Pass the port

EW elements of a serious meal capture the shifting tides of hospitality over the past century so revealingly as port. That’s partly because so few other dining-room staples come wrapped in such a rich cloak of heritage and convention. Port’s popularity is rooted in the Peninsular War of the early 19th century. It didn’t take long for British troops stationed in Portugal to acquire a taste for the local drink. William Warre, whose.” With Napoleon defeated, officers took this fortifying drink back home to fill the cellars of their English country houses, imbuing Portuguese port with a very British patriotism that endures today.