For The Love Of Port

Hi friends,

I'm back from my vacation in Portugal (more on that in another post)...
Not sure if this type of question has been asked before but I was curious where folks here have loaded up...
In my case it kind of refects when my budget started to permit this and also based on local availability as well.

I'll start:
1994 ->2
1997 ->6 (but 2 are the same)
2000 ->8 (but 2 are the same)
2003 ->8 (but 5 are the same)

The rest are 1 bottle from various years.

cheers
Paul

1994 is my most possessed VP... I started out with individual bottles, but then purchased a couple of 6-packs

1964: 1 x Fonseca, 1 x Graham's Malvedos currently in Derek's possession awaiting a trade
1970: 1 x Dow, 1 x Ferreira, 1 x Martinez, 1 x Noval Nacional
1977: 1 x Royal Oporto
1985: 2 x Fonseca, 2 x Taylor, 2 x Graham, 1 x Warre, 1 x Dow, 1 x Sandeman
1994: 6 x Broadbent, 6 x Vesuvio, 2 x Fonseca, 2 x Dow, 1 x Ramos Pinto, and 1 x Taylor Magnum
2001: 3 x Graham's + 3 x Graham's Magnums
2003: 6 x Noval (with another 6 on order), 1 x Smith Woodhouse
2005: 6 x Vesuvio

If you count Colheitas, though, my pile of 1964 leaps into the lead. I have a case of 1964 Noval Colheita and a 6-pack of 1964 Krohn White Colheita.

I need to expand my holdings from 1970, 1977, and 1985 since those are all mature (or very close). The 1994s and later are all going to be stored for decades (hopefully) so I don't really have that much that is ready to drink!

Edit: how could I forget the '70 Nacional?!? Okay it's not in my possession yet, but it ships on Monday along with one for Todd.

I love http://www.cellartracker.com make it so easy....The most is 2003 followed by 2000. Those were the last two major declared VPs since I've become a Port nerd and started collecting 'em. Sad thing is, its going to be many years before I even touch them.

Rough Estimate.

1985 - 4-5 cases
1970 - 1-2 cases
1980 - 1 case
1994 - 2-3 cases
1995 - 2-3 cases
1983 - 1 case
Other Vintages 3-4 cases

Been avoiding Cellar Tracker as the rose colored glasses are much better than the truth.

1991 or 1997 - without checking my inventory I know I have between 40-50 bottles of each but I'm not sure which is winning.

Moses Botbol wrote: Been avoiding Cellar Tracker as the rose colored glasses are much better than the truth.

Agreed.

Moses Botbol wrote: the rose colored glasses

Otherwise known as the Ponk Glasses.

I was just about to lament the fact that I have not had time to get an account hooked up with Cellar Tracker, enter in all my Ports, etc. But I see several of you have hit on something... avoiding it because the truth (and hard numbers) might actually be fairly painful.

I know for a fact that 2003 is my most-possessed number of VPs. I truly discovered Port in 2006 and have been collecting VPs that have significance for years until I can actually afford to buy VPs that are ready to drink.

In any case... a couple of guesstimates on numbers:

2003 - 40 (1st child's birth year)
2001 - 14 (Wedding Anniversary)
2005 - 12 (2nd child's birth year)
The rest is a smattering of bottles really. I think I have 5x of 1985, 3x of 1977, 1980, 1987 and 1997, 4x 2000, and likely a couple of 1980, 1983, 1991 and 2004. Singles of a couple of years.

Hmm, Cellar Tracker might be a good thing for me to be able to quickly answer these types of questions, however yes, I do have to admit I am afraid of the truth.

When the original question was asked, was it geared towards bottles that one has ever owned (which wine did you own the most of) or currently in the cellar? I just want to clarify as the answer depends on which one you are looking for.

Thanks!

My most populous vintage is 1991, but that is on account of a small mountain (currently 294 bottles) of the Morgan, which I routinely sell to other devotees. In all, I have twelve shippers from 1991, and a total of 415 bottles.

However, in second place comes 1970, with nineteen different wines, and a total of 215 bottles.

Tom

1. 2000
2. 1977
3. 1994

I thought it was 1994, but Excel says 1997

1963 1
1966 1
1970 2
1977 7
1983 3
1985 5
1991 1
1992 1
1994 13
1995 15
1997 20
1998 2
2000 18
2001 1
2003 10

Hi Roy,

I was asking about currently un-opened bottles.
thanks
paul

Derek T. wrote:1991 or 1997 - without checking my inventory I know I have between 40-50 bottles of each but I'm not sure which is winning.

I have now checked two of the three locations where my port is stored and have found that the three most numerous bottles are:

60 x 1991
42 x 1997
35 x 1985

There are about 125 bottles in the third location still to be checked but I don't think anything there will result in another vintage overtaking 1991. However, I do expect 1994 and 1996 to creep into that list.

I have also discovered as a result of this thread that I will very soon pass the 500 bottle milestone. When I joined the online port community about 5 years ago and first (virtually) met Fred Blais I had about 6 bottles :help: - in that time period I would esimate that I have opened around 300 bottles from my own cellar, including those contributed to off-lines.

I currently have 6 from 1997, 5 from 1995 and 1994 each, 4 from 2000, 3 from 1970 and a bunch of singles and doubles from varous years (according to Excel.)

While I was going through this excercise, out of curiosity I checked the total combined age of the bottles in inventory. I was surprised to find that, as a result of a recent trip to K&L Wines in San Francisco, I just surpassed 1,000 years of port.

Not a large collection compared to most on this site, but growing faster than I anticipated. I just exceeded the capacity of my wine refrigerator. Time to figure out what to do with all the bottles, again. I probably just need to drink more and buy less for a while

Gary

Gary Richardson wrote:growing faster than I anticipated. I just exceeded the capacity of my wine refrigerator.

:hello:

Gary, we all started there. It's coming to get you :help:

...and if you are measuring this in bottle years my port collection started 2,000 years before the Egyptians built the Sphynx :?

Derek T. wrote:

Gary Richardson wrote:growing faster than I anticipated. I just exceeded the capacity of my wine refrigerator.

:hello:

Gary, we all started there. It's coming to get you :help:

...and if you are measuring this in bottle years my port collection started 2,000 years before the Egyptians built the Sphynx :?

Gary, its amazing how fast the cellar grows once the bug hits. Mine has exploded, but the nice thing is unlike dry wines, VPs can and will out live us all....unless your like me and planning to drink them all before I head to the grave.

2000 represents the most, followed by 1970 and 1994 respectively. I have not looked in awhile, but my collection has decreased since about 2002 when I had just over 70 cases and I've been drinking it down faster than I am buying these days and believe it is all the way down to about 62 cases currently. I am hoping to have it below 55 cases by the end of the decade, between what is opened vs. purchased. Ultimately, I'd like to be in the 50 case range by 2012. I almost never sell the stuff, but did provide a handful of bottles to a local enthusiast this year for the first time. For a single vintage that I own the most producers of, it would be 1997 with about 2 dozen. However, I don't own more than six of any producer from that vintage (mostly two of each) except Niepoort and a case of Crasto.

Gary Richardson wrote:Not a large collection compared to most on this site, but growing faster than I anticipated. I just exceeded the capacity of my wine refrigerator. Time to figure out what to do with all the bottles, again. I probably just need to drink more and buy less for a while

Or do as I did and buy a 2nd fridge!

I now have a 55-bottle fridge in the living room, and a 260-bottle fridge in the study.

1. 2000
2. 1997
3. 2003
(Considering getting some more 2003.)