Port guides

How to drink Port

Port is one of the most delicious versatile wines on the planet. It can be eaten with all kinds of food, sipped on its own or mixed in cocktails. Port is not just for Christmas.

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What do I drink Port with?

Do I need to decant Port?

What glass to use?

Does Port go off?

Author:

Henry Jeffreys

Master of Malt features editor and award-winning drinks author

Reading time: 5 minutes

With cheese

Vintage Port and Stilton is a classic for a reason but Port goes well with all kinds of cheeses. The sweetness of a tawny acts as the perfect foil to blue cheeses and salty mature cheeses like manchego or comte while the tannins in a young vintage LBV or single quinta are the perfect marriage with the fat in a nice piece of farmhouse cheddar.

Port, there's no better wine when the cheese comes out.

With charcuterie

Since you’ve got the cheese out, why not add some salami or cured ham? A chilled glass of ten year old tawny tastes magnificent with charcuterie. It’s that combination of sugar and salt.

With pudding

Ruby, LBV and younger vintage and single quinta Ports have a powerful affinity with chocolate. Whereas chocolate, especially bitter high cocoa dark chocolate, will normally overpower most wines, Port can take it all in its stride. If you’re serving a chocolate pudding, then don’t serve it without a glass of Port.

In cocktails

The White Port & Tonic is the most famous but there are all kinds of cocktails which benefit from a bit of fortified Portuguese magic. Try adding a ruby or tawny Port to a Negroni instead of vermouth or there’s specfic Port cocktails like the Princeton. This Martinez-esque concoction is made by stirring with ice 4 parts Old Tom Gin and 1 tawny Port with orange bitters and straining into a cocktail glass.

What temperature should I serve my Port at?

Most Ports should be served cool, around 15-17 degrees centigrade. In a centrally-heated house, it’s worth popping your Port in the fridge for 20 minutes before serving. Tawny and white Port can benefit from being served a little colder, around 11-12 degree centigrade is ideal.

Do I need to decant Port?

When Port ages in bottle, the tannins which feel woody in the mouth, will slowly drop out of the wine and form a reddish purple deposit at the bottom of the bottle. This is completely harmless but can give the wine a bitter taste. Older vintage and single quinta, and some LBVs (look for the word unfiltered on the label) will need decanting. This is extremely easy to do and you don’t need a fancy decanter, a glass water jug will do. The night before you want to drink your Port, stand it upright so that all the deposit sinks to the bottom of the bottle. When it’s time to drink it, remove the cork, making sure to keep the bottle upright. Then slowly and steadily pour it into a jug or decanter. It helps to do this over a lamp or candle so you can see the sediment collected in the shoulder of the bottle. When the bottle is nearly empty, some of the sediment sitting in the shoulder will start to move out of the bottle. This is your cue to stop pouring. You will have about half an inch (just over 1 cm) of sludge at the bottom of the bottle which can be used to add richness to gravy.

What sort of glasses should I use?

Traditional little Port glasses look beautiful on the table but they're not very good for getting your nose in and having a good sniff. The best thing to use are sherry copitas like those in the top image. But if you've only got everyday wine glasses, these will be fine, just don't pour a full wine serving as Port is very strong!

Does Port go off?

Vintage and single quinta Ports will last for years, even decades in bottle as long as they are stored somewhere cool and dark. Even quite ordinary Ports can also last for years, that old bottle found at the back of the drinks cupboard may well still be worth drinking. Though tawny and colheita Ports will also last for years, they tend to be best drunk quite soon after the bottling date which should be on the back of the bottle.

Though it’s common to see Port sitting around in a decanter for weeks, once opened, most Ports should actually be drunk within four or five days. As it has been fortified, Port will last better open than table wines and will still be drinkable weeks later but will oxidise and lose its fresh fruit. In contrast, tawny and colheita ports are already partially oxidised and should last for up to a month open without any problems.