For The Love Of Port

When doing a tasting for a group of friends and you have a bunch of bottles ... would you:

Pour the Tawny with-an-indication-of-age before Colheita?

Pour the Tawny before LBV?

Pour Vintage Port first or last?

Which goes first, the young Vintage Ports or the oldies?

Let me first say that there are NO wrong answers. This is up to your own personal tastes. Nonetheless, it would be fun to see what everyone thinks on this. I think it might be helpful as we approach the Christmas and New Years holidays and people might tend to open more bottles than usual during their celebrations.

I would go Tawny >> Colheita >> Old VP >> Young VP >> Old VP >> Old VP>> Old VP >> Old VP >> Old VP >> Old VP >> Old VP >> Old VP ...

For ruby Ports, I serve old to young. Younger ruby Ports - Vintage in particular - tend to be more powerful and more tannic which can overwhelm the older Ports if served later.

I don't think it matters all that much for tawny Ports, but I tend to serve the older ones first. Older tawnies tend to be more intense and concentrated which could theoretically overwhelm the younger ones that follow, but we're not talking the same degree of difference as you see in Vintage Ports. A young Colheita can still be intense, it just tends to be more on the vibrant end of the spectrum than those dark and brooding old timers.

I tend to separate TWAIOA and Colheita into groups, but more so that they can be compared to each other than any real need. I find that Colheitas need about 50% more age (maybe a little less) to reach the complexity of a blended TWAIOA, so these days an early '80s Colheita and a 20-year old Tawny would be roughly equal to me. Similarly, I find that a 40-yr old compares well with a Colheita from the '50s. TWAIOA tend to be rounder and richer, while Colheitas tend to be more focused and display more clarity. But they stand up to each other very well so I don't see any real need to separate them. It's just habit.

One good reason to serve the old stuff first - you're not drunk yet! Serve the good stuff while you can really enjoy it.

Tawny -> LBV -> Colheita -> Young VP -> Old VP

My take the the order would be tawny-colheita-old VP-LBVP-young VP. regards

If memory serves, here I did tawnies and colheitas first, from youngest to oldest, or did I do oldest to youngest? I know I mixed the two and went one direction with age. Then the VPs oldest to youngest and a very young LBV at the end.

This is too much conjecture--remember "collective port wisdom". What we need here is empirical evidence so I suggest a scientific study.

There are 25 possible combinations, so over a year we need to meet once a fortnight and try a new combination. By next December, we should know.

John M. wrote:This is too much conjecture--remember "collective port wisdom". What we need here is empirical evidence so I suggest a scientific study.

There are 25 possible combinations, so over a year we need to meet once a fortnight and try a new combination. By next December, we should know.

But if we met twice each week we would have far more statistically sound data to work with

Well, my math is wrong--this is what happens when I rush (and can you believe one of my majors in college was mathematics???...v. embarrassed). I believe there are 120 combinations--so once every three days!!

Well--it's all in the name of science and wisdom so let the games begin.

old VP --» new VP
new colheita --» old colheita
tawny --» colheita
i don't like to mix tawny and ruby

Uncork, Decant and Pour - New to old
Drinking on the serious - Old to new
Casual drinking after the serious - Does not matter

I'd serve tawny after ruby as that would have more acid, and Madeira after the tawny if available.

Yep, Madeira after everything else ... always. I've never found another wine that has benefited from following Madeira.