For The Love Of Port

I have next to no Portuguese, but I can at least order red and white wine! But what about ordering port? What are the Portuguese terms for ruby, tawny, late bottle vintage, and so forth? Or will the English words do the trick?

I'm fortunate enough to be traveling to Portugal briefly this spring, and even luckier, I'm doing a lecture at the Universidade do Porto!

The Portuguese are wonderful people. If you make any attempt to speak Portuguese, even the most rudimentary, they'll fall all over themselves trying to help you. That said, the terminology for Port is mostly in English anyway. The staff at a nice restaurant is very likely to speak English, and even at a small restaurant in a small town you'll get by easily in most cases.

If you order "vinho do Porto" (VIN-yo doe POR-toe) you'll get the house Port. That could be a ruby or a tawny, so specify "tinto" (TIN-toe) for red if you want, or ruby and tawny work just fine in virtually any restaurant.

At any restaurant where you'd want to order Vintage Port or a Colheita, someone will speak English.

Thanks for the words Glenn. We use the English words indeed, except for the Portuguese word "Colheita". There is old Portuguese word for "tawny", which is "aloirado", but no one uses it.

Just a small remark, if one asks for a "tinto", people can bring you a red table wine and not Port.

Best regards,
Gonçalo

Goncalo Martins wrote:Just a small remark, if one asks for a "tinto", people can bring you a red table wine and not Port.

My Portuguese is very basic and very limited, so I probably misunderstood what I was taught.

I thought that asking for "vinho do Porto tinto" (essentially "wine, port, red") would get you a ruby Port, while "vinho tinto" (wine, red) would get you a red table wine. Is that not true?

I thought that asking for "vinho do Porto tinto" (essentially "wine, port, red") would get you a ruby Port, while "vinho tinto" (wine, red) would get you a red table wine. Is that not true?

That is totally correct, but if you mention only "tinto" that's when you may get table red wine.

Goncalo Martins wrote:

I thought that asking for "vinho do Porto tinto" (essentially "wine, port, red") would get you a ruby Port, while "vinho tinto" (wine, red) would get you a red table wine. Is that not true?

That is totally correct, but if you mention only "tinto" that's when you may get table red wine.

Aha, thanks for the clarification!