Robe — Opaque purple-black in vintage; polished amber-russet in old tawny
blackberry
fig
chocolate
walnut
sweet spice
Palate
Sweet, dense and warming — some twenty degrees of alcohol carried on ripe tannin
Ageing
Vintage 20–50 years and beyond; tawny is aged in wood before release
Serving
14–16 °C; old tawny slightly cooler
The Methuen Treaty of 1703 gave Portuguese wine England's market at a third less duty than French, and the Douro's black wines were dosed with brandy to survive the sea voyage — in time, dosed during fermentation, which stopped the yeasts and locked in the sweetness. In 1756 Pombal demarcated the Douro with stone pillars — arguably the world's first regulated appellation.
Port lives two lives: vintage, bottled young from the great years to age in glass for decades; and tawny, faded to nut-brown through long years in wood. Tinta Roriz — Tempranillo under its Douro name — runs with Touriga Nacional in the blend, and the shippers' names are still half English.