The Best Guide to Ruby Port: Everything You Need to Know

The Best Guide to Ruby Port

Ruby port is a type of fortified wine that’s ruby-red in color and has a sweet and fresh taste. And it’s one of the most popular types of port wines around with many different styles.

In this blog post, we will discuss everything you need to know about this port! And we will cover how it is made, the different types, and our top 7 favorites.

Table of Contents

What is Ruby Port? What Does It Taste Like?

Ruby port is a type of fortified wine from Portugal’s Douro Valley. And its ruby in color with a sweet, fruity-like flavor. Furthermore, these wines are often made with five primary grape varieties, including Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, and Tinta Cão. Altogether, over eighty (80) types of grapes can be used to craft a Port!

Typically the port is boasting with fresh and fruitier flavors of raspberry, blackberry, cherry, and plum along with hints of cinnamon and dark chocolate undertones. Finally this is an exquisite full-bodied wine renowned for its vibrant acidity and high alcohol levels.

Just make sure you use the right port glasses…

BEST PORT WINE GLASSES

How Do You Make Ruby Port?

port wine made

Making Port is much like any other winemaking process; grapes are harvested, crushed and fermented with yeast to produce wine.

Additionally, fortified wines are made by adding brandy or other distilled spirits to the grape must before all the sugar has been converted to alcohol. And this process is known as fortification, which helps preserve the natural sweetness of the grapes and increase its alcohol content.

Following fortification, this port is aged in oak barrels for a period of two to three years prior to bottling. And the result of this aging process imparts the sweet and fresh fruity notes. Moreover, the winemaking process includes filtering; thus eliminating its capacity for further maturation while keeping its vibrant ruby color.

What is the Difference Between Ruby and Tawny Port?

tawny and ruby port

COLOR, TASTE, and PRICE. Ruby port is ruby-red in color and has a fruitier and fresh flavor. While, tawny port is tawny (brownish) in color and has a nuttier, more delicate flavor. 

Learn more about the differences here…

Different Types of Ruby Port

  • Ruby Port: This port has a sweet flavor profile with notes of raspberry, blackberry, plums, and cinnamon. This type of port is best enjoyed slightly chilled.
  • Ruby Reserve: Ruby Reserve Port is a blend of premium grapes from Portugal’s renowned Douro valley, creating a more complex Port.
  • Ruby Late Bottled Vintage (LBV): Ruby LBV is a high quality port from a single year that has been aged for at least four to six years in oak barrels. And it is meant to be drunk young, with a taste profile that has more depth in flavors.
  • Vintage Ruby: Regarded as the “King” among ports, vintage ruby is widely acclaimed to be the finest type of port. Because it comes from a single vintage and is aged for about 2-3 years in a barrel. Plus many many more years in a bottle (decades). And most vintage ports should be permitted to age and mature to its peak for 20-40+ years before drinking.

How Long Does Port Last After Being Opened?

Ruby port can last up to a month after it is opened. But the exact time depends on the type and how well you store it. So, to make sure your port lasts as long as possible, keep it in a cool, dark place that is away from direct sunlight.

7 Best Ruby Ports (Under $25)

1) Quinta do Noval Black Ruby Port N.V.

Quinta do Noval Black Ruby Port N.V.

This full-bodied port has a deep ruby color with aromas of blackberry, raisin, and plum on the nose. And it has a sweet flavor of ripe cherry, red fruits, chocolate, toasted oak and baking spices with a long smooth finish.

2) Sandeman Fine Ruby Port N.V.

Sandeman Fine Ruby Port N.V.

This wine has an intense ruby color and aromas of floral, dried fruits and spice. And on the palate, this port finishes with a smooth tannic structure and has notes of blackberry, cherry, fig, and toffee pudding.

3) Krohn Porto Valdouro Ruby Port N.V.

Krohn Porto Valdouro Ruby Port N.V.

This wine has aromas of blackberry, cherry, plum, and cinnamon. And on the palate, it has a silky texture and notes of ripe plum, toffee, chocolate, and sweet vanilla.

4) Real Companhia Velha Dom José Ruby Porto N.V.

Real Companhia Velha Dom José Ruby Porto N.V.

A port with aromas of dried fruits, fig, cherry, and tobacco. And this wine has a smooth, full-bodied flavor with notes of raspberry, figs, prunes, and sweet spice on the finish.

5) Ferreira Ruby Port N.V.

Ferreira Ruby Port N.V.

A port with ruby red color and aromas of ripe plums, cherries, blackberry jam, and dried fruits. And its flavors are silky smooth with notes of caramel, licorice, cinnamon spice and dark chocolate.

6) Sandeman Founder's Reserve Ruby Port N.V.

Sandeman Founder's Reserve Ruby Port N.V.

A port with fruity aromas of ripe cherry, plum, blueberry, and vanilla. And on the palate, this wine has a very smooth tannic structure and notes of dark fruits, blackberry, toasted caramel, baking spices, chocolate, and vanilla.

7) Burmester Sotto Voce Ruby Reserve Port N.V.

A port with dark ruby red color and aromas of ripe cherry, plum, chocolate, and spice. And it has a smooth tannic structure and sweet notes of prune, vanilla, dark chocolate and vanilla on the long finish.

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