WHEN WAS your last glass of port? A fortifying shot of LBV at the Meet? A venerable vintage passed round on New Year’s Eve? Perhaps, scarred by one headache too many (for which the final glass of the night a trifle unfairly tends to shoulder the blame) you categorise yourself as simply not a port person? In these increasingly informal times, and as shelves bulge with zesty Sauvignon Blanc alongside surging ranks of non-alcoholic alternatives, it would be easy to write off this drink as a bibulous anachronism. But before you pass that final, damning judgement, be sure to sip on some compelling evidence for the defence: tawny port.
While the great British port houses were busy supplying country houses, Pall Mall clubs and Oxbridge colleges with vintage port, back in sun-drenched Porto their directors were more likely to be found rounding off another good lunch