For The Love Of Port

1. Stand the bottle up a day or three before if possible. If dirty/dusty I will clean the bottle off at this time careful not to disturb the contents. If exposed cork will spend extra time so no dirt and grime is in the wine.
2. Use a foil cutter and whatever else necessary to get to cork. I have a wet paper towel to clean off the cork & top of bottle if necessary.
3. I primarily use a Durand---always work great and I'm not too keen on corks falling in. I have other corkscrews, but there are occasional fails--not with the Durand. I have tongs, which are fun and certainly preserve old corks.
4. Stainless funnel with mesh with cheesecloth as well. I go slowly in a steady strem. When I start to see sediment I move the funnel to a glass and pour the rest (this remainder is just a tablespoon or three usually---I usually take a small sip to see if any taint issues).
5. If pouring back into bottle I rinse bottle thoroughly and try to get as much water out as possible. If blind I will wrap bottle in foil now.
6. The little remainder is my bellwether. I will taste after a few hours to see if any VA develops or other fault.

John M. wrote:1. Stand the bottle up a day or three before if possible. If dirty/dusty I will clean the bottle off at this time careful not to disturb the contents. If exposed cork will spend extra time so no drink and grime is in the wine.
2. Use a foil cutter and whatever else necessary to get to cork. I have a wet paper towel to clean off the cork & top of bottle if necessary.
3. I primarily use a Durand---always work great and I'm not too keen on corks falling in. I have other corkscrews, but there are occasional fails--not with the Durand. I have tongs, whcih are fun and certainly preserve old corks.
4. Stainless funnel with mesh with cheesecloth as well. I go slowly in a steady strem. When I start to see sediment I move the funnel to a glass and pour the rest (this remainder is just a tablespoon or three usually---I usually take a small sip to see if any taint issues).
5. If pouring back into bottle I rinse bottle thoroughly and try to get as much water out as possible. If blind I will wrap bottle in foil now.
6. The little remainder is my bellweather. I will taste after a few hours to see if any VA develops or other fault.

Bolded part IMO, the single most important thing one needs to do. failure to remove any possible old mold and to wipe away left over lead from old lead capsules is important so it doesn't contaminate the Port when pouring it out.

Andy Velebil wrote: Bolded part IMO, the single most important thing one needs to do. failure to remove any possible old mold and to wipe away left over lead from old lead capsules is important so it doesn't contaminate the Port when pouring it out.

I do this with all wine before pulling the cork and after pulling the cork if there's still any funky residue or marks before pouring.

I wish that about 30 years ago, I would have had the good sense to invest in stock of a cheese cloth producer.

I wish that about 30 years ago, I would have had the good sense to invest in stock of a cheese cloth producer

Try using non-medicated gauze swabs - I buy packs of 100 3" x 3" 8ply (BP type 13 light) - if the bottle has not been stood up I usually use two.

The cost is tiny - in the US a pack should cost less than $5

I would also suggest the local fabric store. I got a lifetime supply of cheese cloth for around $10, however as always, your mileage may vary.

I use tongs more often than I used to, but the main difference in the way I decant today than when I posted above is that I have just started to use the new style Sandeman 20 Year Old Tawny bottle as my go to bottle for blind tastings. Those glass stoppers are just fantastic. You can push them in and take them out as often as you need to.

And before anyone worries about me, I was given the empty bottle. I haven't strayed over to the brown and sticky side.

Al B. wrote:
And before anyone worries about me, I was given the empty bottle. I haven't strayed over to the brown and sticky side.

Yeah, OK, sure lol


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In the USA: we have the climate change deniers who refuse to admit that climate science is based on evidence and inductive reasoning.

In the world of Brexit: we have the Tawny Port consumption deniers who refuse to admit that they ever drink these types of Ports ... in the dark of night and where cameras are not permissible.

I took a quick look at my tasting notes. Over the last 10 years, 10% of the notes I've taken are on colheita or tawny ports. The rest is ruby of some sort.

Al B. wrote:And before anyone worries about me, I was given the empty bottle. I haven't strayed over to the brown and sticky side.

There's still time.

I do have many times as many bottles of colheita and tawny than I used to. I now own 4 half bottles of Pocas 40 year old tawny and 2 bottles of colheita. One of those is a Burmester 1937, which is the first bottle of port I ever bought in Portugal and was for a long time the oldest port that I had drunk. I bought a replacement recently just for the memories it brought back.

Al B. wrote:

I took a quick look at my tasting notes. Over the last 10 years, 10% of the notes I've taken are on colheita or tawny ports. The rest is ruby of some sort.

That just means you wind up NOT writing about the tawnies and Colheita Ports you consume ... with intent.

Roy Hersh wrote:Al B. wrote:

I took a quick look at my tasting notes. Over the last 10 years, 10% of the notes I've taken are on colheita or tawny ports. The rest is ruby of some sort.

That just means you wind up NOT writing about the tawnies and Colheita Ports you consume ... with intent.

Nah. I just add blackcurrant cordial and pretend they're rubies.

Who can blame you. I can only imagine what you pair this with!

I think my head just exploded!

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Andy Velebil wrote:

John M. wrote:1. Stand the bottle up a day or three before if possible. If dirty/dusty I will clean the bottle off at this time careful not to disturb the contents. If exposed cork will spend extra time so no drink and grime is in the wine.
2. Use a foil cutter and whatever else necessary to get to cork. I have a wet paper towel to clean off the cork & top of bottle if necessary.
3. I primarily use a Durand---always work great and I'm not too keen on corks falling in. I have other corkscrews, but there are occasional fails--not with the Durand. I have tongs, whcih are fun and certainly preserve old corks.
4. Stainless funnel with mesh with cheesecloth as well. I go slowly in a steady strem. When I start to see sediment I move the funnel to a glass and pour the rest (this remainder is just a tablespoon or three usually---I usually take a small sip to see if any taint issues).
5. If pouring back into bottle I rinse bottle thoroughly and try to get as much water out as possible. If blind I will wrap bottle in foil now.
6. The little remainder is my bellweather. I will taste after a few hours to see if any VA develops or other fault.

Bolded part :thumbsup: IMO, the single most important thing one needs to do. failure to remove any possible old mold and to wipe away left over lead from old lead capsules is important so it doesn't contaminate the Port when pouring it out.

Don't know the ramifications, but it seems like the best liquid to clean up the top of a moldy cork is wine; I like to use a little of whatever white wine I'm holding to cook with in the refrigerator. Probably removes lead pretty good but don't know anyone who has tested it.

One thing I shared with Roy elsewhere, I think, after wondering whether there was a correlation between using the ah-so at right angles to the grain of the cork or parallel. This after many erratic results.

A. It would intuitively seem that the force from compression of the cork would make a right-angled approach preferable, so I did a few and found out it was precisely the reverse. When using the ah-so insert the long first prong PERPENDICULAR to the cork grain. Didn't save the statistics but it was so obviously an improvement on success rate that I shrugged my shoulders and mentally wondered if anyone else had ever discovered this, or if I was just plain the victim of chance.

B. My current method for very old corks (more than about 30 years old) is to use an extra-long Durand, or a regular Durand if that's to hand, being extremely careful with the last half-inch or so of cork removal. Grasp the cork at this point as close to the top of the bottle as you can, and pull as straight up as you can, with the tiniest wiggles, not allowing the axis of the pull to deviate even a degree or two from the perpendicular.

C. My current angst is figuring out how to use the Coravin with heavily sedimented bottles effectively. Even the specially designed needle for this purpose is only a little help; I think something like burgundy-cradle style decanting needs to be worked out for best results with this device. Perhaps I've missed some input elsewhere or here on this subject? Anybody want to loan me a burgundy decanting cradle for me to experiment with?

By the way, nice thread, lasting 10 years!

Just came across this fascinating thread. Coincidentally, my birthday is next month and my wife has been instructed to gift me a Durand haha.

I'm newer to VP and recently opened 2000 Kopke (which pretty good, I would rate it about 89 points) but had a bit of a disaster from the start. I didn't allow the sediment to settle before pouring into the decanter and my corkscrew really did a number on the cork. It was a learning experience, just as this thread has been. Thanks all.

Scott Esterly wrote:Just came across this fascinating thread. Coincidentally, my birthday is next month and my wife has been instructed to gift me a Durand haha.

I'm newer to VP and recently opened 2000 Kopke (which pretty good, I would rate it about 89 points) but had a bit of a disaster from the start. I didn't allow the sediment to settle before pouring into the decanter and my corkscrew really did a number on the cork. It was a learning experience, just as this thread has been. Thanks all.

That era, late 90’s to very early 2000’s saw some duff corks that dried out and crumbled. Not unique to port, but all wines. Durand helps but there is no getting around them. Straining though a fine metal mesh filter takes care of any cork bits. Or use unbleached cheese cloth (cheap on Amazon in bulk) as a filter.