Buying, Storing and Serving wine

Here at The Vintage Port Shop we want to help you get the most out of your vintage wine, here are our tips.

Vintage Port and Single Quinta Port

The term 'vintage' has a distinct meaning in the context of vintage port. Whilst in wine making a "vintage" is simply the year in which a wine is made, most producers of vintage port restrict their production of year-labelled bottlings to only the best years. This is normally only three to four times per decade. In years when there is no vintage declaration, Single Quintas tend to be produced, these are port of exceptional made from a single vineyard retaining many of the characteristics of the house style.

Storing Vintage Port

Most modern houses are unlikely to have a deep and dry cellar, so it's not unusual for port to be stored in the cupboard under the stairs, or with a local wine merchant. Fine Vintage Port wines prefer a stable, dark environment with a temperature between 11 and 15 degrees centigrade. It's not so much the temperature but rather the variation that is the problem. If the wine will be stored at home, it needs to be far away from windows and radiators. The bottles should also be lying down, and preferably not moved.

Sometimes bottles will have a white paint mark on the bottle. This is to identify which way should be up - the white mark should always be facing upwards. This allows the crust on the wine to develop uniformly in one place; another reason why the bottle should not be moved.

For very old bottles of Vintage Port (1963 or earlier), the cork should be inspected for seepage once a year. Quality wine merchants may offer a re-corking service to give the bottle further life. This is particularly important if the Port is being held as an investment because the value will fall if the wine has seeped. Auction prices are closely related to the "ullage" - the level of the wine in the bottle.