For The Love Of Port

Hello,

My wife and I will have a long weekend in London (and a short business trip to Southampton) in a few weeks. I'm looking for any suggestions for good shops to visit and look for some interesting buys. We prefer Colheitas over Vintages if that narrows anything down.

Thanks,
Mac

I have never been there, but I have heard that the Berry Brothers & Rudd location in London (3 St. James Street) is worth a trip even if you don't intend to buy there. The selection is supposed to be incredible, though the prices are a little high (at least for the UK). If I were going to be in London, it would definitely be on my list of stops.

When I visited BB&R I wasn't that impressed with their Port selection, let alone their uber-high prices. But the shop itself is very cool and worth visiting just for the historical aspect of it. The staff was very friendly and attentive.

Hopefully some of our UK members can chime in and give some rec's.

What about (sorry if spelled wrong) Piers Methuen?

If you're looking to buy colheitas, there are not many places that I can recommend - the UK is not a great market for this style of port. You can find a limited selection in the Nicolas chain of wine shops or perhaps in the Laithwaites chain, but rarely in other places.

Having said that, if you are in London then Berry Brothers is certainly a place to visit. Prices are high there, but the selection is good. Don't be fooled by Andy's comment. The selection on display is limited, but you can buy anything on their website from the London store if you order a couple of days in advance. I've even had them decant bottles for me 24 hours before I pick them up and take them to an offline.

If you're interested in large quantities of cheaper end port, then take a look in the supermarkets (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury) as they sometimes have real steals of deals. It was from Asda that we bought several cases of Warre 1995 LBV for about $8 a bottle a couple of years back.

But if you're after small quantities of high value vintage port then just take a look at the wine merchants in the UK who show up on wine-searcher when you search for a particular bottle.

And if you let us know when you will be in London, we may even be able to organise an offline to coincide with your visit (although we weren't able to when Kris came over - sorry Kris).

Al B. wrote:
Having said that, if you are in London then Berry Brothers is certainly a place to visit. Prices are high there, but the selection is good. Don't be fooled by Andy's comment. The selection on display is limited, but you can buy anything on their website from the London store if you order a couple of days in advance. I've even had them decant bottles for me 24 hours before I pick them up and take them to an offline.

Alex,
That's good to know. I wasn't very impressed by their limited in-store stock. But glad to hear they have a bigger selection from online...and I like the fact they even decanted it for you, now that's service.

Andy Velebil wrote:

Al B. wrote:
Having said that, if you are in London then Berry Brothers is certainly a place to visit. Prices are high there, but the selection is good. Don't be fooled by Andy's comment. The selection on display is limited, but you can buy anything on their website from the London store if you order a couple of days in advance. I've even had them decant bottles for me 24 hours before I pick them up and take them to an offline.

Alex,
That's good to know. I wasn't very impressed by their limited in-store stock. But glad to hear they have a bigger selection from online...and I like the fact they even decanted it for you, now that's service.

Only a small part of what BBR has is on display in the store. The times I've been there, I've spent most of my time with a salesperson at the computer to look at the stock. If you find something you like, they will collect it for you from their enormous cellar. Do visit BBR, it is a must for every wine lover.