For The Love Of Port

I have a wish-list of how to bottle port. It's long and fussy, but is it missing anything?

1. On the bottle should be the house and vintage, indestructably part of the glass (some houses have the house on the glass, but not all make separate bottles for each year -- I realise that this might be too expensive for the small number of magnums bottled);
2. As suggested elsewhere, the inside of the glass should be pitted so that sediment sticks to it;
3. A label made of very durable plasticised paper, affixed with a sturdy glue (I don't know much about labels nor glue);
4. Two-inch cork;
5. Screw-cap on top of the two-inch cork (screw-cap on port old chap! Whatever next?);
6. And an out-sized rubber seal outside the screw cap, with house and vintage clearly embossed;
7. Label should state that there is a screw-cap between the seal and cork;
8. And a splash of white paint to indicate which way the bottle should lie.

What else is needed for a bottle to be properly dressed for a half-century wait in the damp?

A stamped wax capsule with the shipper and vintage is adequate i.d. when backed up by a branded cork. Putting the name of the shipper in the glass is OK, but the cost of special bottles for each vintage is prohibitive for all but the most prestigious and largest volume producers.

Labels can be replaced with facsimiles - the idea of plastic is just :x
It is possible for both labels and contents to survive if the humidity falls between certain limits.

Why the screw cap? - it's not as though you're going to drink direct from the bottle!

Long corks of the highest quality I would agree - the Vesuvio '90 I opened today had a full length cork, but I recall a '96 didn't - when did they start penny-pinching?

Rubber perishes over time, reducing to some rather smelly components which might permeate the cork and taint the wine - so stick to wax!

White splashes are romantic, but this and pitting the inside of the bottle is unlikely to be cost effective - cheaper to put an extra 10cc of wine in the bottle!

OK - that's enough cold water

Tom

Screw cap acts as extra seal, and prevents the cork from ever protruding.

Interesting other comments though: thanks.

jdaw1 wrote:Screw cap acts as extra seal, and prevents the cork from ever protruding.

Hmmm, so you wouldn't be able to see whether the older botlle you're buying was heat damaged? No, thanks! :twisted:

I can't stand seeing screw caps on £5 Auzzie Shiraz - if I ever see one on a bottle of VP it will stay on the shelf

Why the screw cap? - it's not as though you're going to drink direct from the bottle!

oh...guess I'll have to put this bottle down and get a glass now...



Stewart

I would add to the wish list that bottles should be made of dark glass, but not so dark as to be totally opaque.

I always love to decant an older bottle that's made of green glass rather than today's black glass that I just can't see through.

Alex