“Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men”

Abstract

In May of 1762 the cellar master to King George III of Great Britain and Ireland purchased red port for the first time. Insignificant as this purchase may seem, it marked a change for the royal household, because port was almost impossible to find, and scarce when found, in the cellars of either of the young king’s Hanoverian predecessors. Nor was this change minor. By June 1762 (i.e. one month later) port surpassed luxury claret, if only slightly, as the most common wine within the royal cellars. For the rest of the decade these two wines, which dominated the royal household accounts, were purchased and consumed in almost equal amounts.¹