How many bottles of VP do you consume pr year?

[Thomas V]

I have been mulling over a bit how my drinking habits of VP are currently and how they will continue for the years to come. (Private setting) As I need to adjust for the yearly rate of consumption as I build my cellar as well as the vintages that will be within my drinking window (maturity wise). Looking back at my tasting notes I hover around 10-15 bottles per year at the moment, but also my cellar has only existed for 5 years and does not have the depth / age that I would prefer. So I try to keep my hands of the 85' Fonseca and the loads of 97's I have stocked up on.

So these thoughts sparked the question as to how your drinking tendencies looks like as come to VPs in your own home or with family and friends (not including tastings / clubs etc)? Also do you only crack open bottles of a certain age like from 21 years or older or do you try out younger vintages with meals or to see where they are at?

[Mike J. W.]

I don't track what I drink or the breakdown of it. I think I drink roughly 45 to 50 bottles of Port / year. That covers VP, LBV, Colheitas and TWAIOA. I prefer VP over the others, so I probably drink about 25 to 30 bottles of VP.

I really need to start keeping records.

[Glenn E.]

Based on last year I said 11-15. Probably 1 VP/month for me, not counting larger tastings.

But that's a pretty significant increase over previous years. COVID pretty dramatically increased my private Port consumption, and also shifted it fairly significantly toward VP. I didn't used to drink much VP at home - there's a reason Roy gave me the nickname "Mr. Tawny." In the past I probably averaged 9-10 bottles of Tawny/Colheita per year and maybe 2-3 bottles of VP. Roughly 1 bottle per month total for private consumption. This year has averaged more like 2 bottles per month and they've been pretty evenly divided between Tawny/Colheita and VP.

[Andy Velebil]

I consume nothing, but I "taste" a lot

Hmm, I'll have to check and report back to be more accurate. But, not counting tastings this year due Covid, I'd guess I've opened way more Port (and wine) at home than normal since I've not been able to get out much.

[Moses Botbol]

I don't go to any group tastings or events, so all bottles I drink are just me, wife, and maybe a friend.

This week it was '87 Malvedos and opened '70 Dow last night. Probably 3-4 bottles or port a month? We've cut down over the last year or two.

[Eric Menchen]

Cellartracker says I removed 28 bottles of Port from my inventory last year, and since I shipped out my bottles for the one tasting I attended in 2020 (January, organized by Andy in LA, wonderful!) in October of 2019, those weren't included in that total. It looks like 17 of the bottles were VP, with four being half bottles. So 17 or 15 depending on how you count.

[Thomas V]

I don't track what I drink or the breakdown of it. I think I drink roughly 45 to 50 bottles of Port / year. That covers VP, LBV, Colheitas and TWAIOA. I prefer VP over the others, so I probably drink about 25 to 30 bottles of VP.

I really need to start keeping records.

I can see I need to pick up the pace to keep up with you.

[Thomas V]

Based on last year I said 11-15. Probably 1 VP/month for me, not counting larger tastings.

But that's a pretty significant increase over previous years. COVID pretty dramatically increased my private Port consumption, and also shifted it fairly significantly toward VP. I didn't used to drink much VP at home - there's a reason Roy gave me the nickname "Mr. Tawny." In the past I probably averaged 9-10 bottles of Tawny/Colheita per year and maybe 2-3 bottles of VP. Roughly 1 bottle per month total for private consumption. This year has averaged more like 2 bottles per month and they've been pretty evenly divided between Tawny/Colheita and VP.

Why did COVID shift you towards drinking more VP in your own home as opposed to tawny?

My situation with VPs are that I am the only one drinking them in my household and I can struggle to drink a whole over 1-2 days. My coravin helps a bit, but I don't wish to use it on bottles that needs cellaring for 10+ years. That is where LBV and Tawnies come in very handy (I enjoy them a lot too). My son of 3 really needs to come of age so he can join me for a zip. A funny titbit is when we are in the cellar he points to any random bottle - red - white - champagne and proclaims - "That is also daddy's port?" He is a keeper

[Al B.]

I went through some very similar thinking 10-15 years ago. I looked back at the bottles I had taken out of my collection in each of the previous 5-10 years for drinking at home or for sharing with others and concluded that I pull about 78 corks a year from my cellar (that’s 1.5 per week).

Next I looked at what age those bottles were, breaking the age into decades: 2-10, 11-20, 21-30,…, 101+. From that I created a distribution where I realised that on average it was 3 per year from the first decade, 4 from the second and so on.

Once I had the distribution of what I liked to open, I compared that to the bottles I owned — taking into account how the bottles I owned would age. This identified where I had gaps, a shortage of bottles I owned at the time which I would need for opening in the future. This allowed me to buy to fill the gaps.

I successfully filled the gaps and had a great cellar to match my wants and was a very happy man — and then COVID happened. Last year I pulled 150 corks from my cellar! Eeek!! I had more calculations to do - what if I continued to open that many bottles in future years? When would I run out…

[Glenn E.]

Why did COVID shift you towards drinking more VP in your own home as opposed to tawny?

Oops, I missed this question when you asked it!

During the pandemic, I had a very small group that met semi-regularly to drink Port. We called it our "Port Pod" and it consisted only of other people who were very strict about their exposure risk to the virus. To be honest, I was the "least at risk" of anyone in the small group, so I felt very fortunate that they felt I was safe enough to include. We typically met once or twice a month, and our standing "theme" was simply to bring something tasty that would be fun to share, and which as a rule of thumb was about 30-40 years old.

It didn't take long for me to run out of 30-40 year old Tawny Ports, and I didn't think that constantly bringing Mourao 30 or 40 year olds would be considered "interesting" enough for our little group, so I started bringing VPs from the 1980s. I actually own considerably more VP than Tawny/Colheita because it's normal to age VP in your cellar, so I had no trouble opening fun bottles from 1980, 1983, 1985, and even into 1991/1992.

When our little group was meeting once or twice a month, the leftovers were all I needed to have at home for a glass after dinner now and then. But now that the world is moving back to some semblance of normality and our little group isn't meeting as often, I've also moved back opening a Mourao 30 or 40 whenever the last one runs out so that I have something to drink of the evening.

So the reason that COVID shifted my home drinking habits was that I had VP leftovers from our Port Pod available to drink during the week, so didn't need to open tawnies or colheitas for my own consumption.

[John M.]

Not counting 10 Year Old Whites about one per month (during Covid was 3 per month at least).

The 10 Year Whites have just become a bit of a staple and I would guess I taste two per month.

[Tom Archer]

For the past ten years I have stuck to a strict ration of 48 bottles of VP for home consumption each year - no more, no less.

Obviously, I make up the numbers with a good quantity of LBVs, reserves etc..

[Thomas V]

I went through some very similar thinking 10-15 years ago. I looked back at the bottles I had taken out of my collection in each of the previous 5-10 years for drinking at home or for sharing with others and concluded that I pull about 78 corks a year from my cellar (that’s 1.5 per week).

Next I looked at what age those bottles were, breaking the age into decades: 2-10, 11-20, 21-30,…, 101+. From that I created a distribution where I realised that on average it was 3 per year from the first decade, 4 from the second and so on.

Once I had the distribution of what I liked to open, I compared that to the bottles I owned — taking into account how the bottles I owned would age. This identified where I had gaps, a shortage of bottles I owned at the time which I would need for opening in the future. This allowed me to buy to fill the gaps.

I successfully filled the gaps and had a great cellar to match my wants and was a very happy man — and then COVID happened. Last year I pulled 150 corks from my cellar! Eeek!! I had more calculations to do - what if I continued to open that many bottles in future years? When would I run out…

I think you and I both like the mathematical approach where we keep spreadsheets or notes about our inventory, consumption, stats etc. to identify our drinking habits and as you say ensure that there a no major gaps. It is a big part of this collection hobby and also enjoyable to watch the continuously moving cellar and adding new bottles. Almost as fun as tasting the wines.

I don't think you need to worry too much about the 150 corks last year. Things will fall back into the normal rhythm or you can do as I and buy some younger VPs as cellar defenders. My focus right now where I find a good value is 1985, 1997, 2000 and 2003. Not much focus on this vintages at the moment and great deals can still be had.

[Thomas V]

Why did COVID shift you towards drinking more VP in your own home as opposed to tawny?

Oops, I missed this question when you asked it!

During the pandemic, I had a very small group that met semi-regularly to drink Port. We called it our "Port Pod" and it consisted only of other people who were very strict about their exposure risk to the virus. To be honest, I was the "least at risk" of anyone in the small group, so I felt very fortunate that they felt I was safe enough to include. We typically met once or twice a month, and our standing "theme" was simply to bring something tasty that would be fun to share, and which as a rule of thumb was about 30-40 years old.

It didn't take long for me to run out of 30-40 year old Tawny Ports, and I didn't think that constantly bringing Mourao 30 or 40 year olds would be considered "interesting" enough for our little group, so I started bringing VPs from the 1980s. I actually own considerably more VP than Tawny/Colheita because it's normal to age VP in your cellar, so I had no trouble opening fun bottles from 1980, 1983, 1985, and even into 1991/1992.

When our little group was meeting once or twice a month, the leftovers were all I needed to have at home for a glass after dinner now and then. But now that the world is moving back to some semblance of normality and our little group isn't meeting as often, I've also moved back opening a Mourao 30 or 40 whenever the last one runs out so that I have something to drink of the evening.

So the reason that COVID shifted my home drinking habits was that I had VP leftovers from our Port Pod available to drink during the week, so didn't need to open tawnies or colheitas for my own consumption.

Makes sense with the left over VPs. What a treat

You don't keep larger quantities of 30 & 40 year old tawnies? You like the fresh bottlings I presume? (As do I) Same trouble I run into. I buy and consume tawnies and often times do not have too big a selection of those at the ready. Like right now I only have a Dalva 1995 and a few Andresen 10 White at hand.

[Glenn E.]

You don't keep larger quantities of 30 & 40 year old tawnies? You like the fresh bottlings I presume? (As do I) Same trouble I run into. I buy and consume tawnies and often times do not have too big a selection of those at the ready. Like right now I only have a Dalva 1995 and a few Andresen 10 White at hand.

I have a case each of S. Leonardo 30 and 40 which serve as my "house Port" when I need to open something, and a case of S. Leonardo 10 White to carry me through the summer. Whites are really good to pair with food, too, which I found out by accident while at a fancy restaurant in Porto. Whether or not I prefer a recent bottling depends on the producer... for Kopke, for example, I actually prefer 5-8 years of bottle age because when they're fresh I find them to be too acidic.

The majority of the tawnies in my cellar are either from my birth year or from my anniversary year. The point of those is not to have them at their peak, but simply to have them at all. I open 1 every year to celebrate and if they're a little too long in bottle I don't really care.

[Al B.]

I went through some very similar thinking 10-15 years ago. I looked back at the bottles I had taken out of my collection in each of the previous 5-10 years for drinking at home or for sharing with others and concluded that I pull about 78 corks a year from my cellar (that’s 1.5 per week).

Next I looked at what age those bottles were, breaking the age into decades: 2-10, 11-20, 21-30,…, 101+. From that I created a distribution where I realised that on average it was 3 per year from the first decade, 4 from the second and so on.

Once I had the distribution of what I liked to open, I compared that to the bottles I owned — taking into account how the bottles I owned would age. This identified where I had gaps, a shortage of bottles I owned at the time which I would need for opening in the future. This allowed me to buy to fill the gaps.

I successfully filled the gaps and had a great cellar to match my wants and was a very happy man — and then COVID happened. Last year I pulled 150 corks from my cellar! Eeek!! I had more calculations to do - what if I continued to open that many bottles in future years? When would I run out…

I think you and I both like the mathematical approach where we keep spreadsheets or notes about our inventory, consumption, stats etc. to identify our drinking habits and as you say ensure that there a no major gaps. It is a big part of this collection hobby and also enjoyable to watch the continuously moving cellar and adding new bottles. Almost as fun as tasting the wines.

I don't think you need to worry too much about the 150 corks last year. Things will fall back into the normal rhythm or you can do as I and buy some younger VPs as cellar defenders. My focus right now where I find a good value is 1985, 1997, 2000 and 2003. Not much focus on this vintages at the moment and great deals can still be had.

That’s true! I do get lots of pleasure in modelling my cellar, watching how my tastes change, planning what to open next year, working out which vintages I won’t work through so have a few bottles to spare.

I’m trying not to buy much these days now I don’t have an income but sometimes there’s a bottle that’s just too special to pass by…