For The Love Of Port

Growing up, this was one of my favorite movies. Now it's available on Amazon Instant Video.

About 7 minutes, 45 seconds into the movie, Robert Duvall has a half-empty bottle and what looks like a cognac snifter with a brown liquid (probably food coloring or syrup). The bottle is dark green, has a long neck, what appears to be a t-cork earlier in the movie, and is shaped like a stereotypical port bottle: round shoulders, tapering mid-section, slightly flared out bottom. The same bottle shows up at 19 minutes, 30 seconds in the hands of Donald Sutherland and has a gold label.

Port would make sense because it's a British movie and Portugal was neutral during the war. Cognac or brandy doesn't make sense to me because of the color of the glass. Schnapps does not, as far as I know, come in green bottles either. But the snifter is all wrong for port.

Don't remember those scenes, but snifters were popular as Port glasses a few decades ago. They were an improvement on those tiny but heavy conical traditional glasses. Not real great however, and better alternatives have since developed.

Eric Ifune wrote:Don't remember those scenes, but snifters were popular as Port glasses a few decades ago. They were an improvement on those tiny but heavy conical traditional glasses. Not real great however, and better alternatives have since developed.

Interesting. Then port or some other fortified wine would make sense, because of the bottle, the drink, and the glass.

It could be several things, but the bottle colour, bottle shape, glass shape and the colour in the glass are all consistent with a bottle of Calvados I once owned.

The bottle itself though looks out of period with regard to the film however..

https://www.oldliquors.com/calvados-1900-danflou-j-2367

Tom Archer wrote:It could be several things, but the bottle colour, bottle shape, glass shape and the colour in the glass are all consistent with a bottle of Calvados I once owned.

The bottle itself though looks out of period with regard to the film however..

https://www.oldliquors.com/calvados-1900-danflou-j-2367

That's very similar to what was in the movie, except the label was more gold than tan and there was a red or brown t-cork. I don't remember a wax seal.

That's very similar to what was in the movie, except the label was more gold than tan and there was a red or brown t-cork. I don't remember a wax seal.

The bottle in the movie looks like a 1970s bottle rather than a 1940s bottle (it was filmed in '76) The producers of Calvados seem to have moved away from green glass and mostly use pale brown now, but the tall necks are still common. I don't think the ludicrously priced bottle in the link I posted was from the 1900s as suggested, but an 'olde worlde' style bottle, probably from the 70s or 80s.

In very early days, I had used Brandy snifters too. They were better than the thimble sized "Cordial" glasses some used and other tiny glasses that were inappropriate. I remember first investing in Riedel Vinum Port glasses when they were under $10 a glass. Now, they are far more than that and it is not easy to find the six-pack gray Riedel boxes they used to come in and instead buy a trio of two-packs when re-upping.

The Siza glasses were the "next big thing" and while I liked them better than options like Spieglau amongst others, today we see a fast growing trend in Gaia and Douro to move towards white wine glass shaped stemware for Port.

Do you like these larger glasses and their more prominent apertures?

I like white wine glasses. I'm currently using a "Riesling" glass. I still use the INAO type glasses from time to time, but prefer the white wine glasses. They allow for better appreciation of aromas. The INAO glasses are OK, but to get good volatilization, you can only use a small pour.

Roy Hersh wrote:...

The Siza glasses were the "next big thing" and while I liked them better than options like Spieglau amongst others, today we see a fast growing trend in Gaia and Douro to move towards white wine glass shaped stemware for Port.

Do you like these larger glasses and their more prominent apertures?

I like a smaller white wine glass for tawny's and very young Rubies. I still prefer a Riedel Port glass for older bottled-aged Rubies.