For The Love Of Port

a. ... you have ever spent on any bottle of Port?


b. ... you would seriously be willing to spend on your holy grail bottle of Port?

In euro's, the most i ever spent on a bottle is 135 (approx. 180 US $)
It was on the bottle you see in my pic
<----

If i had the money i would buy a Noval Nacional 1963 for € 3000 ( $ 4000 )
In reality, i'm willing to buy a Niepoort 1940 for € 295 ( $ 400)

Cheers
Erik

a,Was £140 pounds on a 39 real cavelha vintage just could not find one Stefano sourced it for me about five years ago.
b.Probably £250 I could afford to lose that and not cry to much if the bottle was spoilt.

Erik,

Keep saving, but I can guarantee that you'd find a great bottle of that 1963 Nacional for closer to 2500 Euros than 3000.



Great responses so far and I hope others will put in theirs as well.

Just coincidentally, $400 is the most I've ever paid for Port (or Madiera), and that was done three times. I paid that amount for a 1927 Cockburn and a 1927 Taylor, both at auction and both fabulous bottles. The madeira was a 1834 Barbeito Malmsey from RWC.

As far as what's my limit, I would have to say about $500. After that, I just can't do it for a single bottle. Although, if I located an elusive bottle of 1869 Croft that I've been searching for, then I might change my mind.

All the best,
John

About $1700 semi-recently on a bottle of Warre's from 1851....

I would spend the three or so thousand necessary to obtain a bottle of 1931 Quinta do Noval Nacional!

John Danza wrote:Just coincidentally, $400 is the most I've ever paid for Port (or Madiera), and that was done three times. I paid that amount for a 1927 Cockburn and a 1927 Taylor, both at auction and both fabulous bottles. The madeira was a 1834 Barbeito Malmsey from RWC.

As far as what's my limit, I would have to say about $500. After that, I just can't do it for a single bottle. Although, if I located an elusive bottle of 1869 Croft that I've been searching for, then I might change my mind.

All the best,
John

I would buy cases of '27 Taylor at $400 a bottle all day long!
That to me is an excellent price..nice score!

SEAN C. wrote:I would buy cases of '27 Taylor at $400 a bottle all day long!
That to me is an excellent price..nice score!

Thanks Sean. I got lucky on that one. It was a great bottle too. It would have easily lasted to its 100th birthday.

I'm really enamored with the 1927s. It's a tremendous vintage. My vote for vintage of the century.

Please report on how the 1851 tastes when you open it. That's another vintage that was excellent, at least as reported by Andre Simon and George Saintsbury. I would love to try an 1851, an 1847, and an 1868. That's why I'm on the lookout for the 1869 Croft. It's really 1868, according to an Andre Simon story.

John

I have spent $180USd (~$200Cdn) on a bottle of Taylor 1977 on a recent trip to the States. I just could not find it here and it is my wife's birth year. Well worth the investment. Unfortunately, I had planned for it to be a 30th birthday present. From what I understand, the '77 Taylor will likely not be fully ready for another 10 years at least, so perhaps it will become a 40th b-day present!

As far as what I would spend. Hard to say. I have a very limited budget and young kids/mortgage/debt so right now... that '77 Taylor likely was approaching my high end. I can see 300-400 Us for a single bottle, unfortunately I doubt I'll be getting my Noval '63 for anywhere near that:?

20-30 years from now when I have no mortgage and the debt will basically spoiling grandkids (hopefully) rotten... then the story will change dramatically. Perhaps a '94 Vesuvio will be going for $3000 then!

Todd

I've hit $380 twice for some Madeira I just had to have.

The most I'd pay for my holy grail. Shoot, this amount, about $675, would not get me anywhere near my holy grail level choices.

Now if our annual Alaska Pemanent Fund Dividend* check continues to rise with the high stock market and oil prices to the $2,000 level of 2001 than I might be able to bump my high dollar mark up to about $875, which again, gets me no where near my holy grails.

Coincidentally, the two $380 bottles were purchased with my dividend checks of two different years!

*Every Alaskan resident gets a check each year from our Permanent Fund savings account (seeded by oil taxes) which now totals about $38 billion as it is invested in the stock market, etc.

I've picked up one 1853 King Pedro from RWC for $435....the most I've ever spent on a single bottle of any wine or Port.

According to Cellar Tracker, the most I've spent on a bottle of port was $89 on a 1983 Graham. As for what I WOULD spend?? I'm in the same boat as Todd (mortgage, 3 kids, etc, etc.), so $100-150 will be the high watermark for a long time to come, and that will only be a rarity for sure. I will pay whatever is needed to acquire two bottles each of birth year ports for my kids. Based on their birth years, this will be under $100, more than likely.

Rich

The most I spent for a port is about $800 for the 1994 Noval Nacional last year. I remember roaming Villa Nova de Gaia in 1998 and seeing this port at the Noval shop for $400. I should have bought it back then...

c.100€ on a 1970 Graham's a few months back (unopened as of yet) is the most I've so far spent. I would be willing to spend about that for a fully mature, good vintage of my favourite houses (e.g. Dow). It may seem a small amount compared to some, but I am still a university student and only work 2-3 days a week so this amount of money is a huge investment for me - and therefore I think an indication of how much I love a good, mature(ish) Port!

-O-

I spent $400 on a bottle of 70 Nacional...I figured that when it's 50 I'll be 65, that'll be a nice birthday wine.

I think my max so far is probably about $150/750ml. For something very interesting ie 1800's port or madeira I'd probably go to the high 200's...alas that may not get me something too interesting-although it may at auction.

€ 235 for a bottle of Krohn 1900 Colheita...haven't opened it yet - hope it was worth it!

$350 for 1970 magnum of Fonseca - my wife and I's birthyear. In storage for 2020.

Raj Patil wrote:$350 for 1970 magnum of Fonseca - my wife and I's birthyear. In storage for 2020.

Fantastic value. Great purchase.

I overpaid at $360 for an 85 year old Madeira for my mother's 85th birthday because that's all there was. I suppose I would go that high for a very special bottle of port for a special occasion. The most I ever paid was only $140 or so for a 1977 Dow's in perfect condition. I would pay more for a Nacional, but I would not pay what they actually cost, so I suppose I'm destined to just read about them.