I generally drink port as a late evening digestif–no more than one glass. It is more usually tawny, but, since I’ve retired, more vintage than before. If you insist on drinking it for dinner, it does work surprisingly and wonderfully well with filet mignon.Since I use the sediment for coating steaks, when I cook them, I would suppose it would work with them, as well, if they are tender. If you like your beef well done, just ignore this and stay with drinking at as a digestif. Since I don’t eat nearly the amount of red meet I used to, I’m in the same boat.
With regard to how long it lasts, tawny port goes for weeks. I always decant vintage port, and I find it’s better after two hours of decanting, and if you have a decent closure for the decanter, will last of two or three days ater that, So, if you are like me and are coupled with someone who also likes the stuff, if you open a bottle, you are committed to a glass a night for say three nights. Even retired, I only do this on a Friday night so that the last glass is Sunday and, at most, once a month or less. In contrast to Otto, I find the port does not much change on the next two nights and may even be slightly better the second night. This may be because, while I drink no vintage later than 97, my earliest are the early 80s. Bu, also, I have, neither science nor fact to back this up, only my own experience, so YMMV.
I open a couple of bottles of aged VP per year, with dessert or as a digestif, when we have a larger group (such as when the kids are in for the holidays or at a wine dinner) and I know it will be finished that night or the next.
I keep a bottle of tawny open with the stopper cork in it in the cellar at all times. I won’t have any during the week, but most weeks I’ll have a glass on Friday or Saturday as a digestif, and I don’t worry that it may take a while to finish the bottle.
@Otto_Forsberg I’m either misunderstanding your comments about decanting or they conflict with everything I’ve heard before. I’ve always heard that one should open an older bottle of VP and decant for a few hours before serving?
I enjoy opening a 20 year Tawny on ice fishing weekends in the shack on the lake- It’s freezing cold outside and I have no where to go for three days. It seems like the perfect time to enjoy a bottle.
Vintage Port must be decanted, no matter how old it is because of the high volume of sediment – the last 1/2 to 1" in bottle is a no no. I’ve been drinking 83s and 85s and decant for at least 2 hours, but 3 or 4 may be better. 1985 Graham’s is a real treat.
I guess you are misunderstanding because I haven’t said anything that would contradict this. I, too, usually give an hour-ish of air to a VP. Especially older bottles can develop some bottle stink, sitting on that much deposit for so long.
Disagree with this. They don’t do prestige Vintage Ports, but most of the family houses have been making wine for generations and have stocks of ancient wood aged Ports. The addition of the new categories of 50 year old and Muito Velho (over 80 year old) were instituted to allow commercialization of these ancient wines. Miguel Braga of Quinta do Mourao was the spearhead for this legislation. I’ve had a 200 year old wood aged Port from his cellars as well as numerous over 100 year old wines. I’ve also been to Casa de Santa Eufemia walking around the cellars and found old demijohns lying around. When asked, the owners said they didn’t know what they were only that great granddad made it. They allowed a taste and it was mindblowing. Quevedo, Viera de Sousa, and Quinta da Levandeira do Roncao have similar wines.
I drink a lot of Port, and Madeira. I like my Vintage Ports with a lot of decant time so I’ll decant a bottle into empty half bottles. I’ll recork one and place it in the fridge. The open one I’ll drink over a couple days, then open the recorked one. These are for wines from the 90’s and younger. Older ones I reserve to open with a group of like minded friends and drink it over a night. I drink more wood aged Ports (indicated age and Colheitas) than Vintage. These I’ll drink both as an aperitif and for dessert. I also have been drinking alot of white Colheitas and indicated age Ports lately as well.
For every 4 or so bottles of Tawny/Colheita we consume, we might consume 1 of a VP. Since there is no rush to drink though a Tawny, they tend to get consumed over 2-4 weeks as a digestif.
I love VP and keep an eye out for good deals on auctions. But I have a hard time finding the right time with enough people to open them. Older vintages (80s and 70s) pair better with cheeses at the beginning of the meal for me.
The challenge is how to preserve the VP over a week. I’ve had mild success in using a Recork. Decanting into small boston rounds didn’t seem to do any better than the Recork. If the cork is in good enough shape for a Coravin, I have had success using it to pour a third of the bottle at a time into a small decanter. But I have yet to open anything before '92 that could withstand even the vintage needle
That sounds pretty odd, because I had that same wine a few years ago. Granted, it was quite closed upon opening, but it didn’t take more than a few hours to come around and be fully expressive.
Dow does make very stern and ageworthy wines that handle air quite well, so for them 1997 is still pretty young - I was surprised how very youthful the wine was for its age - but normally I’d say 1997 isn’t particularly young for a VP, even if it shouldn’t be one bit old, either.
Nevertheless, I’m baffled by your experience as it doesn’t reflect mine one little bit. I’m sure our bottle would’ve been quite fine on day 2, but it’s hard to see how it would’ve been any better.
I chose to open my bottle based on your 30.09.2021 tasting note. It’s not that my bottle was closed, it’s just that, as I was drinking it, all could think was “It tastes like Port.” There was nothing interesting that would suggest it was 25 years old. Day three was a very pleasant surprise.
I hope some Port producers are reading this thread because I’m seeing a whole lot of people who would love to drink more Port but don’t find the logistics very compatible with the 21st century. I’m not a marketing guru and don’t have any brilliant solutions. Eric’s post about the new categories for old tawny is intriguing and I would definitely be on the lookout for some of that stuff. As far as VPs go, sounds like way more of it needs to be in 375ml or 500ml bottles, based on the relative infrequency of 12-person dinner parties where “everybody wants more wine!” improbably coincides with “and there isn’t anything left out of all the wine we’ve been drinking so far!”
I have a pretty specific answer to this question. I open vintage Port at the end of dinner parties with non-wine people. Drinking a 40-yo wine is not something most people have done, Port is always a crowd-pleaser, and it almost invariably adds a nice capstone to an evening. As Keith says, I find I rarely open sweet wines with wine people because there’s usually so much wine open that people just drink what’s in front of them.
I will crack a bottle once every other month or so. When i do, it takes the place of cocktails. First three days are single glasses and the leftover is used in cocktails and cooking. In the warmer months I will cover a glass with sparkling water.
We had an evening of old white Ports earlier this year. My WotN was S. Leonardo’s white Port that was labeled only as “Porto Very Old White”. Supposedly a blend of three great vintages that were within approximately a decade of each other and the average age was around 60 years when the wine was bottled. Not only the best white Port I’ve ever tasted, but also hands down one of the greatest Ports I’ve ever tasted. Stylistically very similar to a Tawny at this age, maybe showing a bit more acidity.
And I’ve understood S. Leonardo makes wines Ports that are even older than this. A Port geek friend of mine said that he has visited the lodge and they are some of the best Ports he knows. Absolutely stunning stuff.
Any other winners from that tasting? I’d love to try some old white Port but it doesn’t look like these S Leonardo bottlings are distributed in the US much at all.
It’s not that my bottle was closed, it’s just that, as I was drinking it, all could think was “It tastes like Port.” There was nothing interesting that would suggest it was 25 years old. Day three was a very pleasant surprise.