Cocktails with Ruby port
Ruby port is the youngest, most common style of Port — a sweet red fortified wine from Portugal’s Douro Valley.
ABV19–22%
Substitutes for Ruby port
Sweetness and strength hold across the category; what moves is how fresh the fruit tastes and how dark the glass looks. Younger bottles read brighter and redder, older ones nuttier and browner.
On the label
- ruby
- Bottled ready to drink, with no cask age behind it, so it arrives at its darkest and its most purely fruity. The opposite of tawny in every respect but the grape.
- LBV
- Late Bottled Vintage: a ruby from a single year, bottled after four to six years in wood. More concentrated than a standard ruby, and far cheaper than vintage port.
Often confused with
Tawny spends years in small wood, which is how it fades to amber; ruby is aged briefly and away from air. Ruby keeps a drink dark and fruity, tawny takes it towards nuts and caramel.
