Portuguese Wine

Portugal’s long association with the UK gives us access to the very best Portugese wines. The repertoire of well known Portugese wines usually consists of the fortified wines Port and Madeira, but there are many other delicious wines deserving of a greater profile. The meaty red wines from the Douro in the North of Portugal are becoming world class. Our Drink Me Douro red by Dirk Niepoort is an excellent example.

Portugese fortified wines from the Douro are unrivalled in terms of quality and reputation. Much imitated but never equalled, Port, so the story goes, is one of the happier accidents in wine-making history. Barrels of red wine were bolstered with brandy to protect them during export to outposts of the Empire. The resulting wine was found to be thoroughly potent, utterly delicious and likely to improve further with age. We stock a wide selection of Port through the different styles including White, Ruby, Tawny, Coleihta and Vintage.

Madeira , a small outpost of Portugal off the west coast of Africa, produces a delicious fortified wine which is, uniquely, kept heated (to temperatures of around 50ºC) for about six months. This stabilizes the wine giving it great longevity. Like many of the great developments in vinification, this was discovered by chance in the 17 th Century when it was noted that the wine actually improved after transportation on long sea journeys through hot climates. We list all the classic styles and you won’t be disappointed!

Click here to see our full range of Portugese wines.