For The Love Of Port

My wife thinks I am a lunatic. I have an area in our family room downstairs where I keep a perch of a few dozen of my oldest and greatest Port bottles, going back 150 years. In my cellar, I keep about a dozen empty bottles proudly displayed from the great wines I have shared with Dorene, friends or my brother.

My wife sees them as clutter, as they literally just collect dust. She is right of course, but that matters not. I also have more great old corks than any person should be holding onto. A pack rat? Maybe.

So, please do share your empty bottle stories so I can convince her I am not alone. I was going to have my UK friend Nicos explain it to my wife. When he stayed here last, as for some reason, she thinks highly of him (it must be the accent), but I know he would suck up to HER, and more so ... to bust my chops he would have said that I should dump 'em.

Any favorite empty bottles? Is it the memory or the cool label?

If I had to pick favorites, it would be narrowed down to three:

1st place: 1971 Gaja Barbaresco that we had on our honeymoon in 2000.

2. 1966 Graham's Magnum - I keep this around to remind me not to be careless in my cellar. I was moving some Mags around and had a few of the bottles next to me on the floor. I accidentally kicked this bottle over breaking off the bottle just above very top shoulder. I managed to save a full 750 but cleaning that sticky mess was unreal. I shared it with the Seattle Tasting Group and I know this is not a new story here.

3. You gotta pick one for the packaging and I did keep one 3 liter bottle with memories. I bought it the day before I landed here in Seattle after driving cross country from Virginia, alone. I stopped at L'ecole no. 41 and bought the big sand etched and hand painted bottle of 1992 Merlot.

I am holding onto one bottle to give to Nicos someday. It was the first Port bottle that he ever used a Port tongs on, while here recently. It was a fun experience and I do need to share that picture! He looks like he just gave birth, THE PROUD PAPA!

Tell your wife I do the same as you. I keep some of the more notable empties around. Most are in a wine rack in my den. It is fun to keep those old bottles becuase of the history and the fact you will probably never see one again (or most others for that matter). My collections also provided a great conversation piece. Being only 32 years old, most of my friends are mid 20's to late 30's and they had never seen a 1947 bottle of Margaux, a 1949 Inglenook Cab, or a really old port bottle with a worn label and a big white paint splosh across it. Plus, it is a great way of remembering drinking a great wine with friends and family.

So Roy, I am with you....Keep those bottles.


Sorry, My favorite.

1949 Inglenook Cabernet
(Very interesting story how I got 2 of these bottles last year along with 2 cases of old Margaux and others. A very close friend and his wife gave them to me after her grandfather died and no one in the family drank wine. Not knowing what they had and knowing I loved wine they gave it all to me. Once I realized what they gave me I called them to let them know the value. They told me to keep it all and enjoy. Thats friendship!!)

I also keep some bottles, but I do a rotation for some. I keep them on the step of the window just above my bed.

1st place for the occasion, a bottle of 1978 Palmer, my first experience with an old wine and it was fantastic for my 25th birthday.

2nd place Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1986 I just love the label

3rd place must be Harlan Estate 1997, the wine is good and the Label is even nicer.

For the corks, I do keep some to recork some bottles or for a friend that collects them. I did kept for some time a dried and shrinking Cheval Blanc 1945 cork, I couldn't have the empty bottle

Until I met Roy, Champagne was my baliwick. I never seemed to be able to hang onto the bottles for some reason, but I did manage to save the corks for a number of the bottles I consumed with my significant other. I ended up mounting them all in a glass case with labels under each one with the date we drank it and the occasion/location. Lots of fond memories in those 8 corks - first date, housewarmings, birthdays, our first trip to Paris. The corks are removable, so as "more important" occasions arrive, i can swap out the champagne corks.

Since I met Roy, however, I fear I'm going to need to start one for Port bottle corks as well... :)

Stewart

I keep some bottles.

Special bottles that I'm unlikely to come across again or which mean something. I used to keep corks too, but recently trimmed that down to just a few.

But a bottle has to be particularly special to be kept as a bottle, and not just have the label soaked off and put into an album.

Current pride and joy in the empty bottle selection are three vintages of Vega Sicilia Unico: 42, 64 and 55, together with a couple of bottles signed by Willi Opitz "for Andrew".

Ten points for Dorene

Minus 5 points for Monique!

Monique

Glad to see I'm not the only trash collecting freak on the planet!

My favourite is a cork and empty bottle from an 1873 port bottled by White's of Licester - a long gone UK merchant. The bottle had been standing up due to leakage and the cork completely dried out - I lifted it straight out of the bottle with my fingers. It still has an intact lead or hard wax seal on top with the shipper and year clearly visible. The bottle is not of a uniform shape and stands a bit like the leaning tower of Pizza. A fabulous old relic.

Second is an empty Bollinger 1996 Vintage from a special occassion for my partner Jo and I.

There are also dozens of port and champagne corks scattered through almost every drawer in the house.

There are also dozens of port and champagne corks scattered through almost every drawer in the house.


Derek,

I don't get it. Is there anything unusual about that?

I keep a selection of my old corks (at least the ones that came out whole) in a basket next to the fireplace.

Its fascinating to see the number of people who pick up a handful of corks and look through them. Must be something tactile about it.

That's one of the main reasons we keep the basket out as an ornament. We're happy for people to rummage through the corks and it often makes for an interesting talking point.

Alex

I've strung up the corks from some memorable bottles, and made a fly curtain of them...do I need help?

Hi Steven,

I think that is definitely worthy of a picture. Please do insert one in this thread of that cork fly curtain. It would be hilarious and appreciated. If you ever quit your day job, I'll send you thousands of corks in a few boxes, and you can go into biz making fly curtains from the corks. I'd even give you your own Forum category to use for selling them!

I like to take the labels off of bottles and paste them in a scrap book. Ever since moving into my house about 4 years ago though I just haven't had the time to take the labels off so the bottles get set on the sill of a window then when that gets full moved up to the attic. There are more bottles up in the attic than I care to think about. I keep telling myself someday I'll get to them to take the labels off. I have some bottles I'm saving that I won't remove labels from:
1. La Mission Haut Brion 1986 - My first aged Bordeaux
2. Polygamy Porter - Saved for the name

I was looking at the shelf that holds the "special bottles" that I keep - I am restricted to one shelf, although it does run the length of the room - and trying to decide which bottle to get rid of to make space for the next special bottle that I open.

I thought that it might be fun to resurrect this thread. It was also good fun to read through the thread again and see the stories that other people have shared.

I have 32 bottles on my special shelf, each with a story. Most are "trophy" wines where I have been in the right place at the right time to grab an opportunity or a wine that has had a lifechanging impact on me.

The 32 include a 1937 Burmeister Colheita (the oldest wine I have drunk so far in my drinking career), which I bought in Oporto airport at the end of a tour of the Douro region around 13 years ago and is only the second bottle of "proper" port that I remember drinking - (before it, I drank port but didn't really appreciate what I was drinking). It was this tour that really opened my eyes to the history and culture of what port is and so sparked my interest.

An odd bottle, a 1979 Malvedos. Not a great bottle of port, but the first "proper" port that I remember drinking. This was bought and opened on the last day of that tour of the Douro and shared with the friends that we made on our trip. It is a 99 point memory and I will always keep the bottle.

A Chateau Talbot 1987, perhaps a strange vintage to keep, but this was the first classified bordeaux that my wife and I ever bought and drank. It was a bin end at the Port Gaverne hotel in Cornwall. We thought the wine was so good we drank their entire stock in the week we stayed there! That hooked us into wanting to know more about wine.

There is also a 1945 Leoville Barton, the only '45 I have drunk and a bottle that was astonishingly good. I drank that at a work dinner to celebrate the completion of a major project, where I was allowed to choose whatever wine I wanted.

There are 5 port bottles of the 1963 vintage (my birth year). Grahams, Fonseca, Taylor, Sandeman and Burmeister. Next to these are a 1966 Fonseca and a 1966 Offley Boa Vista. Then comes a 1970 Grahams and a Fonseca 1970 followed by a 1970 Yalumba Museum Realease Cabernet Sauvignon.

And so the list goes on. Each and every bottle has a memory and a story. I still remember (and still have the bottle on the shelf) discovering a bottle of 1980 Latour in a restaurant that hadn't repriced the bottle since they purchased it. I found the bottle in about 1996 - I still have the empty bottle and it is still the only time that I have drunk Latour.

Anyone want a complete list of the 32 bottles, or is that getting just too sad?

Alex

Alex,

Please share the rest of what you have. I too love the stories behind the empties that people keep.

I have to admit I just added one to mine, however, this one is not empty. A good friend's son recently graduated college and for his senior project had to make wine. Surprisingly, the wine was better than most Zin's that I have had. I guess growing up on a winery helps I kept one bottle that will never be opened. I've watched him grow up from a baby to adulthood and now making wine his very first wine. Ahh, the memories.

I found myself in the garage yesterday doing various jobs including one where I thought I must be a very sad individual ... and it made me think back to this thread that was started in the relatively early days of the forum. With all the new members posting on the forum I thought it might be fun to resurrect this thread with a repost.

My first point and a question for all. Earlier in the thread there was a brief discussion about corks. It seems a number of people keep corks from special bottles and do various things with them, from making fly screens to neat "museum" style mounted displays. I put mine into a basket by the fireplace and let people play with them. It is amazing how many people like to pick up a handful of corks and have a look to see what they are.

However, what I was doing yesterday was repairing a cork. I don't think I have ever managed to get a cork out of a Vintage Port bottle older than about 10 years without at least breaking off a section from the bottom of the cork. If its a cork that I want to keep then I will actually get the glue out once the cork is dry and repair the cork. Once the glue is set, the cork goes into the basket with all the others.

Is this exceptionally sad or is there at least one other person out there in the world who does the same as me? Please tell me I'm not the only one.

My second point is that nearly a year ago, Andy asked me to post the list of the bottles that are on the shelf that I am allowed to use to keep my special empties on. OK, so it took me a while to get round to it - but the time it took is only an instant compared to the time it takes for a true VP to mature :)

The list is pretty indicative of my wife and my taste in wine (if we had an unlimited budget) and it is:
Quinta do Vesuvio 2003 - drunk Christmas 2005 and the first 2 year old VP I've ever bought and drunk
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 2001
Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha 2000 - our Christmas 2006 treat
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 2000
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1998
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1997
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 1995 - bought from the vineyard one holiday (they make a mean Sauvignon Blanc)
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Royal Tokaji Wine Company 5 Puttonyos 1993 - the birth year of my godson and the wine I bought for his 21st
Sassicaia 1993
Thames Valley Vineyard's Hinton Grove 1993 - the best English wine I have ever come across and a favourite of my wife's until they stopped making it
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1992
Tignanello 1991
Rust en Vrede Estate Wine 1991 - another vineyard purchase while on holiday and the oldest South African wine I have ever drunk
Dom Perignon 1990 - our first experience with "prestige" champagne
Ch. Guiraud Cuvee "Le Dauphin" 1990
Solaia 1988
Opus One 1988
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1988
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1987
Ch. Talbot 1987 - the first classified Bordeaux my wife and I ever bought for ourselves and the wine that changed our tastes
PJA Hermitage La Chapelle 1986
Ch. Gruaud Larose 1985
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1984
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1983
Grahams 1983
Red Port Wine - from the Dodoma Wine Company in Tanzania; the label reads 22.4% alcohol, 7% sugar
Ch. Margaux 1983
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1982 - we went to a Mouton Rothschild dinner a few years ago where 8 different vintages were served including the 1982
Ch. Haut Brion 1982
Grahams 1980
Ch. Latour 1980
Taylors 1980
Malvedos 1979 - the first VP I bought from the Quinta and shared with friends on a boat at the last night party after a week's cruise on the Douro
Grahams 1977
Ch. Gruaud Larose 1970
Fonseca 1970
Dow 1970
Vega Sicilia Unico 1970
Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1970 - discovered on the wine list of an English country house hotel where it must have been at the same price since shipping
Quinta de Vargellas 1967
Fonseca 1966 - one of my first purchases at auction and a personal favourite wine
Morgan 1963 - wine from my birth year
Taylor 1963
Ferreira 1963
Sandeman 1963
Burmester 1963
Quinta do Noval 1963
Fonseca 1963
Quinta do Noval Naçional 1958 - my first sober sips of Naçional, shared with Derek
Cockburn 1950
Croft 1945
Ch. Léoville Poyferré 1945 - the first wine from 1945 that I ever drank
Burmester Colheita 1937, bottled in 1987
A quarter bottle of Moët & Chandon - my wife's favourite "everyday" champagne and perfect with Friday night pizza

Have fun reading the list - but remember that this list is the best of the best from drinking around 2 bottles of wine a week for 20 years.

Alex

I'll add my list at some point, but first let us have fun with yours. Others may vary, but I'll keep mine focused on Port.

If you were to choose your top 10 bottles from the above list, in order of preference (not for the memories they were chosen for) but based solely on the greatness of their drinking pleasure they delivered, which would you choose Alex?

An interesting question. Pulling together my answer made me realise just how important memories and the occasion were as I chose the bottles that I kept. There are bottles which I have pulled out of my cellar and drunk which I did not keep but where the score I gave to the port was higher than the scores for the ports where I did keep the bottle. Hmmm.

To answer the question, I went back to my tasting notes and the scores that I gave to these wines. What I found was that the scoring went from 93-96 for my top ten ports, so there were a lot of ties. Not even Tom's scoring system helped as all these wines were either 9 or 10 on the drinking now scale. However, not being one to take the easy option, I split all the ties by asking myself the question "If I had one of these waiting for me to open at home tonight, which would I want it to be?".

In reverse order of preference and only for those ports where I kept the bottle, my favourite VP's are as follows:

10 - Naçional 1958
9 - Grahams 1963
8 - Taylors 1963
7 - Grahams 1980
6 - Grahams 1977
5 - Sandeman 1963
4 - Vesuvio 1994
3 - Fonseca 1963
2 - Fonseca 1966
1 - Croft 1945

This order has been based on the scores I gave the wines at their best and on the notes that I wrote plus my own intuition as to the way I would rank them if I tasted these wines against each other.

But what a great list for an offline, if anyone wants to organise one.....

The only other ports that I have tasted or drunk which would find their way into this list are the Gould Cambell 1977 (when not TCA tainted) and the Naçionals from 1994 and 1963.

Alex

Hi folks,

I collect Black Shovels and Precipitation Records from West African Countries.....Whoooa

You glue corks!!!

Can anyone else hear that music from the Twilight Zone??? Its quite Loud. Now I like you guys, and I'm looking forward to meeting you all some day. But if its late at night and one of you brings up this subject, and I look nervous and scared....Dont worry, its just because I will be!!!

Alan