For The Love Of Port

Do you stand up your Port before decanting it? If so, for how long?

Does it vary by producer?
Does it vary depending on vintage?
Does it vary depending on how long the bottle is lying down?

How do you handle the above?

It varies of when I have a crave for Port When I decide at last minute it is decated as it is, but when I can find a cool enough place to let it up, I try to do it 12-24h before.

Roy Hersh wrote:Do you stand up your Port before decanting it? If so, for how long?

Notice the capital P

I will stand a bottle up for 24+ hours, but if I do not stand a bottle up at all, I do not fret. I don't notice a difference, but haven't really tried any side-by-side's with two of the same bottle.

I pick a port for drinking from my (off-site) cellar and it goes home, standing up for however long before it's drunk. This could be a few hours to several days or weeks. With the large amount of sediment often found in the bottom of the bottle after decanting, one would hope most people would follow this procedure.

Never varies due to producer, vintage or time in the cellar.

If the bottle is being decanted through cheese cloth or muslin- is there any difference between letting the bottle stand for days and just taking right from the rack.

I would assume that sediment would be packed more on the bottom, but is also packed along the side of the bottle if just moved from the rack. Decanting is going to filter/catch everything either way.

I question whether standing the bottle is more tradition than necessity?

When at all possible, I try to stand them up at leat 24 hours in advance. That doesn't always happen though for those last minute decisions to open a bottle.

I try to stand them up at least 24 hours in advance, but it seems like 6 hours is enough if I'm in a hurry.

Moses Botbol wrote:If the bottle is being decanted through cheese cloth or muslin- is there any difference between letting the bottle stand for days and just taking right from the rack.

I would assume that sediment would be packed more on the bottom, but is also packed along the side of the bottle if just moved from the rack. Decanting is going to filter/catch everything either way.

I question whether standing the bottle is more tradition than necessity?

I decant through cheesecloth as well, and haven't noticed much difference from standing it up as to when I decide at the last moment that I am going to have Port and grab one from it's horizontal position.

The only reason I still stand bottles up these days is to readily identify Death Row prisoners.

Todd

Why would you want to stand it up? What are you, sissies?

Just kidding. If I know in advance, I stand it up - but I also (almost) always filter, so I don't really know why I bother. I actually don't have any problems with small amounts of residue - only large "cakes" of sediment, and my wrist and a coarse steel filter can take that. Once I reach the bottom of the decanter, a bit of residue isn't my biggest problem

Does decanting through cheesecloth filter out the fine sediment?

For some reason, that stuff really detracts from a good glass of Port for me. That's why I stand the bottle up for 24 hours if I can - I want to let the fine sediment re-arrange itself on the bottom of the bottle so that I can avoid pouring it into the decanter. Right now I just use a funnel with a fine mesh screen... that'll get the cake sediment, but not that fine stuff.

I do not stand them up, and have not had any problems (neither do I shake them up before decanting). I do not filter unless I broke up the cork. I just pour...it's interesting, because it is rare for me to have visible sediment in the decanter...I wonder what we are doing differently?

Jay

I like to stand up a bottle of Vintage Port for a few days to a week. I suppose the older it is the longer I like to wait. Sometimes though I'm not able to plan that far ahead and in those cases, out comes the cheese cloth.

Glenn E. wrote:Does decanting through cheesecloth filter out the fine sediment?

Depends on the age of Port I find. A young VP or unfiltered LBV, where the wine has not had much time to either throw that much sediment or has not enough time to pack the sediment into what Jay describes as cake sediment, the cheesecloth may not get. I usually fold over my cheesecloth, so I many get a bit more sediment caught, but invariably some of the really fine stuff always sneaks through.