic currant, red fruit | ABV: 20% | Style: Vintage port

The Quinta do Vesuvio winery has been around as far back as the mid-1500s but is currently run by the famed Symington family who’ve preserved the traditions of their Douro appellation to bring you absolute gems like this vintage port. The Symington family are into their fifth generation as makers of port and the grapes used for the knockout Capela 2017 grew off of vines that have been around since their first generation was working the land.

There are heady aromas of black tea, lavender, blueberry, and black currant. Coarse tannins underscore the fresh flavor of dark and red fruits. This is dry with a dramatically long finish. Pair this well-structured stunner with rich meats and cheeses.

Related: Best Wine Glasses

Best Aged White

Kopke 20-Year Old White

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Tasting Notes: Orange rind, marzipan, citrus ABV: 20% | Style: White port

It’s not often you lean towards a white port when you’re looking for a bottle with an age statement. But Kopke is sitting on an impressive stock of aged white ports, and frequently releases cult bottles with an excellent number of years on them. This particular bottle calls for a blend of Arinot, Viosinho, Gouveio, and Malvasia Fina, aged for 20 years in wood. The oak mellows out the sweeter floral flavors of white port and imparts deep copper flavors without subduing the bright acidity. 

It's lush and balanced, with an elegant sweetness balanced out by concentrated notes of orange rind, toast, marzipan and citrus.