For The Love Of Port

My kid's first bday party is coming up in a few months and I'll be getting some nice port to have at end, for a toast.
There should be about 40 adults. How many bottles would you recommend getting? Most will be fairly new to port.

I would think 4 would suffice - that's enough for a 2oz pour for 40 people, which should be good for Port newbies.

For a tasting, 16 pours per bottle is a good number. This isn't a trasting, but suggests you might get by with three bottles.

Three bottles will do for sure, pours for a toast of Port at affairs like this are best @ 1.5 oz. per person.

Thank you guys, much appreciate it.
Am pretty excited about it, finally an opportunity to buy some nice port that the wife wont find excessive! Might have to go w 4 bottles, in case the guest count goes up
Now have to figure out if the restaurant has the glasses to accommodate it... it is more of a brunch place. Being a brunch place has proved to be great though, for otherwise they wouldnt let me BYOB. Corkage fee isnt that high either at $15/bottle.
Have you found it hard in the past to get restaurants to pour the wine for you? Or is it something they're fairly accustomed to?
Miguel

Most decent restaurants in NJ that are BYO are pretty accommodating--but even the nicer ones may not have much or the right glassware. One of our favorites, all they have are juice glasses--seems odd for an otherwise very nice establishment.

We haven't had any problems bringing in glassware and having the restaurant staff pour. YMMV, of course :)

Wow, I would've said 5-6 bottles assuming a few will actually want to drink port.

Moses Botbol wrote:Wow, I would've said 5-6 bottles assuming a few will actually want to drink port.

Well, they aren't all :ftlop:ers; otherwise I would have suggested 20. I know some around here like one bottle per person, but I can usually get by on 1/2.

While some prefer individual magnums with sippy straws.

Miguel,

If the restaurant you've chosen is glassware challenged, email me and let me know. I may be able to help you.

Thank you Roy, appreciate it.
Fear I may have to reach out to you when the time comes! It won't be for nearly 5 months.
Hopefully the port will be sourced this weekend, provided no one outbids me on winebid.com!

Did have to put up a fight and fear I overpaid ($160 w buyers premium), but got 3 bottles of 1994 Taylor VP for this.
Should be the best port i have ever tasted and am excited to have friends and family taste it as well.
Comes out to about $10 per person... not much one can do drinks-wise for that kind of money at a NYC restaurant. Tasting one of the best VPs ever would certainly not qualify!

You didn't overpay by much. I've managed to buy a large lot at auction for less per bottle, but that's only slightly above the cheapest U.S. retail listing I see on wine-searcher, and the wine-searcher average is $210.

How long do you plan to decant ahead of time? I'd do it the night before and pour back into rinsed bottle. Ready to pour and enjoy

In reading people's tasting notes on it had thought of a 24hr decant!
It is still fairly young, think it should be able to survive it. The alcohol prob needs a while to go away...
Would you advise against such a long decant?

My boy's 1 year bday party is just a few days away now... the 94 Taylor has been laying down in temp controlled storage since i got it a few months ago...

Moses suggested decanting it the night before. Was planning on doing it mid-afternoon the day before (rather than late evening, wont be home at dinner time), then leave in decanter overnight, pour back into the bottles early morning, like 7am (the party will be at noon but we'll have to leave early to do some prepping).

Would you recommend otherwise? Any suggestions on details i may have overlooked?

Big thank you in advance!!

Sounds like you have a good strategy. My only question is "Is that still not long enough decant?" Certainly, you won't miss the drinking window, but it may take even longer than that to hit its sweet spot. If that decant time is the most ideal for your schedule then I think you hit the nail on the head!

Happy birthday to your son, take some pictures, and let us know how it went!

Miguel,
I think your decanting proposal would work out just fine. And a happy birthday to your son. Please do let us know how the bottle shows...and I recommend a few small "sample" sips during the decanting period so you can chart its evolution. Remember, all our tasting is done for purely educational reasons of course

Thank you all for the good suggestions!

I will be sure to conduct several test samples along the way :) and then let you know how it came across.

This will be the best VP i've tasted, so wont have much to compare it too...