Breaks and Mishaps

[John M.]

Recently Moses had a full decanter break. Catastrophe!

As far as I can recall, I've never broken a bottle of Port. Have come close. About a year ago in the space of a month I broke two empty decanters and over the past 20 years around 10 glasses (not counting those incredibly fragile Reidel Vinum glasses--was given 12 and I swear you could say Good Morning the wrong way and one would break---currently have one left).

Over the course of 20 years of my Port Club, we've broken a couple dozen or so including one incident where 3 full glasses were knocked over and smashed.

Of the decanters, one was nice. The other I paid under $20. Still, a bummer. Try hard to handle with care.

Also, seem to recall a scene in a movie, think Remains of the Day, where a butler (Anthony Hopkins) drops a bottle of properly aged VP.

So what are your Port Horror Stories or close calls!?

[Eric Menchen]

I've lost an empty decanter in the dish drainer (during a big dinner), and I suspect I have three or four decanters with chips on the rim. I've wondered if those can be repaired. Just had a glass mishap at my house this past month. I was neither the breaker nor the glass owner. For my wine groups we bring our own stems to each tasting.

I can't recall a wine loss since I had a backpack fall off the bathroom door at the airport coming back from Europe. This was back when you could have liquids in your carry-on.

[Glenn E.]

I've had better luck than John with my Reidel Vinum glasses, but even so I've still managed to break 2. Those are my "everyday" glasses for Port, but I don't actually drink Port every day so they don't get used that often.

I think I've also broken 2 or 3 of the inexpensive "Marjorie Lumm" glasses that we use for tastings. (That's the website where we discovered them years ago... sadly now out of business. They're INAO Tasting Glasses.) Those come 36 to a box for a little over $100, though, so not really a tragedy. We lost a number of those over the years when doing Anniversary tastings at Daniel's Broiler in Seattle, but I don't think that was breakage but rather restaurant staff accidentally bussing our glasses while we were cleaning up afterwards.

So far I've been lucky with decanters and have yet to break one! Yay!

[Eric Ifune]

Dropped a magnum of 91 Croft in the cellar. I cleaned up the glass, but everything is still stained.

[Andy Velebil]

Can’t specifically recall breaking a bottle, though I’m sure it’s happened at least once in far past. But wine and port glasses. Far too many to remember.

Haven’t broken a decanter yet (knock on wood).

[Moses Botbol]

We broke a '48 Grahams moving stuff around. That cry was heard far and wide. Must've broken 20-30 IDVP's over the years.

Yes, my favorite decanter exploded when putting the stopper on filled with '83 Ramos a week ago or so.

[Mike J. W.]

I've only broken 1 bottle of red wine. It happened last year when I was unpacking and racking some of my Port and wine after our move. I know it's only a matter of time before I break a Port or wine glass, but so far, so good.

[Al B.]

I was working at a wine show a couple of years ago when one of the logistics staff was delivering glasses. He had a stack of about 6 racks of glasses on a sack trolley - so 6x48≈300 glasses.

He was an arrogant man in his mid-twenties and wouldn’t listen to the advice he was offered — or the instructions of his boss. He decided he could navigate the sack trolley down a flight of four steps rather than take the long route (about 15 yards longer) down the wheelchair access slope.

You can guess what happened. He didn’t get the top step square on and the entire trolley of glasses toppled over and fell to the floor. Some glasses were rescued, but maybe 250 ended up in pieces.

[Al B.]

Personally, I’ve broken a couple of Speigelau white wine glasses (the really thin ones), one Riedel Sommelier Port glass, probably 3 or 4 Riedel Vinum Port glasses and a couple of Riedel Vinum Bordeaux glasses.

I’ve broken a dozen or so bottles over the years, all Port and many of them 100+ year old vintages. The issue I’ve found is that these bottles often have such thin glass on the shoulders that they are incredibly delicate. Looking through my notes, the bottles broken include Cockburn 1908 (in 2011), Croft 1945 (2023), half of Dow 1985 (2021), magnum of Graham 1897 (2017), Martinez 1878 (2016), Croft 1920 (2020) and a bottle of Warre 1920 (2024).

[Glenn E.]

Cockburn 1908 (in 2011), Croft 1945 (2023), half of Dow 1985 (2021), magnum of Graham 1897 (2017), Martinez 1878 (2016), Croft 1920 (2020) and a bottle of Warre 1920 (2024).

[Andrew Kirschner]

Before installing wine shelving in the space under the stairs, I kept bottles (neatly) stacked and would occasionally squeeze through the small opening. In the hall closet to get into the space to grab wines. It’s dark and cool and still and a great place to keep wine, but there was no proper shelving yet- but we one time we had a mishap. I was reaching in to get a couple of bottles for a tasting I was hosting, and thought I had done so safely. About two minutes later there was a muffled crash sound from the space, and two bottles had broken inside the wall. Unfortunately this made the creation of a proper cellar with proper shelving a bit of a rushed proposition as we needed to get into the space to do a proper clean up.

[Bradley Bogdan]

Between the dog, the spouse, and the guy who tortures his spouse by leaving glassware near the sink so I can wash it in the morning after the Port has worn off, glassware seems constantly under threat at my abode. Fortunately I think I’ve only broken a couple bottles of wine total since getting into wine, and I’ve lost one in a suitcase (mostly due to my inexperience packing). Nothing particularly valuable, as I recall.

I’m knocking all the wood surfaces I can find as I type this, haha.


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[Moses Botbol]

I broke an IDVP port glass yesterday. Lightly touched against something and cracked. We must've broken at least 20 of them over the years.