Problem with Port

[Jay Woodruff]

While not in the offline capital of the world (or even thr country) I have attended many offlines here that included stellar people, and some halfway decent wines.


My issue with bringing port is that, seen as a dessert wine, port is laways pored last. While I love finishing off with a great port, by this time some are leaving, have had so many they do not care, or have stopped drinking so that they can function the next day!


Dammit people, this is fine port! What is your major malfunction?!?!?

Of course this occurs only in my mind, but I do refrain from bringing really nice port because of this. Does anyone else experience this?


Solutions?? Limit the people/wines? Have a port night? Open the port first? Drink it yourself? Climb on a table and proceed to deliver a scathing speech about their inadequecies? (I would like to reatin a FEW friends)

[Andy Velebil]

Jay,

I agree, I tend to not bring a port to a dinner with more than 4-6 people. It seems that anymore than this amount means that a lot of wine is openned before and during dinner. By the time dinner is done most people are already too intoxicated to really care and/or appreciate a fine port. I tend to save the good stuff for smaller get-togethers. That way people tend to really enjoy a fine port for dessert.

BTW, I've tried this once and it worked out great. I was in the mountains for a weekend get away with a small group of close friends a little over a year ago. Only two of us there had ever had port. So I opened a VP, i believe it was a 1977 Warre's, about 6 hours before dinner. About every 2 hours I gave everyone a small amount to see if they could taste the changes. I didn't tell them what I was up to, and by the end of the dinner, they all commented that it "tasted different" than earlier. They all loved it and had a great time. it really showed them that port (and wine) can change over time.

[simon Lisle]

cofidis 2,
I find the further down the decanter the better it gets
Simon