For The Love Of Port

Thank you Derek for sharing your touching story with us. And Roy, I think my mouth dropped open while reading yours. What a great memory and experience.

I am a very new wine collector, but I can already tell I am headed down the infamous slippery slope. I have almost as much fun buying wine as I do drinking it, maybe more so. There is just something about the whole experience that is extremely intriguing and entertaining for me. I buy wine with the intention of drinking it, and I'm sure that will always be the case. Though it does seem bittersweet to open those special bottles that have a lot of age on them, or ones that are irreplaceable.

Melanie R. wrote:There is just something about the whole experience that is extremely intriguing and entertaining for me.

I think that's called the joy of the chase, or something like that. But I agree - sometimes finding and acquiring a particular bottle is as much fun as actually drinking it!

........ respect

Years before there were great tools named winesearcher.com and google, one had to go it alone. For example, when I lived in No. Virgina, I took a map and looked up every single wine shop in Southern Maryland, Wash. DC, and NoVA within a 50 mile radius. Over a four year period I visited nearly every single one of them and it was fun to do. I had far less commitments in those days and outside of work and a girlfriend, Port was my life. The "hunt" for great bottles at reasonable pricing became my main attraction beyond finding old and hard to find Port books. Then I found the Port Lover's Library and that took care of finding Port books, but I never did stop looking for great old and brand new Port bottles. I was already buying from web-based CA retailers and others that offered great deals (e.g. I was on the Winexchange mailing list for their newsletter as of 1990 and The Rare Wine Co., CWC and others around the same time too.). But probably my favorite Port hunting was scouting out the local shops by using that map project. I got to see some really great operations and learned which were the most Port friendly and knowledgable retailers in the entire area, and they got to know me too. I was equally as aggressive when I first moved to WA State in Sept. 1996, but nowadays it is rare that I buy Port from anywhere local. It is 90% from CA retailers and 10% from overseas.

hi i buy to 1 drink some of them 2 collect and not drink but pass to my son 3 cash in in the future if i so wish and im happy with that i get great pleasure reserching reading notes iv had several great ports in the past we dont drink maney bottles per year we enjoy the whole trip of port colecting for whatever reason be yourself and dont feel pressured if you want to buy to drink collect ore even just for investment good luck to you but be happy in what you do its your life symonb
port is a good holder of value so a nice thing to collect i suppose the ritcher you are if you like port the more great ports you can drink either way were your priorities lay to others its gross endulgence its a good job my wife likes port to re the buying iv done lately symonb
if you are not extreemly ritch and have a few great expencive ports it may be unjustifiable to drink them in a credit crunch when things could get worse when taxes and interest rates do go up end of 2010 ore 2011
i only drink an expencive bottle when i come into money house sale etc etc otherwise i could not justify drinking bottles of 1000ds port every month and i think if i did i would have a consence of over indulgence and greed so i think even if i was decked with diamonds everything in moderation and ballence
we only drink 6 to 10 bottles of port per year max but it along with trockenbeerenauslese are my favrite drinks of all time

I must say that over the past few years my views on this topic may have changed slightly. First of all, everything that is in my cellar is meant to be drunk, but some of the bottles that have significant sentimental value may require a special occasion before being popped. I still have my first bottle of VP and THAT bottle will take a very special occasion to open - hopefully fairly soon since it has probably reached its peak drinking window. I can't say that I have bottles that carry same the sentimental value that Derek or Roy have experienced, but there are a few that do mean a bit more to me and I'm hoping that I'll be able to round up some close friends to share in the enjoyment those particular bottles.

Marc

Roy Hersh wrote:... looked up every single wine shop in Southern Maryland, Wash. DC, and NoVA within a 50 mile radius. Over a four year period I visited nearly every single one of them....

Cool. That's the kind of obsessiveness I like. Map it out; visit every one; keep notes....

I realised the other day that I gave Derek the bottle of port which has survived in my cellar for the longest time - a bottle of Warre 1983 which I bought in 1994. I'm now having second thoughts and wondering whether I should swap it for another bottle. Can I bear to be parted from the oldest survivor that I still have?

Al B. wrote:Can I bear to be parted from the oldest survivor that I still have?

I have that problem, too. I haven't been a Port drinker nearly as long as many here, but I still have 2 of the first aging-suitable bottles that I purchased. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to open either of them!

1970 Martinez and 1977 Royal Oporto, for those who are curious.

Al B. wrote:I realised the other day that I gave Derek the bottle of port which has survived in my cellar for the longest time - a bottle of Warre 1983 which I bought in 1994. I'm now having second thoughts and wondering whether I should swap it for another bottle. Can I bear to be parted from the oldest survivor that I still have?

I'm sure it's already a goner if Derek had it

Andy Velebil wrote:

Al B. wrote:I realised the other day that I gave Derek the bottle of port which has survived in my cellar for the longest time - a bottle of Warre 1983 which I bought in 1994. I'm now having second thoughts and wondering whether I should swap it for another bottle. Can I bear to be parted from the oldest survivor that I still have?

I'm sure it's already a goner if Derek had it

A conversation with friends has caused me to nudge this thread.

I am pleased to report that the Quinta do Noval Nacional 1963 mentioned in my earlier post was quite delicious, and Uncle Steve's bottle of Noval LB remains intact.

So, what are your thoughts on trophy bottles?