Port

[OneCubeOnly]

I think this is the question they were getting at, if all the yeast is dead, and there is no more fermentation at all, why bother aging in the bottle??

The reactions that continue in the bottle aren't necessarily fermentation. My (limited) understanding of wine-aging is that tannins will slowly fall out of solution and get denatured, making the wine have less 'bite' and be more mellow. You'll notice most aged wines have a sediment at the bottom of the bottle. There's also a bit of oxidation that occurs.

[mike1]

Eons ago when ships moved by wind power, and a few great naval powers ruled the world, it was common practice to give sailors a ration of wine everyday. I still think that this might be the practice for some countries. Well after a long journey accross the water lo and behold the wine had turned and the sailors found themselves drinking vinegar. Adding fermented spirits to the wine to eliminate the chance of a secondary fermentation from rouge yeasts was developed to insure the drinkability of the product, and probably to avoid a mutiny. The greeks instead of adding fermented spirits coated the inside of the barrels with pine tar,which seals the barrels. Many greek wines today are still made this way, and hence they taste quite different. This story may be apocryphal,but that is what i was told many years ago.

[Jono]

I am fond of Galway Pipe...an Australian port..that is reasonably priced and very good. I tend to drink port on the holidays...of course it is great with cheeses and deserts.