How to Drink Port Wine

Serve Each Style at Its Own Temperature

The IVDP serving guide is the simplest answer to port wine serving temperature. Rosé goes at 4 C, white at 6-10 C, tawny style at 10-14 C and ruby style at 12-16 C. The houses refine that: Sandeman gives ruby at 16-18 C or slightly chilled around 15 C, Taylor's suggests its 40 Year Old tawny slightly chilled at 12-16 C, and Quinta do Noval gives its 40 Year Old 10-14 C. Ramos Pinto asks for vintage to be stored on its side at 17-18 C before serving.

Sandeman recommends glasses of at least 35 cl. The sources give no official pour size.

Straight, Not Chilled to Ice

Do you drink port wine straight? Yes. It is a dessert and aperitif wine of 19-22% alcohol, poured and sipped on its own.

The one exception in the facts is rosé port: the IVDP lists it at 4 C and the IVDP describes it as drunk young and chilled or with ice. Croft describes its Croft Pink as light and fresh, served very chilled or in cocktails. Do you put ice in port wine?

Only in rosé, per the sources. The sources mention ice for no other style.

• Rosé: 4 C, ice is fine.
• White: 6-10 C, an aperitif wine.
• Tawny: 10-14 C, slightly chilled for the oldest bottles.
• Ruby: 12-16 C, cool room temperature.
• Vintage: decant, serve around 18 C.

Decanting a Vintage

The IVDP recommends decanting older vintage port and serving it in large glasses. Vintage is from a single year, bottled two to three years after harvest, and ages in bottle for 10 to 50 years. Most other styles need no decanter: Taylor's says its LBV is ready to drink with no decanting, Taylor's 40 Year Old tawny needs none, and Quinta do Noval says its 40 Year Old needs none because the wine is filtered.

Sandeman adds a storage rule for before you open: non-vintage bottles stand upright, vintage lies down, both in a cool dark place. Crusted port is not filtered and forms its own crust in bottle. More on the single-year styles is on the LBV port page.

White First, Then Ruby or LBV, Then Tawny

A workable tasting order runs white, then ruby or LBV, then tawny. It follows the serving temperatures: white at 6-10 C, ruby style at 12-16 C and tawny style at 10-14 C. Younger white ports are aperitif wines per Wines of Portugal. The Poças tour pours White, Late Bottled Vintage and Reserve Tawny, three ports for $26.31.

If you want the styles explained while you taste, the Three Port Houses Walking Tour visits three port houses with 7 tastings for $64.07 and ends with a lesson in how to taste port like a professional.

• White: dry or extra dry, served coldest at 6-10 C.
• Ruby or LBV: cherry, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, served at 12-16 C.
• Tawny or aged tawny: aged in oak, served at 10-14 C.

What the Tours Pour, With Prices

Each tasting flight below comes straight from the tour listing, with the price as the platform gives it and no drinks or food beyond what the listing states. The Poças visit is the clearest white to tawny line at $26.31 for three ports. The Burmester cellar tour pours 2 or 3 ports depending on the option at $26, with pairing choices.

The Cockburn's lodge tour is $34 for three ports and lets you add chocolate, tawny or cheese pairings. The Graham's Vintage Room tasting is the step up: vintage ports and tawnies in one sitting for $78, with the group limited to 10 guests. The Taylor's cellars visit is self-guided with an audio guide and three ports for $28.

Pacing the Alcohol

Port is usually 19-22% alcohol, and the Light Dry white style still carries a minimum of 16.5%. Pace yourself between pours. The Three Port Houses Walking Tour spreads its 7 tastings over 3.5-4 hours, and the Small-Group Port Cellars Tour spreads 7 ports across three producers within 400 m in 2.5 hours with no more than 12 people.

Food is not included on either tour, so eat beforehand.

The Pairings the Sources Name

Wines of Portugal gives the core rule: younger white ports are aperitifs and longer-aged whites come after meals. Some tours sell chocolate and cheese pairings. Cockburn's sells chocolate, tawny and cheese pairing options alongside its three-port tasting at $34, and Burmester offers pairings with chocolate, cheese or almond cookie on its $26 tour. On the Poças visit a selection of sausages or cheeses is sold separately and is not part of the ticket, which the listing says plainly.

The Three Port Houses Walking Tour at $64.07 states that lunch, food and snacks are not included. The IVDP sweetness scale helps when you choose: extra dry is under 40 g/l of sugar and very sweet is over 130 g/l.

A Simple Order for a Night In

Put the sources together and a workable evening looks like this. Start with a dry white port at 6-10 C as the aperitif, which is how Wines of Portugal describes younger whites being drunk. Move to a ruby or LBV at 12-16 C, with the cheese or chocolate pairings that Cockburn's and Burmester sell.

Finish with an aged tawny at 10-14 C on its own, slightly chilled if it is a 30 or 40 Year Old. That is white, ruby, tawny.

How Long Does Port Last Once Opened

The IVDP opened-bottle guide is the reference. Vintage keeps 1-2 days. LBV and Crusted keep 4-5 days.

Ruby and Ruby Reserve keep 8-10 days. Tawny and Tawny Reserve keep 3-4 weeks. Age-indicated tawny, Colheita and aged white keep 1-4 months.

Modern-style white keeps 8-10 days and traditional white 15-20 days. The houses sometimes stretch those numbers: Taylor's says its LBV pours by the glass for several weeks and Fonseca gives two months for its unfiltered LBV, while Graham's says enjoy its 40 Year Old within 8 weeks of opening, Sandeman gives its 30 Year Old 2-3 months and Quinta do Noval 3 months for its 40 Year Old.

Storing the Bottle Between Glasses

Sandeman's rule is to keep the bottle in a cool dark place, with non-vintage bottles standing upright and vintage lying down. Burmester repeats it for Colheita: store upright and away from light. Quinta do Noval asks for a cool place for its opened 40 Year Old.

Taylor's says to keep its 40 Year Old bottle upright. For unopened vintage, Ramos Pinto's sheet says store on its side in a cool, dry, dark place at 17-18 C.