For The Love Of Port

Now back in Blighty after 8 weeks of sunny abstinence from good port (Borges Tawny doesn't count..) I decided to engage this youngster.

The bottle was one of the dreaded Niepoort 1997 seepers - so no great crime to open it so young, and an opportunity to find out why Niepoort had a problem with this bottling.

According to Dirk, the bottles were packed too soon after bottling, and were not left standing upright for a day or two to allow the corks to expand. This may be the case, but when I examined and opened the bottle, two other points were notable.

Firstly, Niepoort is almost the only VP bottler to use ventilated capsules (with two pin holes in the top) with no secondary seal. The cork is therefore exposed to the air. If the bottle had been sealed more thoroughly, the seepage might not have been apparent - how often do you find a cork that is a little crusty under the capsule..

Secondly, this is not a brilliant cork - it has several visible minor flaws, and a major longitudinal fissure. It was not very difficult to draw the cork either.

Anyway, I decanted the wine about an hour ago - dark as one would expect, with fine sediment that made it diffcult to know when to stop.

First sip - slightly spiritous, no bottle stink and with a good aroma of berry fruits. Rather reminded me of a Vesuvio..

More anon..

Tom

Four hours on - a small glass

Very full, fruity bouquet that holds out much promise for the future, but on the palate the amount of fire in the spirit is a little worrysome. Otherwise the palate is very full and respectable..

..but the wine is very, very, immature...

Will this mature into a towering classic - or will a slight excess of spirit play havoc?

It's a hard call..

More anon..

Tom

Tom,

You are worrying me here :?

I recently bought a case of this and had it shipped directly to my off site cellar. I have never seen the bottles and to the best of my knowledge they are still in the unopened OWC.

How widespread is this cork problem with this wine? Should I be taking it out of storage to check the condition of the bottles or is the risk acceptably low?

Having read a few notes and noting its immaturity on this wine I planned to leave it where it is for 10 years or so. Is this wise?

Derek

Derek, I would check. All bottles I've seen so far had leakage problems. For me, it was a reason not to buy any...

Derek,

I think I'd check them. Of the dozen I bought, three were entirely sound, two had slight staining on the guarantee labels, and seven showed slight seepage.

However, slight is the word, and I suspect that if I strip the foil off and wax them, all will be well.

Tom

11 hours on - a nightcap

The excess spirit in this wine is now much less of an issue - it is integrating well - thankfully!

Still very immature, but behind that it shows extremely well - indeed it has a characteristic that is hard to describe in the normal parlance of wine tasting, but is, perhaps, best described as 'gravitas'.

Without wishing to go over the top, I have to say the best comparison to a mature wine I can think of is the celebrated Noval '31..

I'll re-visit this decanter tomorrow before I venture a score, but for now I'm thinking about the corking problem that makes this a flawed gem.

Dirk has previously exchanged these bottles for those of the 2000 vintage - a very generous gesture - but this wine is too good to write off..

Would he re-cork my remaining bottles in VNG (with branded corks) - if they were brought to him? (I would happily pay for the corks!)

It would be good to hear from him directly..

Tom

Tom/Ronald,

Thanks for the advice - I think I will ask the cellar owner to open my case and give me a report on the bottle condition.

At the risk of depressing myself further, what would you expect to pay for a case of this on the auction circuit today, Tom?

Derek

Derek

I have some magnums of this (no obvious seepage), and recently picked up a few bottles of 750. I noticed seepage on one of the three 750 mL bottles available and so only got the two. Fortunately I was able to go down to the seller and see for myself.

This was a couple of months ago, and I recall ~$80 US/bottle. I recall looking for it on winesearcher a few months before that and it was considerably cheaper in shops in the UK.

The 97 does not come up for sale very often around here. Count yourself lucky to be over there! Just inspect before purchasing.

Jay

Derek,

The going rate is about £220/dozen including buyers premium - so bid £190 at Sotheby's, £200 at Bonhams or Christies or £210 at Straker C.

However, the prices of 97's have taken a bit of a leap of late, so it might be necessary to go another bid to secure.

Currently coming to UK auction about 2-3 times p.a.

Tom

Hi

if there is a case listed in Christies and I get it for a bid of let's say 100$ - what do I additionally have to pay?
As I see it's 19,5% Buyers Premium and that is all? Or are there any other additional costs coming?

Can anyone tell me about how the shipping then ususally works? Can I tell the people there for example to send it to me via Mail?

Thanks, Xavi

Xavi,

All the UK auction houses charge a buyers premium - that's an extra amount on top of the bid you placed. VAT is also charged on the premium, but not on the lot itself, unless the wine is in bond.

So a bid at Christies of £100 will attract buyers pemium of 10% - £10 + 17.5% VAT on the premium - £1.75 - making a total of £111.75

Most of the auctions charge 10% premium, but there are two exceptions:

Sotheby's charge 15%, and Straker Chadwick charge a flat fee of £6 + VAT (£7.05).

Sometimes the wines are sold 'In bond' in which event the bid price includes UK duty, but VAT has to be added to the bid price. Quite how this works when you are shipping to Germany, I am not sure.

The cost of delivering wines varies dramatically between different auction houses. For shipping to Germany, I would suggest you ask them to confirm the cost before placing any bids.

Tom

Post script: Alex has pointed out that Christies raised their buyers premium to 12.5% at the beginning of the year - I was blissfully unaware of this

Okay thanks I think I'll contact theri sales department - but shipping should hopefully be not overly dramatic as I tend not to auction in London but Amsterdam

I unfortunately already recognized that shipping from UK to Germany is horribly expensive (>50GBP for a Case of Port....). On the Land it should be much less.

Greetings Xavi

So £427 wasn't such a great deal then

Bugger

OK, back on thread

24 hours on..

Well integrated now, with a full rich bouquet and a palate to match. Though young and raw, it is very pleasing nevertheless.

To score:

For immediate gratification, the wine is compromsed by it's immaturity. For that reason, it narrowly fails to make the top quartile, so a 7

Where's it going? This could very easily rank a 10 when it peaks - perhaps in another 20-30 years time - but I can't predict that with any certainty.

So my score is 7-9

Tom

My case of Niepoort 1997 has now been checked by the cellar manager and all bottles were found to be in excellent condition with no signs of seapage or staining. So they will be staying put until ready to drink in 2027 8)

Derek