page_title: Port wine
section_title: Styles
hierarchical_section_title: Port wine / Styles
caption_attribution_description: Wooden barrels of port wine in the cave of the producer: Porto, Portugal
context_page_description: Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced with distilled grape spirits exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, although it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.
  After centuries of port wine's success, other port-style fortified wines started to be produced outside Portugal, in Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, India, South Africa, Spain, and the United States. However, under the European Union Protected Designation of Origin guidelines, only products from Portugal are allowed to be labelled "port" or "Porto". There are no rules to grant the authenticity of selling port wines in the United States, and so the ports sold in American stores can be from anywhere in the world. To solve this problem in North America and other countries, Porto's authentic producers started exporting port with an authenticity stamp on their bottles.
context_section_description: Port from Portugal comes in several styles, which can be divided into two broad categories: wines matured in sealed glass bottles, and wines that have matured in wooden barrels.
  The former, without exposure to air, experience what is known as "reductive" ageing. This process leads to the wine losing its color very slowly and produces a wine which is smoother on the palate and less tannic.
  The latter, being matured in wooden barrels, whose permeability allows a small amount of exposure to oxygen, experience what is known as "oxidative" aging. They too lose color, but at a faster pace. They also lose volume to evaporation (angel's share), leaving behind a wine that is slightly more viscous.
  The IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto) further divides port into two categories: normal ports (standard rubies, three-year-old tawnies, and white ports) and Categorias Especiais, special categories, which include everything else.
caption: Aging in wooden barrels
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