For The Love Of Port

I know that some have been looking for this Port. It's available now at K&L for $199.99:

http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1156513

Good price compared to most of what's been seen in USA ... but is this VP worth it overall? You be the judge. $200 is pretty expensive for a just released VP, considering you can purchase the excellent Graham's in magnum for less. I know which I'd rather have.

Roy Hersh wrote:Good price compared to most of what's been seen in USA ... but is this VP worth it overall? You be the judge. $200 is pretty expensive for a just released VP, considering you can purchase the excellent Graham's in magnum for less. I know which I'd rather have.

You seem to be very down on this Port, as this isn't the first time that I've heard you knock it for the price.

Are you equally down on the equally expensive 2011 Vargellas Vinha Velha and 2011 Vesuvio Capela? Or is it something specific about the 2011 Graham's Stone Terraces?

And let's not even bring up Noval Nacional...

I would think that a Port enthusiast would like one or two bottles of this in their collection for future "academic study" regardless of the QPR.

I think your assessment is not accurate, Glenn.

I actually had the Graham's Stone Terraces in my top 10 of the vintage, so how can you say I don't like it?

What would be far more accurate for you to relay, is that I am not understanding how a first vintage warrants a price that is typically around 2.5-3x the regular Graham's Vintage Port which has proved its worth for eons. I understand marketing and it is a good story, so I commend the producers for a very fine 2011 version. However, although there is not much of this produced, I simply can't wrap my head around the pricing ... fancy box or not. YMMV.

Roy Hersh wrote:I think your assessment is not accurate, Glenn.

I actually had the Graham's Stone Terraces in my top 10 of the vintage, so how can you say I don't like it?

I didn't say that you don't like it, I said you seem down on it due to its price. Which...

Roy Hersh wrote:What would be far more accurate for you to relay, is that I am not understanding how a first vintage warrants a price that is typically around 2.5-3x the regular Graham's Vintage Port which has proved its worth for eons. I understand marketing and it is a good story, so I commend the producers for a very fine 2011 version. However, although there is not much of this produced, I simply can't wrap my head around the pricing ... fancy box or not. YMMV.

... seems to be a fair assessment. You can really like something but still be down on it due to pricing. I really like Ferraris but think they're horribly overpriced. But I'm sure I'd buy one if I won the lottery!

Would it be fair to say that you have similar trouble wrapping your head around the pricing of the Vesuvio Capela and Vargellas Vinha Velha? Each of those was also offered at 2.5-3x the price of the respective regular Ports, and for the most part their ratings are similar to the ratings for the respective regular Ports as well. Which is another way of saying that they, too, appear to be marketed/priced based on exclusivity/rarity and not necessarily on superior quality.

Or how about Noval Nacional? It was offered at a mere 7-10x the price of the regular Noval! Though to be fair, Noval Nacional does typically receive slightly higher ratings than regular Noval. But enough to warrant a 7-10x price increase?

I only bring it up because I've heard you make this comment about Stone Terraces on more than one occasion, but I don't recall ever hearing a similar comment about Capela or VVV, whether this year or in the past. It made me think that you might have some other concern in this case. But if it's a more general thing about the entire "super premium" category then I'm with you. I don't really get it, either, but that didn't stop me from buying a lot of GST this year.

I think Roy's point is that GST doesn't have a track record. Nacional clearly does. Taylor VVV is working on a decent track record. Capela has a few entries. Whether the records are stellar or just ho-hum is a matter of opinion; but having a record or none is not.

Eric Menchen wrote:Taylor VVV is working on a decent track record.

Some would argue that Taylor does not have a great track record with the VVV. Obviously it's early days yet.

This is an interesting discussion, so I've created a new topic in the main forum where we can continue it.

It showed up at wine.com as well for this same price. I would of preferred to buy from K&L but missed it.