Many people know that regular red and white wines are best served slightly cool rather than at room temperature. But did you know that port also benefits from being chilled – in fact, often even more so than red and white wine?
The two sides of taste
Before we can explain why we serve our ports chilled, we need to clarify one thing about taste. What we call taste actually consists of two different parts. The first is what the tongue perceives, and the second is what the nose detects. The tongue can only register sweetness, acidity, bitterness, saltiness, and umami. All the nuanced flavors that often appear in port are something the nose perceives.
Orthonasal and retronasal aroma
In addition to taste having two dimensions, aroma is also made up of two components: orthonasal and retronasal aroma. Orthonasal aroma is what you experience when you smell a port directly through your nose. Retronasal aroma is what you perceive when the wine evaporates on your tongue. There is an internal passage connecting the mouth and the nasal cavity, which allows you to smell what is on your tongue while your taste buds process sweetness, acidity, and so on.
Chilled port
Now that we have the theory in place, why should port be served cooler than red and white wine? First and foremost, port has a higher alcohol content than red and white wine (around 20%). If port is served without being chilled, the ethanol (the primary alcohol in wine) evaporates quickly on the tongue. This makes the retronasal aroma feel overly alcoholic, which reduces the nose’s ability to appreciate all the other wonderful aromas in the wine.
When you chill port, you achieve a much better balance in the retronasal aroma. This allows the nose to explore both the alcohol and the wine’s many other nuances. In addition, the sweetness of port will typically feel more pronounced—and at times overwhelming—if it is served at room temperature. Last but not least, the overall balance of the wine can be significantly affected if it is not served cool.
Finding the right balance
The simplest way to deal with this highly alcoholic wine might seem to be chilling it as much as possible without freezing it – but unfortunately, it’s not that simple. You need to find the right balance, because if wine is chilled too much, it often loses many of its aromas and therefore its complexity.
So the key question is: how much should port be chilled to avoid an overly alcoholic retronasal aroma and excessive sweetness, without losing its flavor?
At The Port Bar, we have found that white ports are best served at around 8°C (46°F), while tawny and ruby ports work very well at around 12°C (54°F). As for rosé port, we recommend serving it straight from a standard refrigerator. As a very young style of port, it has less complexity to lose, so the experience only improves when it is served even colder.
Didn’t find the answer you were looking for?
If you are unsure about the optimal serving temperature for a specific bottle of port, feel free to contact us at info@portvinsbaren.dk or stop by the bar with a picture of the bottle. We are always happy to offer advice.
You can also learn much more about port by attending one of our many events.