No cooking, but food related.
If I had money I would buy a vintage bottle of port.
Portsplaining: Vintage in port win is different than vintage in other wines. In regular wine a “2002 vintage Shiraz” means it was made in 2002. While ”2002 vintage port" means “this was an excellent year for port.”
End portsplaining
I would buy these with the idea j would celebrate major life events by drinking one. In 2017 I bought a house, got married, got a dog and bought my first vehicle with four wheels. As a result I haven’t had much of a reason to drink more vintage port because after those events there isn’t much left other than “have a threesome” (which has never been a goal) or “publish first book” (which doesn’t mean as much as it did in my childhood).
A week ago I helped a friend move. I look forward to events like this. I get to “pay it back” and I need physical therapy after breaking my back in 2021. Except I hurt myself that day. Things got better until today. The mild injury I got that day decided to get really angry today. My left kidney area is not happy. It hurts. A lot.
What is the best selling over the counter pain reliever? Booze. Since I don’t see many more major life achievement unlocks I decided to drink one of my remaining bottles of port.
Have you had a vintage port? They take prep. There are literally charred barrel bits in the mix. You need to filter them out. I’m poor. I can’t afford a fancy decanter. Probably because I spent all that money on vintage ports. So a sieve and Mason jars will have to do
Is it tasty. Definitely. If you can’t afford a vintage port, get a Six Grapes port. It’s a fraction of the price but just as tasty.
Anyway, mesh strainer, mason jars. Poor man’s vintage port. Best over the counter pain killer. Which I need.
Those are not charred bits of the barrel.
Port is not aged in charred barrels, you’re thinking of Bourbon.
That’s sediment from solids in the wine which precipitated out.
Congeners.zip
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I’m from the land of Porto wine.
And I can assure you that a wine with that much sediment would go straight to the bin. It is expected for a Porto to settle a bit over the years but not that much.
Not knowing how much you forked over for that bottle, I’m going to say it was too much.
Regardless, cheers!
Porto is the right wine for all ailments, be it physical or spiritual. Enjoy.
I probably bought this bottle between 2006 and 2008. It still tasted great. And it cured my pain.
Porto wine takes a long time to spoil. I wasn’t concerned with that. And I’m glad it helped. But try to drink it slowly. It’s not a drink for a single sitting.
Agreed. But also once you pop that cork you are pot committed.
Are we drinking the same stuff? Put the cork back and keep it in a cool and dark place and it will keep for months.
I have always the “holy trinity” of ports at home - tawny, ruby and white - and its well over a year to go through the a set.
About a fifth of the cork fell into the bottle as I was uncorking this thing.
Maybe you’re thinking of ruby port?
This looks normal for a LBV port. 15 or 20 years in the bottle will produce a lot of sediment.
I’ve drank them all: ruby, tawny, LBV, rosé, reserve, special reserve, etc. The oldest I ever tasted was over 50 years old, an heirloom reserve of a private producer.
A Port should not sediment that much. The high grade alcohol used to snuff the fermentation kills off the yeast and the cask aging sets the lion’s share of the sediment. That much sediment signals poor quality wine or wine that “broke” in the bottle. It may be still drinkable, sure, but I would not serve it.
TBF, depending on the wine and region, ‘Vintage’ not only refers to the year, but also good years for that specific type of wine. Some producers don’t even make their usual wines if it’s not a good year, and only create their signatures in good years, hence, the vintage for a specific year means it was a good year.
I have a Taylor’s 1994 waiting for the right occasion. And a Graham’s 2003 waiting for I guess a slightly less occasion? These bottles weren’t cheap but they weren’t absurd like some other wine is.
Port lasts a lot longer than most wines because of the Brandy mix. But I would drink that 94 as soon as possible.
