So I never thought I would say this, but I’m sitting on the couch typing on my laptop, drinking a glass of port. A glass of the W.& J. Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Port to be exact. I didn’t really even know what port was until Rupert Symington, the joint managing director at the Symington Family Estates in Portugal, showed up at our studios. The Symington family has been port shippers since 1882 and today they own over 30 percent of the port market – that means one of every three bottles of port sold is from Symington. And they own many of the brands you know and love, such as W&J. Graham's Dow’s, Warre’s, Cockburn's. So Symington, a fourth generation member of Symington family, who’s responsible for sales to the U.S. and Canada, as well as some other smaller markets, was the perfect guy to learn from. And I had to ask, what exactly is port wine? Basically, its wine blended with brandy, and it’s made exclusively in the Douro Valley of Portugal, says Symington.

The wine geeks call it “fortified wine,” which means they interrupt the fermentation process and then add the brandy. And legend has it that the Portuguese monks invented this process to preserve the sweetness of the wine when they journeyed back and forth to England. Now the grapes must be grown in the mountainous Upper Douro region of Northern Portugal, because that is the only place in the world that can produce authentic port. Port is typically known as a sweet red wine, often served with dessert though it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties. But there are two basic kinds: Tawny ports are wines, made from red grapes, that are aged in wooden barrels, exposing them to gradual oxidation and evaporation. As a result, they gradually mellow to that golden-brown color. Graham’s 10 Years Old Tawny Port is barrel aged for average 10 years so they have essentially aged it for you. Which means you can drink it immediately. Even better, it has a shelf life of 2-4 months after opening, says Symington.

That means you can just leave it on the kitchen counter and have a little each night.   And with the holidays coming, pour this tawny port with your pecan or apple pie. Now ruby port is the less expensive than tawnies but more extensively produced. After fermentation, it is stored in tanks made of concrete or stainless steel –that helps stop oxidation and keep that rich ruby color. The wine is often blended with a bunch of other grapes from the region, or in the case of my current glass -- six. Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Port is aged in barrel for 3 years, so again, you can drink it now.  And once it’s open, its shelf life is 4-6 months. This port would go perfectly with a brownie. Oh, and Symington says serve it in a white wine glass, not a cordial glass. That keeps the alcohol from overwhelming the wine’s flavors. And don’t decant it. It’s a no-nonsense wine – and it goes perfectly with Thanksgiving dessert. What could be better? Tracy Byrnes joined FOX Business Network (FBN) in October 2007 as a reporter.

Make port your go-to digestif for 2016. Until fairly recently, digestifs were the types of beverages drunk by old Italian men alongside a cup of espresso. In bars from Milan to Naples, or outside delis in Brooklyn or London, you would see dapper, gray-haired men sipping from tiny glasses, arguing about soccer ("football") or baseball and eyeing up the young ladies. But lately, these strongly flavored, highly alcoholic drinks—consumed after a meal to aid digestion (allegedly)—have been making a serious comeback. best food and wine magazine recipesWhat was once considered a fusty beverage choice has become the drink of preference for the bright young things of London and New York.best wine list in orange county Amaro in particular has had a recent resurgence. sweet red wine meaning

According to Liam Cotter, project manager of the drinks company Heads, Hearts & Tails, old brands like Fernet-Branca and Cynar have been reinventing themselves, putting out products that appeal to a whole new generation of drinker. Angostura launched an amaro last autumn based on its legendary bitters. New brands are popping up, too, and "boutique" amari are being made on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, Asterley Bros. started producing the Dispense small-batch amaro, and Stellacello has its London amaro. good rich red wineThen there is broVo in Seattle and Bittermens in New Orleans, both of which produce distinctly American takes on the drink. glass of wine standardThese handmade liqueurs are made from high-quality ingredients, and the results can be as complex as a good wine.best wine and expensive

Most people have a preconceived notion about when we should drink port: once a year, we dig out a dusty bottle from the bottom of the cupboard to drink at the end of Christmas lunch, with cheese. Amaro means bitter in Italian, and Italians have a thing about bitterness. In addition to all the amaro variants (there's amaretto, a liqueur made from apricot stones, which means little bitter one; and the grape negroamaro, which means black and bitter), Italians drink a powerful wine called Amarone della Valpolicella. Made from raisined grapes, it has a remarkable dried fruit and bitter flavor. In Italy, wines that function as digestifs are known as vino da meditazione. These are wines so complex and strongly flavored that they are best drunk on their own, in quiet contemplation. My proposition for 2016 is that we should treat port in just this way. I think most people have a preconceived notion about when we should drink port: Once a year, we dig out a dusty bottle from the bottom of the cupboard to drink at the end of Christmas lunch, with cheese.

The traditional partner is Stilton, and while I find a good tawny goes with most mature hard cheeses, the pairing options are otherwise a bit limited. I don’t know how port ended up in this pigeonhole. Historically, people treated it more as a digestif than as a wine for pairing. I think we should return to that tradition. (The French drink it before a meal, but they’re a bit mad in this respect.) There’s something about the combination of complexity and alcoholic fire in port that loosens tongues and warms hearts. It was the drink of Georgian England. William Pitt the Younger, prime minister from 1783 to 1801, would drink a bottle of port before giving a speech before the House of Commons. Samuel Johnson, the creator of the first English dictionary, was an enormous port enthusiast: “I have drunk three bottles of port without being the worse for it. University College has witnessed this." Port lasts a long time. I was lucky enough to try a wood-aged 1863 released by Taylor’s last year.

It was one of the most intense wines I’ve ever had, thick and black like balsamic vinegar with a taste of molasses and bitter chocolate, with layers and layers of nuts. So powerful was it that you could only drink it on its own. Obviously this was very expensive, about $4,500 a bottle, but old port can be relatively affordable. Without too much searching I found a bottle of Sandeman from the legendary 1963 vintage for about $195 a bottle. Compare that with the equivalent from Bordeaux—say, Palmer 1961—and you’re looking at up to ten times that price. And as port is more robust it’s more likely to be drinkable. Though I don’t think it’ll ever be as popular as it was in the 18th century, interest in port is on the rise. Thanks to an especially stellar 2011 vintage—hailed as the finest in the past few decades—the drink gained a slew of new converts. Now, to accommodate the newcomers and fuel interest among others, port producers are releasing rare bottlings at not-outrageous prices.

Later this year Graham’s will launch a 1972 Colheita—a wood-aged port from a single vintage, as opposed to a vintage port that is aged in a bottle—for around $300 a bottle. With so much excellent port around, you shouldn’t limit your consumption of it to a once-a-year, cheese-fueled binge. Instead, think of it as a digestif. Make sure you’ve always got a bottle of tawny port in the house (an open bottle in the fridge lasts for weeks). Offer your guests a glass and they won’t want to leave. In fact, all digestifs—amari, port and other fortified wines—are really just good excuses to linger and have another drink. They’re hospitality in a glass. If your guests try to refuse, tell them the drink will help settle their stomachs. After all, they're not called digestifs for nothing. Here are a few affordable and readily available vinos da meditazione to start with—plus a few great digestifs to try while you’re at it: Masi Amarone - One of the biggest quality producers, which makes a range of Amarones from about $50 a bottle.