The Perfect Christmas Gift

Indeed, for many, Christmas simply isn’t Christmas without Christmas without a bottle of Port to celebrate the one time of the year when friends and family come together.

Port also an immensely popular choice when it comes to gift giving at Christmas. This is perhaps not surprising given the widespread popularity of Port and the fact that Port has a traditionally strong association with Christmas – but it is also due, in part, to the fact that Port comes in a variety of sizes and styles that provide a wide range of options depending on your budget.

Fresh Ruby and Reserve style Ports, for example, offer amazing value for money – particularly when you consider how the wine is made. Few people are probably aware of the fact that the nearly all the grapes that go into making these Ports are handpicked and came from the Douro valley which has one of the lowest yields of any wine producing region in the world. So, the value for money that these wines offer compared to others is quite extraordinary.

Many Ports also come in beautifully presented gift tubes and boxes, making them the ideal pre-packed Christmas gift. This is certainly true of wines such as Graham’s LBV (pictured) whose beautifully designed tubes are available in a range of three striking colours, meaning there’s likely to be something here to suit the most discerning drinker.

For those wishing to be a little more indulgent there are also beautiful Aged Tawny Ports that also come in gift tubes. These wines have a different flavour profile to their Ruby counterparts, with the sort of dried fruit flavours that one would typically associate with Christmas cake. The age statements on these wines signify the average age of the wines, with some of the most popular ones being 10- and 20-year-old. Many of these wines also come in elegant gift tubes such as Graham’s 10 and 20yo Tawnies and offer something slightly different to the Ruby style Ports that so many people are used to.

However, for those looking for something more traditional there are bottle-matured (Ruby) Ports that represent the absolute pinnacle in terms of quality. Single Quinta Vintage Ports, for example, offer many of the qualities of a Declared Vintage Port but at a fraction of the cost. These wines are made in non-declared years by some of the Douro valley’s flagship properties, or ‘Quinta’s’, who declare their own vintages when they produce an exceptional vintage.