There are many good wine choices for Valentine's Day. Red Burgundy, when it's right, is as smooth and seductive as velvet. You can never go wrong with Champagne, especially rose Champagne. Here's another idea, one that will really make this year's Valentine's Day memorable: a Vintage Port with some age on it. Because we know some people associate Port with old men, smoking jackets and stuffy clubs, you might have to take a leap of faith here. But trust us: This is one sexy wine -- rich, relaxed and warming, with the sensuality of chocolate and the embrace of dinner by the fire.

A good one may be hard to find and could be expensive, but around Valentine's Day, when it's so difficult to get a reservation at the best restaurants and the price of a dozen roses is about $70, we think this is an alternative you should consider. Cook dinner for your loved one and finish the evening with an older Vintage Port.

Port comes from Portugal, but this can be complicated. First, there are all sorts of wines from around the world that are called Port, but aren't real Port. On top of that, there are several types of Portuguese Port -- Tawny Port, Late-Bottled Vintage Port, Colheita Port and others. Port is made from several grapes, such as Touriga Nacional. During fermentation, brandy is added, which stops the fermentation process, leaving the wine sweet and high in alcohol (somewhere around 20 percent).

The greatest Port is Vintage Port. It is made only in the best years -- maybe three years out of every 10. While Vintage Port is delicious in its own way even when young, it gets better and better, and more and more romantic, with age -- as you do, right?

Romantic? The first apartment we owned had a little balcony overlooking West 72nd Street in Manhattan. It was there that we tasted our first Port, a 1963 Croft. The next year, in 1984, on the night of a big snowstorm, we opened another 1963, from Martinez, and it was magnificent, with tastes of earth, chocolate, fruit and herbs in a relaxed, into-your-pores package. We have enjoyed many Ports since then, but those will always be special to us, especially since we so rarely see Martinez.

When we thought about recommending old Vintage Port for lovers this Valentine's Day, we wondered if it were widely available, if it were affordable and, most important, how the wine in some of those old bottles tasted. We spent a great deal of time visiting stores and trolling the Internet -- and were surprised at how widely available old Vintage Port is, even from the great 1963 vintage. This doesn't mean every store will have one, of course, but it's amazing how many do (we found two 1963s on pawineandspirits.com, the Web site of the Pennsylvania state stores -- Graham's for $323.99 and Dow's for $313.99). In terms of prices, we found quite a few older bottles for under $100 and a wide selection for under $200, which certainly isn't the kind of money most of us spend on wine every day, but, hey, it's Valentine's Day. While Port of any age is a treat, well-aged Vintage Port generally doesn't cost that much more than younger Vintage Port, so it's certainly worth looking for.

We ultimately bought a small selection from vintages going back to 1963. We kept our price target under $200 except for the 1963 Dow's, a well-known wine that we were eager to try that cost $299.95. We tasted these -- just one or two a night over several nights, so we could savor each and watch it grow and change. We didn't taste them blind, since they were mostly from different vintages.

Port can age beautifully for many decades. As far as we can tell, true Port lovers don't think that any Vintage Port really is ever totally mature. But by buying wines from 21 to 43 years old, we figured we'd get a pretty good idea where they are and where they are headed.

The answer: In their own way, these wines are true bargains. Wine after wine was simply beautiful. Not a single one seemed too old. They were filled with earth, fruit, chocolate and all sorts of herbs and spices. The sugar and alcohol, in most of them, had melded with all of the tastes into an integrated whole. The wines created warmth -- not just in the taste, but in their very deep, soul-satisfying, very relaxed essence. They usually offered a smooth, velvety river of warmth that infused our bodies. If you think about what makes chocolate sensual and the scent of roses so elementally beautiful, you can start to get an idea why these wines are so romantic. We found the best value to be the 1970 vintage, with excellent wines drinking beautifully now.

Here's where the romance comes in again. To end our tasting, John surprised Dottie with a special bottle: 1963 Martinez. He had found it in seconds using wine-searcher.com. With overnight delivery, it cost $166.

The best Port of our tasting had been the Dow's 1963, which was so beautiful and nuanced -- and not even a bit tired -- that we were awestruck. During the tasting, we had also tried the 1963 Cockburn's, which was good -- and had an unusual nose of cola or even Dr Pepper -- but lacked the depth and earthiness of the Dow's.

The Martinez was the least impressive of the three. It was good, but seemed a bit clumsy and not knit together as well as we would have expected. We couldn't decide if it was too young or too old, but we found it a bit too heavy and challenging. We're sure that the bottle we drank 22 years ago was much better. Nevertheless, while we were drinking it, we were in our 30s again, young enough to enjoy standing in the snow on our little balcony. How much is that worth?

Happy Valentine's Day.