Cellaring port question

[daver6]

Ive heard conflicting stories on how best to cellar port. Ie should the bottle be stored horizontally or vertically. Ive heard/read that if the port has a stopper with the little cork built into it, then its best to store the bottle upright, since its likely to leak given such a small cork. Kinda sounds a bit bizare to me, so I thought Id seek yout collective wisdom?

thanks

[Alex F]

If it has a proper cork (i.e. in most vintage ports) lie it down.

If it is short cork with a stopper, or screwcap, stand it up.

[rens]

Along the same lines: does vintage port improve with age (like a red wine) or does it stay the same since it is fortified?? Sorry to hijack the thread.

[Wizz]

rens, thats right - VP ages like a dry red. Tawny port has been aged in barrel and is a more oxidative style, further aging in bottle can just see it lose freshness.

cheers

Andrew

[griff]

rens, thats right - VP ages like a dry red. Tawny port has been aged in barrel and is a more oxidative style, further aging in bottle can just see it lose freshness.

cheers

Andrew

Whether tawnies improve in bottle has been subject to a little debate recently. Almost all the port houses say no but interestingly Dirk at Niepoort says yes. Some people have weighed in on the port fora about this with a few differing opinions. Some say the decrease in freshness and vitality is compensated with mellowness and some additional complexity on the palate. Similar thoughts on sherries from what I can gather. Not sure myself. I do know some muscats can get a weird fishy smell with a lot of bottle age.

cheers

Carl

[Mahmoud Ali]

I would lay any port on it's side wether it had a proper cork or a cork stopper. The only difference to me would be that the cork-stoppered port isn't meant to be aged very long. In that case there shouldn't be any danger of leakage though I have had cork-stoppered port as old as 20 years and there was no sign of leakage.

As far as tawny port is concerned I too have heard that freshness and fruitiness is lost with age. However I'm not sure this is true in all cases since I've heard the same thing about sherries and muscats but found to my delight that some of my bottles have aged beautifully. A couple of Australian sherries were delightful. One was a simple McWilliams Medium Dry Oloroso Sherry bought in 2001. In 2008 it was drier and more complex. The other was a Yalumba 20 Year Old Amontillado Sherry, also bought in 2001. I don't know what it was like originally but in 2009 it was a fantastic match with a wild mushroom and white wine soup.

A desert wine called Moscatel du Setubal 20 anos (20 year old) from Portugal that was bottled in 1989 was also supposed to be drunk young in order to enjoy it's freshness but a bottle opened in 2009 was incredible. It was a 20 year old botle of a muscat wine that had been aged 20 years in barrel, and though it had very fine sediment and had to be carefully decanted it was in no way harmed by age.

When it comes to good wine my philosophy is to take a chance. You never know what you will get.

Cheers.....................Mahmoud.

[roughred]

rens, thats right - VP ages like a dry red. Tawny port has been aged in barrel and is a more oxidative style, further aging in bottle can just see it lose freshness.

cheers

Andrew

Concur with the above. With most Australian fortifieds we have good distinction between style, and it's a safe generalisation that the only wines intended for ageing are VP's. Tawny, Muscat and other wood aged fortifieds may hold their form for months or even years but seldom if ever improve.