Portugal’s Douro Valley, one of the most spectacular valleys you are ever likely to see. The grapes are grown on terraced slopes whose scale is more akin to the Himalayas than to anything in Europe. Port is made in farms called quintas before being transported a couple of hours down river to the coast where it is matured in barrels in the more temperate climate of Vila Nova de Gaia. Apart from the excellent Tanners range of Ports, the best value to be had currently is from the complex old Tawnies and ‘single quinta’ Ports which generally provide excellent drinking at significantly less cost than blue chip Vintage Port.

Please note that all vintage Ports require decanting as they throw a sediment during bottle ageing. Labels on vintage Port bottles only came in with EU regulations, prior to that labels were not required and only the capsule bore the name of the Port house and vintage year. Thus many of the older vintage bottles have either no labels, or incomplete, indistinct labels due to extended cellar ageing.