1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

146

In the Port Wine Country.

supposed to be those individuals who have inherited a cellar of wine laid down some half-century or so ago by a grandfather or great-uncle, but there is really no reason why a man should not lay down Portwine for his own drinking as well as for the benefit of his descendants. An authority on the subject,Mr.T.G.Shaw, has pointed out that a wine from well, hut not over, ripened grapes,with fine full finnness,no hard stalkiness or dryness,and sufficient richness,is certain to go forward improving, with this great advantage that it does not absolutely require long keeping in bottle. It is necessary, however,that it should be allowed to mature and get rid of its coarse parts in the wood,and with this object it ought to be keptfrom two to three years before being shipped,and should be moreoverfrequently racked. Itmightthen be bottled three months after it reachesLondon,and in two years* time will be better than it would become if bottled green and kept ten years in bin; better because the long sojourn in contact with a black cork and crust must deteriorate the bouquet. A heavy crust and dark-stained cork are often regarded with mis placed veneration, for their absence in a wine that has been bottled some time may be taken as a proof that the wine was ripe for bottling. A fii-m-holding crust is of the highest im-' portance,and new wine usually gives a slippery crust,the grosser parts falling too rapidly; whilst the deposit in older and weU- racked winesforms more slowly and takes better hold. Mr.ShaW is decidedly of opinion that the richer and fuller the vintage may be the longer is it necessary for the wine to remain in the wood in order that the saccharine it contains may be reduced by fermentation in bulk. One may here remark that connoisseurs who have sojourned at Oporto and enjoyed the opportunity of drinking, at the tables ofthe shippers,the fine old wines which, having been conserved for a considerable number of years in the wood,have thereby become tawny as an ordinary deep-coloured sherry, will as a rule prefer wine of this description to the choicest bottled Port that could be offered to them. With regard to the cellar in which Port wine is laid down, it should be noted that, whilst a cool and equable tempera-