Ignore everything you have heard about port from your granny. You don't drink it out of small shot glasses, it is not to be treated like a spirit and DO NOT have the same bottle of Ruby port in your drinks cabinet for four and a half years.
The fortified wine from the Douro Valley is so much more than an end of meal drink. White ports are great as aperitifs or mid afternoon drinks, the wealth of tawny ports can keep you entertained for years, and are fabulous before, during and after a meal, and then when you do get to the heavier, fruitier ruby wines, they are fabulous with a whole host of foods, not just a bit of stilton.
As a general rule (and it is just a general one) the best red ports tend to come from the British named producers, and the best tawnies from the non-British named companies. Every port on this website has been tasted by us, and is there because it really over-delivers on quality.
As with everything we do, we also favour the family run companies as well. Real Companhia Velha, owned by the Silva Reis family make exquisite tawny ports, as do the Quevedo and Pocas families. If you fancy some ruby ports, we focus on Churchills, owned by the Grahams family, and any of the Symington owned properties (we stock their vintages from time to time). We may pop the odd wine on our list from one of the big corporate behemoths from time to time, but only when they produce something that is exquisite.
