Tawny port proves a colourful icon of authenticity

Sommeliers, starred restaurants and cutting-edge wine importers are embracing these forgotten heroes

In the vast ocean of Porto’s warehouses, rows and rows of high-stacked barrels disappear on the horizon. This is because, unlike conventional wine, which can be bottled and sold in the same year it is made, port wine remains in cellar for between ten and 40 years before being bottled and presented for sale.

Port wine is a rejection of the contemporary interest in immediacy, speed, convenience and opulence. In contrast to so ...