A:

Hi Connie, The short answer is no. Late Bottled Vintage Ports are sold ready for immediate enjoyment, and Crusted Ports should be enjoyed within 5 to 10 years of the date bottled. That said, if your bottles have been kept in good storage conditions (laid down in steady cool temperatures and darkness) they may very well surprise you. Always worth opening a bottle, even if only to learn what effect poor storage can have on a wine.

Late Bottled Vintage Port is, as a rule, aged for 4 to 6 years in large wooden casks, then lightly filtered before bottling, ready for sale and enjoyment within a year or two of purchase, at most.  Because of the filtration, the wine will not mature any further in bottle.

One exception to this is Warre’s Bottle Aged LBV: after at least four years in cask, the wine is bottled without any filtration, and then we age it, in bottle, a further four years or more in our cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia before releasing for sale. Like other LBVs this is intended for consumption at or shortly after the time of purchase, but if it were well cellared, it may show some further maturation in bottle for a few more years after purchase. Because it has not been filtered, it will need to be decanted when served.

Crusted Port is a blend of ports from two or three harvests which has been bottled without any fining or filtration in the year shown on the label. We then age it a further three years in bottle in our own cellars before offering the wine for sale. The wine will be ready to drink at the time of purchase, but will age gracefully for several years in bottle, developing its bouquet and flavours over that time. We would recommend consumption up to ten years after the date on the label. Bear in mind Crusted Port should be properly stored and decanted like a Vintage port.