For The Love Of Port

From reading posts over the past five years, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that lots of people on the two main Port forums consume copious quantities of Port ... more than likely as much if not more than table wines? What causes this phenomenon?

Port tastes better!



I don't drink wine or beer... just Port and the occasional fruity drink that comes with an umbrella. I guess I have a sweet tooth!

Personally, I drink more table wine than Port. I associate a good table wine with eating a good dinner. I associate Port with cooler weather -- November through February -- and drinking either at the end of a meal (where a table wine has been consumed) or more likely while sitting at the table reading a book. Because Port is pretty strong, I don't tend to consume it very often -- maybe once a week during the peak season, maybe once every two weeks outside of that peak. Outside of November through February I may not drink any Port at all.

I drink more table wine. I enjoy more Port.

Eric Menchen wrote:I drink more table wine. I enjoy more Port.

Ha! I agree with that!

I've started drinking more tawny port as a starter before having wine. You can blame my trips to Portugal for that.

I probably drink 20 bottles of "table wine" vs. bottles of port. Frankly, there is more variety among the very limited types of table wines that I enjoy compared to the types of port that I enjoy. I like Northern Italian Reds; I like tawny ports. Maybe it's my limited tastes that restrict the kinds of wine I enjoy. Port has its own limitation: I can drink nearly twice as much table wine as port.

I have to come in on the side of drinking more table wine than port (about ten to one). I always have the table wine with a meal and the port after dinner. I save the the port for family gatherings where it will be about 75% to 85% consumed. Lucky me I get the remainders. I throw out leftover table wine but drink leftover port. My satisfaction with leftover port drops drastically after a week so I don't open much just for myself unless it is a 375 ml bottle.

Eric Menchen wrote:I drink more table wine. I enjoy more Port.

+1

Among the groups of folks I share passion of wine, I'm almost the only one who likes Port. Most of the time it is at the end of a meal when we had already too many wines!

When Port is most enjoyed at my table is when I receive folks and I choose the entire meal and wine selections.

Cause it taste great

Realistically, it is because it's the one drink that I love the most. It also helps that I can enjoy a bottle over several days without major deterioration. Try leaving a bottle of decent wine open for several days and it usually doesn't taste very good, it seems to get this stale musty factor after a few days open, at least to me.

David Spriggs wrote:

Eric Menchen wrote:I drink more table wine. I enjoy more Port.

Hah! I agree with that!

I've started drinking more tawny port as a starter before having wine. You can blame my trips to Portugal for that.

Here here! (UK parliament's phrase of choice). Port is more "reliable", wines have highs and lows just like port, but I get more "highs" with port and dare I say a few more frustrations with wine. I wonder if port is just a little more robust and flexible perhaps but I am not experienced enough to make a decision yet. Don't get me wrong I enjoy both but looking back there are more times when port has just sung and been more challenging.

Although I've logged between 450 and 600 Ports/Madeiras on an annual basis, since 2005, I still believe my ratio of table wines to these two dessert wines is about 7 or 8:1.

Quite worrisome actually.

I drink a lot more dry wine than port, but I will drink not so fancy table wines, but won't go for the equal in port. I put the lowest level port I'd drink much higher than the lowest level dry I wine. The ratio of wine to port for me is proabably 15 to 1. What I own as a collector is about 50% port

As for what I own, it is about 80% Port.

Eric Menchen wrote:As for what I own, it is about 80% Port.

Good for you!!!

David is currently in "drink down" mode ... so that when all of his table wines are consume, his cellar will then be just 100% Port and more to his liking!

Counting only what I drink (as opposed to what I taste) I probably drink 6-8 times as much port as I do table wine. (But my wife is probably the opposite.)

I find that I prefer the intense and concentrated flavours in port over the flavours and structure you get in table wine. I compensate for the higher alcohol content by drinking smaller glass of port, usually a couple of 60ml glasses instead of a couple of 125ml glasses. Port is versatile enough to go with my evening meal and I'll carry on sipping through the evening. When it gets warm (like it finally has in the south of England) I just choose a port which is young and fruity and which tastes good when chilled.

All in all, I find port is much more versatile than table wine. And always remember, table wine is simply the contents of the lagar that someone forgot to fortify!

Roy Hersh wrote:Although I've logged between 450 and 600 Ports/Madeiras on an annual basis, since 2005, I still believe my ratio of table wines to these two dessert wines is about 7 or 8:1.

Quite worrisome actually.

Rather worrisome indeed

Rather perplexing

What do I know , I used to think port & peanut butter were a great match