Bad port is like prune juice with a fancy label. Vile stuff, but then so is bad wine and skunky beer. Port that’s been made and aged properly is very nice, and goes well with Stilton and almonds, as mentioned several times. I once had a glass of 30 year old white port in Lisbon that was like silk.
I would suggest trying an aged tawny. Wonderful stuff. My favorite is Taylor Fladgate 20 year old Tawny. The TF 10 year Tawny is also very nice.
A good intro port for the non-Tawny is Warre’s Warrior, which is fairly cheap. It’s a blended port, which means the taste is very consistent from bottle to bottle.
I have never tasted a good port that came from anywhere other than Portugal.
I have. Rutherford has in the past made a Zinfandel port that was magnificent. It was 100% Zin. Even the brandy they used to fortify it was distilled from their Zin. Great stuff, but rare.
Next time you’re in Seattle, let me know, and we’ll get together for a good glass of port.
It will not be ruby. It will be tawny. And you will understand.
Port is not an oxidized wine. If you tasted "Stale coffee. it might have been a bad bottle. all too often most wine stores dont understand how you are supposed to store Port. Port should have a full sweet dark flavor. There are about 6-8 different styles of port, and they can run the gamut of taste from cloyingly sweet to full robust and mature.
Thanks all for the comments. I guess I need to encounter the good stuff, and until then I’ll keep an open mind.
Yeah, it must have been Stilton cheese, it was cream colored with blobs of blue, which seems to match the description. I was also speaking imprecisely about my port being sour; its not, its more like cough syrup gone evil, mixed with the before-mentioned very very bad coffee. It is just barely sweet, but its hard to get past the vileness to notice the sugars.
Its funny: I like some odd liquors, like B&B, some brandies, ouzo if I’m in the mood, that sort of thing. OTOH, I can’t stand sherry, which this port reminds me of. Maybe port is in the wrong portion of the liquor spectrum for me.
I think it’s an acquired taste. I don’t particularly care for it too much myself, and I have been “into” wines for many years. In fact, I have bottles of Dow’s 77 & 85 in the cellar right now. I’m sure I’ll at least have a glass with Mr. HP when we decide to crack the bottles–always with stilton and walnuts.
I wouldn’t want to get drunk off of it.
Good port is absolutely transporting!
I think you’ve had some bad ports, from what you describe. Good port is wonderful.
A friend gave me a couple of bottles of Graham’s 1977 Reserve that were almost mind-blowing. He’s a good friend to have.
That’s weird port usually tastes like some kind of berry confection to me. Try a Sandeman Tawny.
He is, indeed. Could I be a friend of his as well?
I wish I could readily find Stilton over here…
(First time I eat it, port had been put directly inside the opened cheese and left in it. Not sure this description makes sense.)
It sounds like my local pub back in England where each Christmas the landord would put a whole stilton on the bar and pour port into the centre, and provide crackers which you could use to dig out the port-infused cheese. It was wonderful.
I love a good port, ruby or tawny. Ruby is for dessert; tawny is for enjoying any time.
If you don’t like eiswein, if you don’t like sweet liquors, you probably won’t like ruby ports. Tawny should be acceptable to ANYone who likes wine of any type other than the most bitter, tannin-filled vintages.
Sandeman’s Founder’s Reserve is what I typically drink because it seems to be a pretty good balance between price and quality. Around here it runs around $21 - $26 for a 750ml bottle.
As far as cough syrup goes, I once offered a sip to my neice’s 20-year-old boyfriend and he went “Gah!!!..Tastes like Robitussin!” 
Needless to say, I don’t agree.
Try a good quality bleu cheese and some walnuts along with it. Good stuff! (Goes well with sherry too, if you ever want to try that.)
Alas, I only have one bottle of Graham’s 20 Year Old (bottled in 1993) left in my cellar. The good news is that I need to drink it by May, when we have our stuff packed out.