Port "deals" and "steals"

[Roy Hersh]

What is the best deal you have ever received on a bottle or case of Port?

It may have been a mistake by a retailer or possibly it was because it was 20+ years ago ... but I'm looking for a fine true story.

[Edward Nemergut]

It's not a super-great deal, but about a year ago I got three bottles 1983 Taylor (I know, not everyone's favorite 1983 nor everyone's favorite Taylor) for about $40 each.

Not an incredible deal, but not bad...

[Moses Botbol]

Case of '94 Delaforce in OWC for $200.00

[Walt R.]

6 bottles of the 2000 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha for $360 USD. I do not know what the merchant was thinking.

[Eric Menchen]

And what about your story Roy? I suspect you have many--will it be the 1935 Sandeman?

[Roy Hersh]

That was a good one.

My favorite story is one where greed led my ethics for the moment, a humbling admission ... although there are probably better "buys" to mention and if this thread gets a head of steam as I hope it will, I'll occasionally pipe in to intersperse others. But back to my moment of weakness:

While living in No. VA, I went to one of the great Total Beverage shops (later renamed Total Wine, after I moved away ... if I'm not mistaken). This one was in Chantilly, VA not far from my place of residence in Reston. I was a frequent Port shopper there, as well as them having a fantastic selection of all wines, frequently at VERY good prices. I bought lots from them and one day when picking up yet another case of 1977 Warre's (at $29 per btl.) I notice a stack of Mags priced incorrectly at $29 and figured I'd take a chance and bring it up to the register along with the case of 750s. Nothing to lose and I was willing to buy it if they caught the error at the register, but also willing to keep my mouth shut and take advantage. I feel really stupid now, but at the time ... justified this (circa 1993) by thinking they made a mistake and it was only one bottle. You do dumb things some times. Well at the register, the young woman never once clued in that the Mag was priced wrong and so I got a heck of a bargain on that Mag.

[Frederick Blais]

Bah... Here the only deal we can have is when there are tags errors. Even with those the prices are not such a deal. I did one paid 2 bottles of Taylor 2000 priced for the Vargellas 98, so around 65$ a bottle. Seeing the millions they make each year and the real market price of those bottles I have no ethical constraints regarding the SAQ

My best deal ever at the SAQ was a Batard Montrachet from Girardin with the price tag of the meursault village

[Eric Menchen]

While living in No. VA, I went to one of the great Total Beverage shops (later renamed Total Wine, after I moved away ... if I'm not mistaken). This one was in Chantilly, VA not far from my place of residence in Reston. ...

I never called it Chantilly, but I lived less than a mile from there 1996-2000. I don't recall getting any great deals, but they did have a nice selection.

[Andy Velebil]

My deal was a bottle I saw at auction that was listed as a 1952 Niepoort Vintage Port. A pretty poor year for VP, but I knew that they didn't make a VP in '52, only a Garafeirra, so there was no way it was a VP. I was able to see a photo of the bottle and it confirmed that it was a Garafeirra. I never said a thing to the auction house about the error and outbid the only other person who bid for it....paid a whole $116 for it.

[Andy Velebil]

My other deal was for a case of Quinta do Crasto's 2004 Vinha da Ponte. I found out a local store I do business with a lot had just gotten these in. I had ran down there and bought all they had. At the register they ring up as $76/bottle. I told the cashier that has to be wrong, trying to do the right thing, as I know they retail at almost twice that. Off to the back the cashier went to double check...comes back and says, "Nope I checked the invoice and that is right." OK then, can't say I tried...so I quickly shelled out the plastic, grabbed the wine, and headed out with a big grin.

[Carlos Rodriguez]

Few years ago in a mag. I used to go looking up for deals. They did have deals ones a month or every two months, selling the wines out of stock. I found a Krohn colheita 1970 at less than 10€.

[Glenn E.]

I don't really have any super great buys... probably the best one is the magnum of 1994 Taylor Fladgate VP that I got for $200 (back when the bottles were selling for $180). A good deal to be sure, but nothing like Roy's $29 magnum!

[Roy Hersh]

Eric,

I left in Sept. '96 but we could have been in the shop at the same time. Earlier in the decade, before the Haft's (owner of the chain) got divorced in ugly style, their prices were much better and certainly excellent for VP, for an East coast venue. Later on the selection narrowed and the prices rose, but I had a feeling the husband was hurting pretty bad and it would not surprise me if they sold the company at some point later on. It had the greatest selection of Australian wines I had ever seen, at that fairly early juncture for Oz wines and very solid selection and prices for Burgundy back in the day.

My next post ... another Port deal, not a "steal." :wall:

[Mahmoud Ali]

I was in a local wine store a couple of months ago. It was a simple outlet with standard offerings and no wine over $25, not even the locally ubiquitous de la Gardine Chateauneuf du Pape. I was about to leave the store when I realized I hadn't checked the port shelf. There, amid all the cheap stuff was a bottle of 2000 Fonseca VP, and the price tag read $50.

I can't explain the price. This port usually retails for about $120-130 in Edmonton. The clerk said they sell a lot during the holiday season. Well, it certainly made my holiday festive.

Cheers...................Mahmoud

[Gary Richardson]

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up 2 bottles of Quinta do Noval 1937 Colheita for $199 each at my neighborhood store.

[Gary Banker]

A few years ago I got a case in OWC of 1985 Cockburn for $26/bottle. I think people were scared off by stories about bad bottles. Every one was very good. I was going to leave a few to see how they would age, but I enjoyed them to much to stop.

[Glenn E.]

I don't really have any super great buys... probably the best one is the magnum of 1994 Taylor Fladgate VP that I got for $200 (back when the bottles were selling for $180). A good deal to be sure, but nothing like Roy's $29 magnum!

I remembered one other really great deal...

I have a case of 2003 Quinta do Noval that I purchased as two separate six packs for (as I recall) $37 per bottle. Which is an awesome price, but is only background for the rest of the story.

As detailed in another thread, I recently attempted to purchase 2 bottles of 2003 Quinta do Portal VP. The store accidentally shipped me 2 bottles of 2003 Quinta do Noval instead, which I reported to them. They immediately sent me a new shipment of the Portal, and asked if I'd like to purchase the Novals at a steep discount. I related the above case and said that if they were in that neighborhood I'd be happy to buy them. They said they could sell them to me for $30, so I happily accepted. Yay! (The Noval is listed on their web site for $90.)

But wait, there's more...

The new shipment arrived, and contained... 2 more bottles of the Noval. I took a picture of the bottles including the packing label and emailed it to them. They apologized again, said that they would make sure the Portals got shipped correctly this time, and said I could keep the 2nd pair of Novals as an apology. Double yay!

The Portals have yet to arrive, so it's still an ongoing saga, but I've managed to acquire 4 bottles of the Noval for a total of $60 so far.

[Eric Menchen]

What is this store Glenn? I think I need to order some, umm, Portal

[Derek T.]

Last year Berry Brothers made an error on the online price list and offered cases of 12 x Smith Woudhouse 1997 at £97 each

By the time someone else here and I had relieved them of 4 cases someone spotted the error and put a "2" in front of the "97". BBR honoured the sales without question.

[Andy Velebil]

What is this store Glenn? I think I need to order some, umm, Portal

yeah, me too!