Should Port bottle be dark? Will the port spoil in the clear one?

[Anna Addison]

Hello all port lovers,

I have a Port question from a bottle design stand point.
Can you please tell me if port has to be bottled in a dark bottle or not.
I heard that Port has to be bottled in a dark bottle, but on the shelf and online at the store I see both, dark and clear bottle.
Does port go bad in a clear bottle?
Does it depend on the age of the port? What about a young port?

I would really appreciate your answer.

Thank you for your time,
Anna

[Glenn E.]

Hi Anna, welcome to FTLOP!



Port wine does not need to be bottled in a bottle made from dark glass, but dark glass does help over very long periods of time (decades or longer) if the bottles are not stored in a dark cellar or room. If you have a wine cellar or wine refrigerator, the color of the glass basically makes no difference because the bottle itself will be in a dark place 99% of the time.

[Eric Menchen]

But since lots of people aren't so careful about where they store their Port, it is typically put in dark glass. The few Ports I've seen put in clear glass are tawny ports of various types (Warre's Otima 10 and 20 come to mind), which in general are not intended to be aged.

[John Trombley]

One wonders---the very dark glass used in such as Taylor VP, is there a light bright enough to shine through it?

[Glenn E.]

One wonders---the very dark glass used in such as Taylor VP, is there a light bright enough to shine through it?

Yep! I have a couple of flashlights (in the 350-400 lumen range) that can be seen through that glass. In a dim room, it might even be possible to check the fill level.

I also know that more powerful flashlights exist, but I've yet to try one on a Port bottle. A friend has one that uses a special battery and is sufficient to light up a decent-sized parking lot. It's brighter than a car's headlights.

[Phil W]

Yes. Note that the lumens is not the be-all, it also depends on beam pattern. I have a single AA 180 lumen torch with small spot pattern with which I have yet to find a bottle for which I can't assess the level. I also have a similar size 240 lumen which has a slightly wider beam and this is not as good for this purpose. Finally I have another 800 lumen in similar size, but would never use it for that purpose, for safety of my eyes.

[John Trombley]

Ha, so it's off to the hardware store to buy a commando-style flashlight. Never had succeded at this so far. Will let you all know how I do.