For The Love Of Port

Paired up against a 2003 Quinta de la Rosa LBV—each port was double decanted 24 hours in advance (I decanted both just to keep the aeration consistent for the tasting). T-cork.

Fleshy dark fruits, blackberry, hint of strawberry. Moderate aftertaste..

The consensus with the group was the Grahams was the winner; but a split decision (10 v 2).

Points 92

I've got about 12 bottles of this 2003 Grahams LBV in my closet. I'm interested in your decanting regime. Some people when they decant port decant into a wide necked decanter and leave the decanter sitting with open mouth, promoting air interchange with the outside of the decanter (maybe with a paper towel or other fabric secured over the open mouth of the decanter to exclude dust or other unwanted things). Is this what you were doing, or were you decanting into a decanter and then closing the decanter with a stopper? How much surface area was exposed at the top of the port? Sorry for these niggly questions. My expectation is that veteran port drinkers know this, but as a relative newbie I still have elementary questions.

Hi Michael: I am a neophyte myself, but thru FTLOP plus my own experience my typical regimen for a group tasting of an LBV is as follows: If no need to decant, I typically just open the bottle and leave it open for 24 hours. I have tried to see what happens to double decant for aeration (decant into a decanted, then back into the rinsed bottle)--even if the LBV is filtered. The results seem to work well (the reason for the double decant is I only have two decanters and usually we have 4-7 ports--usually keep the VP's in the decanters as the last to be decanted)--the showing of these seem much better when decanted 24 hours in advance (and a minimum of 4 in my book).

If I open anything, I tend to leave the lid/stopper off to promote air. Not really worried about a little dust but I do leave the decanted under a cabinet or in the liquor closet so there's only 12 inches or so of clearance.

Good luck with those 2003's; I see a lot of 2005s on the shelves and might be worth a small vertical. Wish I had better tasting notes for you. It was just a bit crazy at this gathering and I gave up on being too careful & thoughful--but I'd say this port was the WOTN out of 5 LBVs tasted.