My vintage port supplier has moved from corks to screwcaps. Do I cellar the bottles on their side or standing up?

—S.L., Lindfield, NSW

I’m wondering who your “vintage port” supplier is; there aren’t many wineries still making this style of wine, let alone closing it with a screwcap. Australians are no longer allowed to call this beverage vintage port, by the way, since it’s a geographic name owned by Portugal.

In north-east Victoria’s Rutherglen, which specialises in fortified wines and staunchly defends this style, there are some notable wineries that use screwcaps: Pfeiffer and Chambers are two.

Because of the naming restriction, many wineries now use the abbreviation VP (vintage port).

• In Rutherglen, Pfeiffer Christopher’s VP uses this nomenclature.
• Meanwhile, Chambers has a screwcapped 2005 for sale at present, called Chambers Old Cellar VP.
• Morris of Rutherglen also occasionally releases a VP, and all of its fortified wines are screwcapped.
• Just down the Hume Highway, Baileys of Glenrowan is selling a 2018 VP with a screwcap
• In the Barossa Valley, Peter Lehmann The King VP is also bottled this way. The 2020 vintage has AD2040 on the label, which is when the winemaker reckons it should be mature.

Since the 1990s, Port is the name reserved for the sweet, fortified wines of Portugal where the style originated. Oporto is the city from which the wine is exported. In the early days, the wine was moved around in barrels, floated down the Douro River on specially designed boats from the vineyards in the upper Douro Valley to the cellars in Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia. There it was matured in casks, bottled and dispatched.

Screwcapped bottles can be stored whichever way is convenient, even on their heads; that’s one of their advantages. The cap doesn’t need to be kept wet, unlike cork. However, I’d lie them down or stand them up to avoid sediment accumulating in the cap, which could be messy.

Most of the world’s cork is still produced in Portugal, so I expect it will be a while before we see Portuguese vintage port with a screwcap.

Got a drinks question for Huon Hooke? thefullbottle@goodweekend.com.au