How to drink port wine

Content

Steps
Tips
What do you need

Drinking port is a centuries old tradition that has revived today. This sweet dessert wine comes from the Douro Valley in Portugal. Its strength is increased by cognac during fermentation. Due to its specific taste, the popularity of port has spread to other countries and continues to grow. Learning the process of drinking port will take a little time, and later it can become your favorite hobby. Some Britons argue that the port should only be served to the left and that the bottle should not touch the table. Others think it's not serious.

Steps

1 Choose a port. There are 8 varieties: White, Ruby, Dark Yellow, Crusty, Long Spill (LBV), Quinta, Colheita and Aged. Each variety has unique characteristics, so you can look for a tasting event. You can also read about port in books or on the internet to decide which variety to drink.
- White is made from white grapes and can be sweet or dry. Ruby is made from grapes of several vintages and aged in wooden barrels for at least 3 years. Dark yellow is similar to ruby yellow, but its age is 40 years or more. Covered with a crust is also similar to ruby, but it does not go through the filtration process, which gives a crust of sediment that forms in the bottle over time. The Late Bottom Vine (LBV) is made from grapes harvested in 1 year, and its age ranges from 4 to 6 years. Quinta is produced in the same way as LBV, but made from grapes harvested in the same area, or Quinta. Colheita is a yellowish port made from single-crop grapes harvested from the same area. Aged is made from special grapes of the same harvest, and its age reaches only 2-3 years. It is made without filtration. The winemaker must define the exclusivity of the harvest for the port to be exquisite. The winemaker then confirms the vintage for the production of aged port. Aged port is an expensive rarity.
2 Purchase your selected port from an alcoholic beverage store. If this is not nearby, try ordering online.
3 Buy glasses to serve port wine. Glasses contribute to better tasting. These must be tasting glasses certified by the National Institute of Confirmation of Origin (INAO), or simply glasses intended for the port, which can be easily found on the Internet.
4 Hold the port bottle upright for at least 24 hours for younger varieties and a week for more mature ones. This will allow the sediment to sink to the bottom. The port is ready to drink as soon as you notice a layer of sediment like sand at the bottom.
5 Once the sediment has settled, carefully open the bottle with a corkscrew. A more seasoned port will be more difficult to open as the corks dry out with age.
6 Drain the port. Pour the port wine gently and slowly into the decanter. Stop transfusion as soon as sediment reaches. For best results, use a funnel-shaped decanter to immediately notice sediment.
7 Let the port stand in a place where its temperature can reach 21 to 27 degrees Celsius.
8 Pour the port from the decanter into the serving glasses. Etiquette assumes that each glass is no more than half full.

Tips

If you don't have a funnel decanter, try lighting the port with a flashlight while pouring. Aim the light at the neck and watch closely. The light will help you notice the sediment in time.
If the cork breaks while opening the bottle, you can strain the contents while pouring. There are funnels with a strainer especially for this. You can also pour the port through a piece of gauze or even a nylon stocking.