For The Love Of Port

I'm going through my cabinet or port I intend to consume in the near future (a year or less). I don't have a large fridge, so things get divided into long term and short(er) term.

So the question is how to store tawnies with an indication of age? Upright or on its side? Obviously all t-cap.

Thanks again.


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Lying down, but not for too long

Depends how long you intend to store them. They are shipped upright usually, so the producers are fine with them being stored upright. Personally, I wouldn't age them; defeats the purpose of buying TWAIOA to begin with.

Doesn't matter IMO. All my wine, except for most Madeira, is stored on its side. Haven't seen any issues so far.

Moses Botbol wrote:Depends how long you intend to store them.

This. They're intended to be consumed relatively quickly after bottling, so if you're planning to do that then it doesn't really matter how you store them.

Storing them lying down is probably the "safe" way to store them, as that keeps the cork wet and prevents unnecessary additional oxidation. But if you're going to drink the bottle within a year or so it really doesn't matter... corks don't dry out that fast, and we're talking about tawnies which are already at least partly oxidized.

I tend to buy lots of tawnies, so mine are stored lying down in case I forget that I have them. I think I still have some Noval and Kopke 40-yr olds from the FTLOP buying opportunities, so those are a couple of years old now.

Thanks gents.

I noticed that the forum's "what have you bought this week" has more posts than "what have you consumed this week."

As someone who stores only a couple bottles long term, I realized my buying was far exceeding my consumption. In order to remedy this, my early new years resolution is to drink more port! So all my TWAIOS, excluding colheitas, are going to be enjoyed at my earliest convenience… same with my most of my rubies (I think).

John F. Newman wrote:I noticed that the forum's "what have you bought this week" has more posts than "what have you consumed this week."

WARNING: Thread drift. My buying is based on my life planning, which really means having enough to drink through retirement. My cellar easily has capacity for 200 more bottles. I expect my buying to exceed consumption for the next 5-10 years. At some point it will reach steady state ...

John F. Newman wrote: I noticed that the forum's "what have you bought this week" has more posts than "what have you consumed this week."

One of the reasons is that the "What have you opened" thread was started one and a half years later... that certainly accounts for some of the diff in number of posts.

It cannot be the other way around....unless you mooch or were bequeathed a nicely stocked cellar.

Too, mostly what I post is the nicer ports---not going to post I purchased a Fonseca Ruby, or a Bin 27....and those nicer ones tend to go into the cellar for long term aging.

I disagree with John and see nothing wrong with putting in Ruby Reserve, LBV and other non-expensive bottlings. We can't all drink vintage every night!

All true Roy---I enjoy those inexpensive ones quite immensely and buy a bit of them--I just don't usually post that I bought them.

Roy Hersh wrote:I disagree with John and see nothing wrong with putting in Ruby Reserve, LBV and other non-expensive bottlings. We can't all drink vintage every night!

I've had 25 or so year old 6 Grapes and it was great.

To continue the hijacking of my own thread (can we call this Oporto Syndrome?)... I appreciate knowing what others here are buying and would appreciate them more if they shared more of their opinions on ALL ports (not just the more expensive ones).

Take THAT John M.!



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Touche, Good Buddy (said in a Texas accent). ...tough crowd.

OK---just for the record I just got a 1977 Dows, a 1989 Quinta da Bomfim and two bottles of Noval Black

Woo hoo. Nice grab. I have not had Noval Black since last summer, but it always shows nicely ... especially when consumed the day after it is first opened.