Like sweets?

Well, this week’s wine is Chateau Reynella’s McLaren Vale Old Cave Fine Old Tawny Port. If you’re not experienced with Port, your first reaction may be something like the bitter beer commercials of the 90s.

Some ask, why try a Port if it is apparently so disgusting? Give it a chance. After a little uncouth decanting, this may be one of the best Ports you’ve experienced.

A Port is a very, very sweet wine. The best way I can think to describe it is to say it is so overpoweringly sweet, it obtains a bitter taste. Therefore, in order to not accentuate that bitterness, it should be finished in one sitting at room temperature following a very sweet, fine chocolate dessert.

With a good Port – particularly a 20-year-old Zinfandel Port – a sweet/bitter combination with another sweet/bitter dessert will create a magnificent taste and is ideal for an after-dinner treat. This wine does require its own glass – a very small round glass to actually prevent decanting.

The reasons above are just what a wine expert would say. As a wine enthusiast, here’s some bad advice. By bad, I mean you will have to turn the wine bad to enjoy it.

So slap me on the wrist and decant the wine for at least one day. Doing this technically ruins the wine, but, in my experience this particular wine needs some good ruining. You can do this simply by opening it, closing it again, then refrigerating it overnight. Make yourself some chocolate-covered fruits (I suggest raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries) and enjoy it in a tall, wide glass instead of the recommended short, fat one. Swirl it in the glass until it reaches room temperature and enjoy.

Let’s face it, Port is the beer of wines, and as such it is an acquired taste. But if you don’t want to take the years needed to acquire that taste, try it my way.

If you’re looking to impress someone this weekend with your wine tasting finesse, don’t give them the advice I’ve just given you. Just pretend that you didn’t decant the wine and it came out perfectly on its own. It will be our little secret.

-Brittany burden is an english senior.