Macabeo Port Blend Red Blend Argentina Salta 750ml

Port wine is Portugal’s great gift to the world. Coming from the ancient harbour capital city of Porto and the surrounding Douro Valley region, Port wine has been made by Portuguese vintners for at least four hundred years, although viticulture has been continually happening in the area for well over two thousand years. Port is a fortified wine, meaning it is a wine which has been bolstered by the addition of grape brandy. Originally, this was used as a method of preservation, allowing the delicate Portuguese wines to survive the journey by sea to trading partners in the UK and France. However, the wonderful taste and unique character the fortification process lends to the wine soon became massively popular, and before long, this new wine style was a hit all across Europe.


Unlike some other fortified wines, Port is made by adding brandy before the wine itself has completed its fermentation. The result of this is that plenty of the grapes’ natural sweetness is maintained in the barrel, meaning it is exceptionally smooth and rounded on the palate. Port comes in many different styles - Tawny Port wines are prized for their richness and mellow character, Reserve and Late Bottled Ports are full of fruit flavor. Vintage Port is a complex, wonderful thing - capable of standing up to some of the finest wines in the world when it comes to depth of flavor and fascinating features.

As the world's fifth largest producer of wine, after France, Italy, Spain and the United States, Argentina has plenty to offer the international wine market in regards to both quantity and quality. Despite this being the case for several decades now, it has only been since the end of the twentieth century that the Argentinian wine industry has really begun to up their game when it comes to the methods and techniques required to produce world class wines, which are both representative of their country and region of origin, and which stand alone as complex, interesting and delicious wines to drink. As Argentina became a serious contender in the international wine market, wineries previously concerned primarily with high volumes began to change their priorities, and formerly struggling small bodegas and independent wineries began to find success. Nowadays, well crafted wines from smaller vineyards in Argentina are being lauded as some of the finest in the world, and the country is starting to reap the benefits of its heritage, which include some very old vines, and up to four centuries of experience in wine production.

For lovers of New World wine, the region of Salta is generally regarded as being amongst the finest and most geographically interesting in the world. Situated at the extreme north of Argentina, Salta is a wine region which is both at an impressively high altitude, as well as an extremely low latitude, being a mere twenty four degrees from the equator. However, these two factors cancel each other out when it comes to viticulture, producing a superbly warm and fertile environment for the cultivation of vineyards. The mountainous landscape of Salta reaches elevations of up to 3,000 meters above sea level, an astonishing figure which demonstrates just how unique the region is. Within the main wine provinces of Cafayate and Molinos, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes (the region's flagship varietals) grow to full ripeness in the blazing sunshine, and produce exceptionally flavorful wines.