Is Port wine a perishable commodity?

[Roy Hersh]

Your thoughts?

[Moses Botbol]

Your thoughts?

Vintage Port is perhaps on the fence. If stored right, is unlikely to "perish", similarly to that of non-perishable food; perhaps the port would go even longer. Never tried non-perishable food from the 1930's or older...

[John F. Newman]

No. A commodity is a raw material, or partially processed material. Further, I think when dealing with commodities, one commodity is interchangeable with another of the same commodity. So one pound or copper here is exchangeable for another pound.

There are too many differentials when dealing with a finished product, one man's ruby port is not the same as the ruby port coming from down the road. A Van Gogh is not the same as a Rembrandt or a Matisse.

Plus, it does not have the liquidity of a commodity. Pun intended.

[Brian C.]

If you google the definition of perishable commodity, you will find that it means a commodity that might spoil after a week of proper handling and shipping conditions. So from the perspective of perishability, wine is not perishable until it's opened, except for Madeira, which is never by definition perishable after opening.

Is wine a commodity, though? I'd have to say that it is not. Commodities pertain to raw materials, usually. Grapes are a commodity. Wine is a finished product, and there is not enough uniformity in the finished product for it to still be considered a commodity. Grape juice would be a commodity, as the process is pretty uniform, just like it is with the beloved example of frozen orange juice. I believe that wine in general falls under the category of monopolistic competition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopolistic_competition

If we're talking about the ability of properly stored port (absent the factor of erosion of the seal) to last into perpetuity, that's an interesting question, for sure, and probably best left to the chemists. What's the oldest VP anybody has had that still was showing well?

[Moses Botbol]

What's the oldest VP anybody has had that still was showing well?

Have had vintage port back to around 1860's and it was fine.

I thought orange juice and pork bellies were traded as commodities, yet they are finished products.

[John F. Newman]

Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate, which was the commodity in the movie "Trading Places" is fungible - one OJ is essentially the same as another OJ. As Brian brought up, it comes down to "uniformity." Frozen OJ concentrate is fairly uniform. Sometimes your Tropicana says Brazil, sometimes it says Florida or California (and you can't tell the difference).

Ports are different, at least according to the Geeks on this forum.

Aguardente might be a commodity as its standard: a tasteless, clear alcohol with a certain amount of alcohol and made from the same stuff.

Here's the scene from Trading Places where commodities are explained.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EjdC0pjo1A

[Brian C.]

What's the oldest VP anybody has had that still was showing well?

Have had vintage port back to around 1860's and it was fine.

I thought orange juice and pork bellies were traded as commodities, yet they are finished products.

I probably didn't define commodity perfectly. OJ and pork bellies are still considered raw materials. Squeezing juice from an orange or taking the belly out of a hog does not constitute a finished product. They are merely components of the original item. Make a screwdriver or a bacon cheeseburger and you have a finished product.

[Eric Menchen]

And the FCOJ and pork bellies exchanged as commodities are not in the final form sold to the consumer.

[Rob C.]

From the perspective of UK capital gains tax, it is not....

we would normally contend that wine is not a wasting asset if it appears to be fine wine which not unusually is kept (or some samples of which are kept) for substantial periods sometimes well in excess of 50 years.

[Peter W. Meek]

I will agree that to be a commodity, a substance must be fungible.

So, Port cannot be a commodity, whether perishable or not.