Port - is it likely to still be drinkable....?
Discussion
I discovered tucked away at the back of a cupboard a couple of bottles of port that I had bought me for ages back (probably 10 years plus) as presents that had been forgotten about and hence not consumed.
They weren't particularly expensive bottles - one was Taylors 10 year old vintage, the other something similar but can't remember the maker. Are they likely to still be drinkable, or will they have gone off? I know port is often laid down and aged but I assumed that that applied more to the decent stuff that gets better with age rather than the relatively ordinary stuff bought over the counter which is intended to be drunk straightaway.
The position may very well be complicated by the fact that whoever stuck said bottles at the back of the cupboard left them upright and so there's a good chance that the corks will have dried out.
I'm clueless about port so anyone want to hazard a guess?
(I suppose I can solve this relatively easily by just opening one and trying it - but I don't want to do that and waste most of the bottle as there's no-one to help me drink it at present, and the days when I could consume copious amounts of port and still function properly the next day are long gone!
)
They weren't particularly expensive bottles - one was Taylors 10 year old vintage, the other something similar but can't remember the maker. Are they likely to still be drinkable, or will they have gone off? I know port is often laid down and aged but I assumed that that applied more to the decent stuff that gets better with age rather than the relatively ordinary stuff bought over the counter which is intended to be drunk straightaway.
The position may very well be complicated by the fact that whoever stuck said bottles at the back of the cupboard left them upright and so there's a good chance that the corks will have dried out.
I'm clueless about port so anyone want to hazard a guess?
(I suppose I can solve this relatively easily by just opening one and trying it - but I don't want to do that and waste most of the bottle as there's no-one to help me drink it at present, and the days when I could consume copious amounts of port and still function properly the next day are long gone!
)A bottled labeled "10 year old" will most likely be a tawny port that has had 10 years in wood before bottling. As you say, it's meant to be drunk immediately, but if stored well it might not have degraded too much since you bought it. It won't have got any better through. Try it and see...
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