Thoughts on purchasing Port by the case?

[Eric Menchen]

You certainly have me in calendar years, but I think I may have you in internet years. I was using the internet (not just BBSes) before you made your first "on release" purchase of the 1983 vintage. There was no "www" back then and sending an email was a VERY different experience.

+1 Go bitnet! and ARPANET ...

[Roy Hersh]

Roy's longer post reads like a monolog from a Martin Scorsese movie.

So are you saying my writing shows my NY roots?

[Andy Velebil]

You certainly have me in calendar years, but I think I may have you in internet years. I was using the internet (not just BBSes) before you made your first "on release" purchase of the 1983 vintage. There was no "www" back then and sending an email was a VERY different experience.

+1 Go bitnet! and ARPANET ...

Thread drift, warning! I remember the VAX (sp?) back in college. You could "chat" with other colleges but the only access was in the computer lab, which you had to reserve a time slot to use it. A lot of "lag time" back then, but man was that high tech stuff at the time.

[Roy Hersh]

When I was in college we used typewriters and the only place on campus that was computerized was the library. Heck they still were using microfiche too.

But let's get back to Port by the case.

[Andy Velebil]

When I was in college we used typewriters and the only place on campus that was computerized was the library. Heck they still were using microfiche too.

But let's get back to Port by the case.

I remember microfiche at the library too, hated it. I only wish I would have bought Port by the case in college, is that better?

[Roy Hersh]

We can only imagine what you were drinking back in those days besides beer? I can envision Jaggermeister and Creme de Menthe.

[Andy Velebil]

We can only imagine what you were drinking back in those days besides beer? I can envision Jaggermeister and Creme de Menthe.

Fuzzy pink panties..yes that was an actual drink made up in the wilds of the dorm rooms

[Roy Hersh]

This defines TMI.

[Andy Velebil]

This defines TMI.

[Glenn E.]

I remember the VAX (sp?) back in college. You could "chat" with other colleges but the only access was in the computer lab, which you had to reserve a time slot to use it. A lot of "lag time" back then, but man was that high tech stuff at the time.

I was a system administrator for a VAX 11/780 and a PDP 11/70, both running BSD 4.1 and eventually 4.2. I just missed out on the PDP 8 that my wife got to play with the year before I started... they retired it when the purchased the PDP 11.

We used Heathkit H19s and H29s as dumb terminals.

[Marc J.]

Back in college the school computer was a DEC mainframe! I spent quite a bit of time punching cards in order to run a simple program. Remember COBOL? Fortran IV? PASCAL? SNOBOL? The world of 1s and 0s...

[Glenn E.]

My first job was programming in COBOL on a piece of software originally written in the 60s.

I've also coded on punch cards in Pascal, but I don't remember what kind of ancient system it was.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[Carl D]

Who'd have thought that a thread on buying port by the case would degenerate into a grey-beard contest of who worked on the oldest, crustiest hardware!

One of the first machines I worked on was an IBM 1130. The (in)famous 029 keypunch, an enormous drum-printer, and a disk drive that stored 1 Megabyte on a single ~24" platter were among the highlights. Fortran '63 was the language of the day - fun stuff! The kids today have no idea what they're missing.

[Andy Velebil]

Who'd have thought that a thread on buying port by the case would degenerate into a grey-beard contest of who worked on the oldest, crustiest hardware!

One of the first machines I worked on was an IBM 1130. The (in)famous 029 keypunch, an enormous drum-printer, and a disk drive that stored 1 Megabyte on a single ~24" platter were among the highlights. Fortran '63 was the language of the day - fun stuff! The kids today have no idea what they're missing.

That's because everyone was obviously drinking a bit too much Port when posting

[Don M]

I checked out Vinopolis today, and brought home a couple bottles (Deleforce 2000, and Quinta do Portal 1999). Nice selection, and as mentioned, nothing but cases covering the floor. Cool shop.

Oh, uh....COBOL VAX Betamax.

[Al B.]

I tend to buy individual bottles only when I expect to drink them in the near future. It tends to be quite an expensive way to acquire port, but it can be very convenient as you walk past a store and see something inside with a bit of bottle age.

I do buy cases, sometimes because I want to have plenty of something I don't plan to age much more (Skeffington 2009 in halves was my most recent case purchase) or use as a cellar defender. At other times I will buy a case because I do want to age it or because it already has some age on it and I want to have enough to keep me going for a few years (I bought some Graham 1985 in case lots quite recently). At the age of 49, I hope to be drinking port for another 30 years or so and since I enjoy drinking port either in the first 3-5 years after the vintage or from about the age of 20, I reckon that I'll be buying the occasional case of port for a good many more years.

I just find that a case of a really good cellar defender makes it easy to avoid casually opening something that deserves to be enjoyed with friends.

[Bradley Bogdan]

I personally don't have enough space for full case purchases at this point, nor really the cash, but if I could buy by the case, I would on some occasions.

-If you have a good relationship with a good retailer (not hard for many of us to do, considering how much wine many of us buy and how much most of us like to nerd out about it with people) you can usually negotiate a bit of an extra discount (even over the usual 10% or what not on a case) on a full case of something as pricey as Port, especially at smaller shops. Speaking from experience, we love the business, and love the fact that we can move that much juice without keeping it in stock, and the distributors can almost always deliver it within a day or two. Another advantage to the full case buy on special order is that you will always get the box if you ask, vs some retailers who don't always keep them around for space reasons or don't have a full 12 in stock.

-Another reason to know your retailer is that we can usually do some hunting/schmoozing with distributors to see what back vintage stuff they have in the warehouse. Sometimes they don't have a premium on it despite the extra 10-20 years of age like a retailer would, or the willingness to buy 6+ can give good leverage on a great price with solid provenance.

-If your goal is possibly resale, I love the 14 bottle idea, as that keeps your case solid even after drinking a couple in the instance you want to sell, otherwise, I don't see much point, unless you want more than a case.

-What are people's thoughts on singles v. cases at auction? From my limited experience, the cases have seemed in better shape (ullage, labels, etc) than the singles I've seen, and I can't tell if singles go any cheaper than cases. I get the impression they don't.

[Rob C.]

-If your goal is possibly resale, I love the 14 bottle idea, as that keeps your case solid even after drinking a couple in the instance you want to sell, otherwise, I don't see much point, unless you want more than a case.

This is where off-site storage comes in.

You keep two at home so that you can test the wine a couple of times.

Meanwhile your full unsplit case of 12 or 6-pack sits in long-term storage out of reach and in perfect condition (and not taking up space in your house!), ready for when you decide that the port is ready. I don't know whether it is the same in the States, but in the UK most long term storage sites only accept unsplit cases or 6-packs.

[John M.]

For those of us over 50, curious if anyone buys cases of 375mm bottles since they tend to age faster. It has occurred to me that more splits would be a good thing for that very reason.

[Bradley Bogdan]

-If your goal is possibly resale, I love the 14 bottle idea, as that keeps your case solid even after drinking a couple in the instance you want to sell, otherwise, I don't see much point, unless you want more than a case.

This is where off-site storage comes in.

You keep two at home so that you can test the wine a couple of times.

Meanwhile your full unsplit case of 12 or 6-pack sits in long-term storage out of reach and in perfect condition (and not taking up space in your house!), ready for when you decide that the port is ready. I don't know whether it is the same in the States, but in the UK most long term storage sites only accept unsplit cases or 6-packs.

Wow, really? In my limited experience on the MB here and elsewhere, as well as my own personal experience with the one off-site storage place in Boise, I haven't run into one that will only accept solid half or full cases. In my experience, you just haul what you have to your locker in whatever boxes it happens to be in, though preferably wood, and pop it in. I guess if your storage facility handled your wine for you though, there would be a potentially sticky situation there if you put in a 5 bottle box of something and only 4 came back, or worse, if you forgot about that bottle you removed a while ago and created such a situation yourself.