For The Love Of Port

So after finishing dinner and a glass of wine at home tonight, I got the itching for a small glass of port (imagine that!!). Problem was I was to lazy to grab a port glass (ok, actually I didn't feel like washing another dish tonight ) so I used a medium sized bowl wine glass. I had a Niepoort Junior Tawny already open in the frig, so I just poured some into my wine glass.

Now, I know, this is not a great port, but it is a decent QPR for a daily drinker. Back to the point, after I poured the glass the nose was so much more alive and fruit driven. Even on the palate it seemed as if had opened up a bit and was quite a bit better than the past few days I have had this in a regular port glass.

So has anyone else noticed this with a less expensive tawny? I think I may try an experiment next month when we do the Virtual Tasting of the Fonseca Bin 27, just out of couriosity :twisted:

I have tried snifters, Burg bowls, Bdx stems and everything in between. For a sedate Tawny these all work. For a VP that has a decent amount of spirit, the larger bowls tend to accentuate the alcohol even more and can make a VP that would show well in a small Port glass, seem like the a hot and spirity mess.

Just my $.02

I once attended a tasting organised by Georg Reidel that was aimed at demonstrating that the correct glass would allow a wine to show much better than a poor or inappropriate glass.

Before that event, I was a real sceptic.

After that event - where we tasted a single red wine out of 5 different glasses and a single white wine out of 5 other shaped glasses - I was a complete convert. I now irritate my wife immensely when she pours herself a glass of wine and I insist on transferring it into the "right" glass before she manages to drink any of it.

Alex