Do you keep your original wooden Port crates?

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:39 pm

PLEASE do not turn this into yet another drifted thread re: the uses for and the value of or lack thereof for the Vesuvio foot lockers. I know everyone's opinions on that one, or certainly most.

But I am very curious as to what you do with your Port OWCs.

Gary Banker · Post by **Gary Banker** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:39 pm

Because the basement gets warm in the summer, I have the port in a EuroCave, so:

miscellaneous storage

carry donated books to the library

cases for bottles of madeira (standing up) that have been bought in small quantities

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:36 pm

To prove that is ok to look silly here:

There was about a two year period where I lived in an apartment in Northern Virginia in the early '90s. Summers tend to get too hot there and sometimes insanely hot AND humid. There was no place nearby that was the least bit convenient or worth using for offsite storage (yes I know what is in DC today).

I used to store all of my Ports in about 40 OWCs in my living room there, laid out "decoratively" as it was a really huge room. Due to the extreme temps and my ultimate dislike of being too warm, my thermostat was set at 65 degrees year round. People coming over to have dinner in the winter thought I was a lunatic and in the summer wondered why it was so ridiculously cold. I never used my Port collection as my excuse, but knew that since the temp remained so steady, that two years at 65 degrees would be just fine, as the fluctuations were minimized.

When I moved here and after a few years of using off site storage at my friend Chuck's place (Seattle Wine Storage) I had my own cellar built in our home. Since then, I have paneled my office wall with parts from a couple of dozen cases. I love it, my wife thinks I am obsessed, my friends just shake their heads and my daughter likes finding her name all over my wall.

OK, step up to the microphone.

<---OWC

John Danza · Post by **John Danza** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:03 pm

I used to keep them but they took up too much room in the basement, which got smaller last year when I put a family room down there. At this point, I take the branded end off of the case for future decorative purposes and then jetison the rest of the wood.

All the best,
John

Moses Botbol · Post by **Moses Botbol** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:27 am

Everything I buy by the case, stays in the wood. Singles go into wood or cardboard boxes with wines for similar vintage dates. I like to preserve them as close as to the way they were shipped and stored until I got them.

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 8:06 am

I use them to store the bottles in my offsite locker. They take up a little more space, but given the humidity in the offsite (70%), they will last the next 20+ years as the bottles age.

SEAN C. · Post by **SEAN C.** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 8:20 am

I always keep my wine in their respective crates. Usually if it's not in wood I don't even consider it a Port that I own to drink! I tend to only drink loose bottles.

Frederick Blais · Post by **Frederick Blais** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 8:54 am

I have a few empty crates to store stuff around my room, mainly books. As I don't have a natural cellar I can't keep them all

Adam F · Post by **Adam F** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:52 am

I keep the better condition one's for filing and the vesuvio boxes house my kids model railway stuff. Those deemed unfit for service become kindling!

Scott Anaya · Post by **Scott Anaya** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:21 pm

I don't really buy VP by the case yet. But the few miscellaneous wooden crates I do have serve as a cascading three tiered houseplant table.

Todd Pettinger · Post by **Todd Pettinger** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:37 pm

Like Scott, I have not made many (ok, ANY!!

) full-case purchases of Port, but obtained an empty OWC after purchasing 11 Fonseca Guimaraens and asking of they still happened to have the OWC laying around. With the 16 Offley Boa Vista I recently purchased at substantial 'oops' pricing, they had already taken the bottles out of the case for shelving and the boxes were long gone (probably to a staffer's house for one or more of the reasons listed by folks above!)

My intention is to indeed keep the OWCs when I start to be able to afford case-purchases. I like some of the ideas offered by others here.

I think that once I get a few cases, and once I have a proper cellar built, I will have plenty of racking that will take the place of a lot of the OWCs.

Only time will tell.

Todd

Post by **Stewart T.** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 12:07 am

Roy Hersh wrote: "my wife thinks I am obsessed, my friends just shake their heads..."

Amen brother...

I have purchased most of my Port in small lots, so not many OWC's to worry about. If I DID have a lot of them, I'd probably stack them (empty) from floor to ceiling in the basement to wow my friends who think I'm obsessed...thanks a lot Roy!

Julian D. A. Wiseman · Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:46 pm

Bought in case, kept in case whilst there’s at least half the case remaining.

But most not bought in case.

Richard Henderson · Post by **Richard Henderson** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:34 pm

Only the special crates do I keep. I have a Fonseca 92 crate that holds kindling wood by my chiminea.
The vast majority are broken up and used as kindling wood in the chiminea.

They aslo make good stools for the kids and little tables for drinks etc.

Marc J. · Post by **Marc J.** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:43 pm

I tend to keep most of my OWCs. I have a Cockburn 1955 case that I've found makes a nice display container.

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:34 am

I probably keep about half of the wooden cases that I buy, once they have been emptied out. The cases that I keep I turn into furniture and tend to be the ones from older vintages. I find that if you sand the case down to get rid of the worst of the cellar damage marks and then varnish it with a mid-tone varnish you can end up with a lovely mellow coloured box. Fix four brass feet to the box, brass hinges to the lid, a brass chain and a brass hasp and you end up with a really nice looking storage container that is just the perfect size for keeping things like CDs or DVDs. They also look good sitting in the Living Room, whether they are open or closed.

Alex

Michael C. · Post by **Michael C.** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:00 am

Roy Hersh wrote:I used to store all of my Ports in about 40 OWCs in my living room there, laid out "decoratively" as it was a really huge room. Due to the extreme temps and my ultimate dislike of being too warm, my thermostat was set at 65 degrees year round. People coming over to have dinner in the winter thought I was a lunatic and in the summer wondered why it was so ridiculously cold. I never used my Port collection as my excuse, but knew that since the temp remained so steady, that two years at 65 degrees would be just fine, as the fluctuations were minimized.

You just made me feel a lot more "normal," Roy... I keep my thermostat at a constant, year 'round 68-degrees. My friends always bring an extra fleece, dress in layers, or simply decline invitations to visit. Apparently, they don't like the cold as much as the wine bottles do.

I considered buying a Eurocave, but now I have a reputation to live up to ... people _expect_ it to be near-arctic temperatures when they visit. I can't change now.

Todd Pettinger · Post by **Todd Pettinger** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:05 pm

It's amusing... I followed this thread previously and didn't pay much attention to the temperatures that Roy was reporting (65), etc. I can't do mental Farenheit to Celcius (which I speak) conversions, so I typically shrug at temperature references.

Found a tiny conversion site and plugged in those numbers: 68F = 20C and 65F = 18.3C.
Several times this year, my own thermostat has been set to 18.5 for days on end... and I'm comfy at that temp (especially sleeping at night with no covers!)

The basement should be a few degrees colder than that, but more importantly, and much to my delight, the temperature doesn't fluctuate as much as I had suspected it did throughout the day. 10 inches of concrete several feet below the surface are pretty good at insulation! (Now I just have to work on the humidity!)

Todd

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:30 am

Received by email:

Code: Select all

"Hi Roy,

You can print this in that thread but please leave my name out of it as people will not understand my intent.  I have been collecting Port boxes for nearly 20 years and have about sixty of them going back to 1970 vintage.  After applying them to brighten up my bathroom in my office, I had a crazy idea that my wife thinks is actually a good one; although both of my grown sons think I have lost my mind.  

I've been taking apart my OWC Port boxes and saving the panels this year.  I plan to craft my own coffin and will use the panels from my favorite Ports to line the inside and outside of it.  Do not use my name and should you ever mention it, I will have to deny ever sending this to you!"

Well, I am not often speechless but how do you respond to this?

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:46 am

That absolutely deserves the prize as the best posting so far this year! I don't often laugh out loud when I read the posts on the forum, but this one did it to me.

My congratulations to the unnamed person. I understand why you want to remain hidden, but I take my hat off to you for the most original use we have yet seen for old port boxes.

I wonder how my wife would feel about it if I suggested to her that I had just come up with an idea for the ultimate in recycling ideas...

Alex