Wine Drinking for Inspired Thinking by Michael J. Gelb

Author:Michael J. Gelb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Running Press

VINTAGE PORT WITH REAL BLUE STILTON CHEESE AND WALNUTS

Evelyn Waugh (1903 -1966), author of Brideshead Revisited, described port as “the comfort of age and the companion of the scholar and the philosopher.” You don’t have to be old or scholarly to enjoy one of the world’s truly great wines. As for philosophy, Louis Pasteur noted, “A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.” And a bottle of vintage port may be the most highly extracted form of liquid philosophy. Best enjoyed at the end of a perfect meal with colleagues and friends, port is especially conducive to philosophical musing and social bonding.

In traditional British custom, the host fills the glass of the guest sitting to his right and then passes the decanter to the left (the “port” side in British Naval parlance). That guest fills the host’s glass and passes the port along in a clockwise rotation until the decanter returns to the host. If the progress of the port is stalled, one doesn’t ask for the decanter directly. Instead, the person who has delayed the bottle’s progression is asked, “I say, do you know the Bishop of Norwich?” This is a reference to a blathering bishop known for descanting endlessly while remaining oblivious to those awaiting their port. Those in the know will immediately pass the port, but ignorance of the ritual may result in a response such as “Can’t say that I do.” And the traditional reply is “He’s a jolly nice fellow, but he never seems to remember to pass the port.”

Another aspect of traditional port etiquette is that the entire bottle is enjoyed before the evening is out. This usually isn’t an issue since fine vintage port is so good that guests often feel it’s the simply the best wine they’ve ever tasted.

The ideal accompaniment is the “king of cheeses,” Stilton. British author G. K. Chesterton (1874 -1936) was a gourmand who tipped the scales at almost three hundred pounds. He once commented to his much slimmer friend, the playwright, wine-lover, and notorious wit George Bernard Shaw, “To look at you, one would think that England was struck by famine.”Shaw shot back, “To look at you, one would think you caused it.”Many great poets have been inspired by wine, but Chesterton is one of the few to offer an ode to cheese. He observed, “Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” Chesterton filled this poetic lacuna with his “Sonnet to a Stilton Cheese.” It begins:“Stilton, thou shouldst be living at this hour

And so thou art. Nor losest grace thereby;

England has need of thee, and so have I.”

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