Our family all have an absolute passion for port. I don't mean the little old lady drink of port and lemon but good port drank straight, often with stilton as an accompaniment. The Husband and I developed a taste for it after I bought him a bottle of good port as a Valentines Day present a few years ago (I never know what to buy as present for men - so a visit to the local off-license is sometimes the place I go). We always keep a bottle of white port in the fridge for those occasions when we aren't in the mood for the tawny. The Stepson gives, and goes to, several parties serving port and cheese at university and in fact I found myself having a rather surreal experience one Christmas buying him a requested decanter for port, when he was about 19 years old.

Anyway, the port we used to drink has recently disappeared off the shelves of the local shops and it looks as if it isn't being produced any more so we are trying to find a new favourite port to drink. So we looked at the 10 year old tawny and found two possibilities - Tesco and Taylor's. There was just one thing: the Tesco cost £11; the Tayor's cost £17. Which one was the best, and if it was the more expensive was it worth an extra £6 (somewhere in the order of $12)? So last night, while they had a reshowing of a classic Avengers on television we had a glass of each type and tried them out. The Tesco was a lighter colour and the taste was subtly different from the Taylor's which at first sip tasted more fruity and generally had what I can only describe as a "deeper" taste. Both were very nice but we both agree that of the two the Taylor's had the edge. But the thing we both have to ask ourselves is whether it is worth an extra £6?