Hip Tastes Blog

Grounds for Drinking
filed under: Ramblings

Ok, so you can't actually drink these grounds, but they look pretty cool, don't they? The heavy sediment that vintage port throws is what's in this coffee filter, not the genesis of your morning cup of joe. I decanted an 18 year old bottle of the old but good stuff recently and this is what I got.

I must admit that I had forgotten about this very necessary process (decanting) that must be done to all vintage port before consuming. In my sommelier classes my instructor had done it before class time, and so when the vintage was poured for tasting I didn't make the connection with the delicious stuff in my glass and the fairly intense decanting process that had made it possible.

Here's how it went down: I bought a half bottle of Real Companhia Velha 1987 vintage port ($17 at BevMo in San Francisco) on a whim and decided to have a glass with lunch. The cork was extremely soft when I inserted the worm of my waiter's corkscrew, and its delicacy was confirmed when it crumbled into many small pieces when I tried to extract it.

I never succeeded in getting the whole thing out. Instead, I poured the contents of the bottle out through the small opening that I was able to produce. When I poured the first of it into my glass I was struck at the very heavy sediment that appeared. Some of it was in long thin pieces and reminded me more of pencil shavings than coffee grounds or anything so particulate.

At that moment I recalled my instructor's showing us a large coffee filter he'd improvised for a real vintage port filter to remove this sediment from the stuff before our class. The coffee filter was, like the one I've pictured here, full of an alarming amount of thick purplish sediment. Recalling this, I grabbed a coffee filter of my own, a large water glass, two chip clip magnets from the fridge, and jury rigged my very own coffee filter-cum-vintage port decanter contraption.

I'm sort of embarrassed yet proud of this invention. I'm sure there are folks who are absolutely horrified that I would use this sort of device instead of the REAL DEAL--specially made vintage port filters often feature fine muslin filters--but then again, wine isn't supposed to be all about doing what's right all the time. This worked for me, and it can work for you too.

Check out these before and after photos of the port.

The first shows it prior to filtering, and you can observe some serious sediment floating around. The second is after: the wine was clear, delicious, and, although it could have used a little more time in the bottle (vintage port generally shouldn't be drunk before it's 20 years old), I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Vintage port 411
Port must be from the Duoro region of Portugal, a climatically extreme place where little goes down except the making of this fabulous stuff. It's only produced two or three times a decade, when the harvest is so superlative that a vintage year is declared. It's often ready to drink after 20 years, but can last as long as 100 in some cases. For this reason, some folks like to compare its evolution to that of a human life.

Vintage port is perfect stuff for cold wintry days and nights. It tastes fabulous alone and will also accompany good quality chocolate and other sweet treats. I think it would be the absolutely perfect thing to sip in front of a roaring fire just after coming in off the slopes this winter. Decadent, delicious, luxurious and rarely disappointing, except when drunk too young.

Next time you see grounds like this, there's good drink ahead.

http://www.thevintageportsite.com/decanting.htm

--------

Posted by Courtney on December 7, 2005 12:43 PM