Vintage Character Ports are essentially premium Ruby Ports with a fine mature style. They are made from a blend of good quality Ruby Ports from a variety of vineyards and several relatively recent vintages. They are aged in bulk for up to five years, which enables them to retain their ruby-red colour and rich fruit. Once filtered and bottled, they are perfectly ready to drink.
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Vintage Character Ports were traditionally the standard-bearers of a shipper's house style, produced largely for the British market. The term ‘Vintage Character’ has always been one of the Port trade’s great misnomers, however as while these Port wines could be very good, they were neither from a single vintage, nor in the vast majority of cases bore any similarity to Vintage Port.
Vintage Character Ports are essentially premium Ruby Ports with a fine mature style. They are made from a blend of good quality Ruby Ports from a variety of vineyards and several relatively recent vintages. They are aged in bulk for up to five years, normally in large wood casks. This enables them to retain their ruby-red colour and rich fruit. Once filtered and bottled, they are perfectly ready to drink.
In 2002 the official Port body, the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP), banned the use of the term ‘Vintage Character’. Such Ports are now labelled as Reserve, Reserva or Premium Ruby.
