Vintage port help
Discussion
Mrs Goat has been very kind and bought me a dusty bottle of port for my birthday. It's a 1963 Quinta do Noval*, special enough that I should be a bit careful with it. My experience only goes as far as affordable "drink-me-now" ports and a pleasant evening at the Port Wine Institute in Lisbon.
So for storage, prep, getting the cork out, decanting, drinking (within 2-3 days !!!), etc - are there any definite dos/don'ts with this stuff?
(She's not loaded, this was a bottle from an old college's cellars.)
So for storage, prep, getting the cork out, decanting, drinking (within 2-3 days !!!), etc - are there any definite dos/don'ts with this stuff?
(She's not loaded, this was a bottle from an old college's cellars.)
Same as vintage wine I would expect. Let it settle before you open it, store horizontally so the cork doesn't dry out, decant slowly, the aim being to remove sediment (as opposed to decanting young wine where the aim is to get air into it), cork will likely be brittle so open with care!
Yes a few, simple really, do not store vertically, try to avoid temperature ranges and if you can keep it at a steady one around 12 degree c, great. I also turn my port annually. Make sure the wax seal around the cork is in good condition.
When you want to drink it, allow it to settle before you open it, please use a port funnel or a decantor (it's a poury thing which winds up allowing you to control the flow, pompous and not needed.)to pour into a decanter, just to avoid sediment. I have used coffee filter paper, didn't alter the port, and serve at room temp.
Do not worry about breaking the cork when you open it, it will, best way I have found is to use a corkscrew which is longer than the cork.
And then enjoy it.
When you want to drink it, allow it to settle before you open it, please use a port funnel or a decantor (it's a poury thing which winds up allowing you to control the flow, pompous and not needed.)to pour into a decanter, just to avoid sediment. I have used coffee filter paper, didn't alter the port, and serve at room temp.
Do not worry about breaking the cork when you open it, it will, best way I have found is to use a corkscrew which is longer than the cork.
And then enjoy it.
I've been intending to ask much the same question as I have a bottle of 1949 port (the year I was born). Every birthday I'm tempted to open it but each year I think, "No, maybe next year.". It's stored, horizontally, in its box on a bookcase under the stairs where no one except me is allowed to touch anything.
Riley Blue said:
I've been intending to ask much the same question as I have a bottle of 1949 port (the year I was born). Every birthday I'm tempted to open it but each year I think, "No, maybe next year.". It's stored, horizontally, in its box on a bookcase under the stairs where no one except me is allowed to touch anything.
When you get a tingle - drink it. Make sure it's a random occasion (not Christmas, a birthday, or new year). Special wine needs to be drunk at some point. I have been lucky enough to come across/buy/get given some very special wine in my time. I have consumed it all (with friends and family), from the 1920s Madeira through the 40s/50s/60s port. One of the most fun was a load of German desert wine where we drank 5 decades of top JJ Prum from dead to alive.
Thanks all. Certainly more involved than I knew was necessary. I expect the cork to break so will use some muslin-type stuff plus funnel to filter the cork bits and sediment.
Mrs Goat doesn't do port, so I will definitely need some help if it really must be consumed within a couple of days of opening. Is that right?
Mrs Goat doesn't do port, so I will definitely need some help if it really must be consumed within a couple of days of opening. Is that right?
I just use filter cone paper in a filter coffee clone - it's a trick I learnt as a student while working behind a hotel bar. Keep topping up the decant/filter, as yo umay need to change the paper after a while. A heavy sediment port (such as Xarles Harris) may take 3 or 4 filters (one pass through only).
BTW I suspect yo may have to drink that '63 soon. Port does not keep forever, and true vintages are no different from single de quintas as far as ageing is concerned. Having a quick look up, the 1963 is a 'drink now' port. Trust me when I say once a port is passed it the taste goes rapidly (to tasting almost like water or tobacco). Between myself and a friend in recent years we've ditched about 7 bottles we bought back in the early noughties.
BTW I suspect yo may have to drink that '63 soon. Port does not keep forever, and true vintages are no different from single de quintas as far as ageing is concerned. Having a quick look up, the 1963 is a 'drink now' port. Trust me when I say once a port is passed it the taste goes rapidly (to tasting almost like water or tobacco). Between myself and a friend in recent years we've ditched about 7 bottles we bought back in the early noughties.
Phud said:
If I might, share it with good friends, enjoy it and share the event.
Might just be me, but I enjoy doing this with friend I know will enjoy the sharing not the fact its a vintage bottle.
Not just you. Things like this are for sharing IMO. Might just be me, but I enjoy doing this with friend I know will enjoy the sharing not the fact its a vintage bottle.
Escapegoat said:
...
Mrs Goat doesn't do port, so I will definitely need some help if it really must be consumed within a couple of days of opening. Is that right?
Yup. Mrs Goat doesn't do port, so I will definitely need some help if it really must be consumed within a couple of days of opening. Is that right?
As Phud notes, get a mate round, some good cheese and see it off in an evening
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