For The Love Of Port

How does this sound for decanting strategy for a dinner I have to go to tonight. The ports are 1983 Graham and Dow. I figure that we will start drinking the port at 8:30 - 9 pm, so I was going to open the bottles at 3 pm, pour into a decanter and de-sediment (can that even be a verb?), clean the original bottles (with water only), pour back into the original bottles by 4:00, then recork the bottles and leave them in the fridge until I need to head of to dinner. Do you think this will be enough to get the port ready for drinking by 8:30? Should I maybe leave it in the decanter a little longer before I pour back into the bottle? I don't usually bring port to dinner parties, so I haven't ever had to get the timing down. I am guessing there is a lot of wiggle room, but I don't want to mess it up. Thanks for your help!

Decant them NOW.

If you havn't had them stood up for the last day to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom of the bottle, you'll need to use a piece of cheesecloth, coffee filter (or even a clean nylon stocking!) to catch the sediment as you decant.

Otherwise, open and decant the bottle carefully, without disturbing the sediment. Pour out the contents slowly and in a single action (don't right the bottle midway through!). As you approach the end, the stream of wine will turn cloudy - stop at that moment.

Only put them back in the bottle if don't own a decanter - wash the sediment out of bottle but also rinse with a little port (cheap ruby is Ok for this) to flush the last of the water out.

Enjoy!

Tom

Great. Thanks. The only reason I'm going to have to put them back in the bottles is that I am at work, and am going directly to dinner, and it would be difficult for me to bring two full decanters (mine don't have stoppers).

"Now" for me is 9:30 am -- will that be too much air?

"Now" for me is 9:30 am -- will that be too much air?

No - they'll still be good (possibly better) tomorrow

Tom

Okay, great. I may be one of the few people (not in the wine trade) with 3 decanters in his office, so I am all set to start my chemistry experiment!

qcumber wrote:de-sediment (can that even be a verb

We have a saying here "there ain't no noun that can't be verbed"

Seriously, Tom's right, by what you say I'd act now.

Coffee filters do the trick, but run a pint of boiling water then cold water through first to get rid of any chlorine etc.

I'd even then give a bit of a shake to the "de-sedimented" bottles to get some air in

Thanks. Sounds like I'll be porting well tonight. :)

Dow was corked.

And the Grahams! Yikes! I've never struck out twice before.

Don't judge too quickly - old bottles often have some off-notes when first opened - check again later

Tom

It is possible, but I recently had a 1983 Smith Woodhouse and 85 Graham and both of those were good. Both of the bottles I opened today are off -- the Dow is going downhill fast, too. But I will cross my fingers and hope for a miracle.

I had the Graham 85 very recently and liked it even more than the Fonseca 85 I opened over the holidays. I say this because of the incredible balance the wine displays. However, I have to say that it is a double edged sword because I also like it better than the Graham 77 I have in my cellar (2 magnums!). I find this wine to be out of balance and "hot". Hopefully time will smooth this out, but I'm not so sure....

I like the Graham 85 very much. I have a lot of that left.

Bill,

Did you give the ports enough time to recover if they were suffering from bottle stink rather than being corked? How were they in the end?

Alex