Styles of port: Ruby

This is one of the simplest and least expensive styles of port. Aged in bulk for two or three years, it is bottled young while the wine retains a deep ruby colour and a strong, fiery personality. Young wines from more than one vintage are aged in all sorts of vessels (wood, cement, and occasionally stainless steel) before being blended, filtered, and bottled. pasteurization is sometimes applied to stabilize such wines and can result in ‘stewed’ flavours, but good ruby with its uncomplicated berry fruit aromas and flavours is often a good, warming drink. When the British fashion for ruby port and lemonade faded in the 1960s, many shippers dropped the name ruby on the labels of such ports in favour of their own, self-styled brands.