Port drinkers appreciate the tepid warmth of the fading aristocracy

Port should be sipped and not drunk. This is partly because of its velvet body, and partly by way of parsimonious affectation. Let others abandon themselves to the bitter triumphs of whisky on the rocks or dry martini. Port drinkers appreciate the tepid warmth of the fading aristocracy, the taste of fruit from the curate's garden and the old-fashioned sickliness of a recipe that brings a delicate blush to a young lady's cheeks.

P. Delerm, The small pleasures of life (1997), 9-10