How to serve and store tawny Port

Tawnies and colheitas are mostly bottled with stopper corks and intended to be drunk soon after bottling. Consequently there is no need for recommended drinking dates. There should be no sediment so no need to decant, though the wines do look wonderful in a clear glass decanter.

Serve tawny and colheita ‘cellar cool’ (about 10°C-12°C) to appreciate them at their finest. Unlike a venerable vintage Port, which will oxidise quite rapidly in a decanter, tawnies may be drunk over the course of a week or so.

Port consultant Jim Reader assures me: ‘An old tawny or colheita will keep perfectly well for a week or so, whereas after a few weeks one would start to notice a loss of freshness and of some of the more delicate flavours.’ I nearly always have a bottle of tawny on the go in the fridge.