how long can I cellar a bottle of tawny?

[Jeremy Stratton]

This past May in the Douro Valley, we received a nice gift from the proprietor at the bed and breakfast Casa Cimeira, in Valenca do Douro near Pinhao.

He saw us off with a long, thin corked bottle of ten-year tawny port, unlabeled. (His family also grows and sells grapes, and they make some port and wine.)

My question: how long can I keep this bottle (which I think was filled and capped just before we left) in a wine fridge at 55 degrees, where it has been since our return? Our travel party would like to drink it together, but half of them live overseas, and my wife is pregnant (and not drinking) to boot.

Can I store this another year? Two? Or will it go bad?

Thank you.

[Glenn E.]

Jeremy,

While you may get some argument about whether or not the quality of your bottle will decline while it is being stored, I think everyone will agree that your bottle will not really go bad for quite a long time if stored as you describe. It may change and mature into something different (some say worse, some say better, some just say different), but it really won't go bad (as in un-drinkable) for probably decades.

Tawny Ports are intended to be consumed shortly after bottling (which in the Port industry means 2-3 years or so), but they will keep for much longer if stored properly. I have had tawnies that had been stored for as long as 23 years before being opened and they were still great. I have 23 bottles (I think) from 1964 that I plan to ration 1 per year on my birthday until they're gone, and 5 of those have already been in bottle since 1989. (The rest were all bottled in the 2000s.) I'm not the least bit worried about any of them - they'll all be great when I get around to opening them.

So you should feel confident that you can store your bottle until your travel party can arrange a reunion. Which sounds like a great party to me!

[Jeremy Stratton]

Thank you!

[Moses Botbol]

I am going to differ from Glenn; you should drink this sooner than later. I too have had older bottle tawny and think that it is nowhere near as vibrant or fresh tasting as when recently bottled. You have a picture in your mind of what this bottle will taste like. If you sit on this bottle, it won’t be as memorable. Who knows what the cork or bottling conditions are on a homemade and bottled port?

It’s not like this is some bottle of 10 year Cruz and if it’s not as good, no big deal. I would plan to drink your bottle within a year.

[Glenn E.]

I am going to differ from Glenn; you should drink this sooner than later.

you may get some argument about whether or not the quality of your bottle will decline while it is being stored

If you sit on this bottle, it won’t be as memorable.

It won't be the same, that's for sure. But as memorable? I claim that will depend more on the friends who attend the reunion and the evening overall than on the quality of the bottle of Port. If you all have a grand time remembering your trip while sipping Port, the bottle will be memorable.

Moses and I don't actually disagree as much as it appears. With age, a tawny loses some of its vibrance and freshness. Where we differ is on whether or not that's a bad thing. Time in the bottle will change your perception of the Port's acidity. Moses likes his tawnies vibrant, lively, and fresh so for him they start to go downhill rather rapidly. I like my tawnies mellow, smooth, and a little darker so for me time in the bottle helps them reach peak maturity.

There's a similar argument to be made for Vintage Ports, too. Some people like them young and freshly bottled. Others like them with 20-odd years in the bottle. Still others like them even older than that.

What it comes down to is that none of these preferences are really wrong. They're stylistic differences and, as such, your mileage may vary.

[Roy Hersh]

Regardless of when you choose to open this bottle Jeremy, can we hope to see a tasting note which lets us at least know the basics of how much you enjoyed this?

I hope it shows beautifully whenever you open it. My advice ... wait for the birth of your child and let your wife enjoy it along with you!

[Henrik Lilja]

A lot of different opinions...

http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... f=1&t=7251

[Moses Botbol]

Moses and I don't actually disagree as much as it appears. With age, a tawny loses some of its vibrance and freshness. Where we differ is on whether or not that's a bad thing. Time in the bottle will change your perception of the Port's acidity. Moses likes his tawnies vibrant, lively, and fresh so for him they start to go downhill rather rapidly. I like my tawnies mellow, smooth, and a little darker so for me time in the bottle helps them reach peak maturity.

Yes, we are both saying the same thing. It's just whether what happens when the bottle has been opened is a good thing or not.