(Wine-Searcher) - The 2011 vintage has heightened interest in fine Ports, but along with vintage there are fine old Tawnies, Colheitas and White Ports to discover.

Ask producers about 2011 Vintage Port and their faces will instantly light up.

Johnny Graham of Churchill's Port, a veteran of 42 vintages, describes 2011 as "a once in a lifetime vintage". For Jorge Serôdio Borges of Quinta da Passadouro and Wine & Soul, "all the stars were aligned in 2011".

It might sound like a severe case of vintage hyperbole but critical acclaim has been universal for these impressively hewn Ports, which combine great concentration and structure with an elegant balance and purity of expression. Last month America's Wine Spectator crowned the 2011 Dow's Vintage Port its Wine of the Year, calling it "a monument to quality and the modernization of the Douro".

The viticultural and technological revolution that has so positively affected wine quality worldwide has undoubtedly aided the category's reinvigoration; the effects are particularly evident in this century's brighter, purer Ports. Both the Port merchants (known as shippers) who have purchased vineyards, and the vinegrowers who have become boutique producers, understand the vineyards much better.

Eighteen months after Jancis Robinson MW surmised that 2011 could be "the vintage to put Vintage Port back on the fine wine map", Fladgate chief executive Adrian Bridge (responsible for Taylor's, Fonseca and Croft Ports) confirms "it has revived interest from many [UK] fine wine buyers". At Berry Bros. & Rudd, cellar plan manager Tom Cave reports that "sales [of 2011 Vintage Port] have been phenomenal".

Echoing Wine Spectator, Cave adds: "The quality and consistency of Port has never been better, even in less good years (and for more modest styles) and yet they still represent great value for money, especially Vintage and single-quinta Vintage Port." Pointing out you might expect to pay £60-£70 ($95-$110) for a 30-year-old Vintage Port with further aging potential, Alistair Viner of London's Hedonism reckons: "Port is good value compared with top Burgundy domaines like Coche Dury and Rousseau." The buyer cautions prices are going up as stock becomes scarcer. Good to know as, according to Cave, the comparative scarcity of "must-buy" 2011s has drawn attention to other vintages.

By common consensus, mature vintages that are drinking well now include 1963, 1966, 1970 and 1980; overall, 1977 has disappointed. For younger Ports, 1994s are developing well and, for those who enjoy Port in its full-blooded, fruity youth, 2007s are charming right now. Mark Buckenham of The Wine Society advises buying them "from a reputable merchant who – hopefully – has cellared them properly since shipment. If 1970 vintage or earlier, get reassurance on the quality of the U.K. bottler, better still that it is the merchant selling it that is the bottler." If buying from brokers or auction, he warns "provenance is extremely important and investigation is often necessary".

Vintage Port's quality and value is not the only reason why now is the time to buy Port. Port styles have never been so thrillingly diverse. Everyone, explains Ramos Pinto's João Nicolau de Almeida, "is trying to sell more special categories". Where Vintage Port is only declared in exceptional years (typically three in a decade), it's hard to disagree with him that Port needs "more fireworks".