And it's more relaxing than either Parcheesi or aromatherapy. In other words, you shouldn't be intimidated by this venerable sweet wine. And you should feel free to pour yourself a splash of port the next time you have your feet up and the fire is blazing. True port is from Portugal, although port-style wine is made in many other countries. It is a fortified wine created by adding brandy to fermenting grape juice.
Port is sweet because the arrested fermentation leaves unused sugars behind.
There are two broad categories of port, those that are wood aged and those that are designed to be aged in the bottle. A first-rate vintage port can happily settle into your cellar for decades. When George Sandeman was in Milwaukee earlier this year, he recommended that neophytes stick with the non-vintage offerings. Sandeman represents the seventh generation of the Sandeman family, which began trading port and sherry in 1790. Those questions are apt to scare folks away.