Buying vintage port in Australia.

[Andrew E Murphy.]

Hi I'm new to the site and a novice on port but have really become fascinated, and vintage ports are now my favourite drinkable and collectible item!
I was wondering if anyone has some information on buying VP in Australia or how I can get my hands on some,as I am having trouble finding them,especially Taylors.

Many thanks!

[Bradley Bogdan]

Hey Andrew, welcome!

Noodling around on the Google a bit, I noticed that a few Au online retailers have an ok mix of ports to choose from, but vintagecellars.com.au seems to have the best set of Taylor's stuff I could find.

[Bradley Bogdan]

They're out of a lot of them, but if they've had them once, I'm sure they'd be able to procure them again for you in whatever vintage is available. Also, I forgot about the Aussie dollar and nearly fainted seeing Fonseca Bin 27 for nearly $50! Haha

[Paul Fountain]

I think I can offer some advice here as I have some experience in the topic....

It depends on what you are looking for -
On the whole we pay a lot more than the UK and US pay for port. Part of it is WET, part of it is economies of scale, and part of it is lack of competition
There aren't many places you can buy a particular brand. Quinta do Noval seems to be the easiest to find, from what I have seen

If you are in Melbourne, Sydney or Canberra, I'd check out Costco
- at this very moment I am drinking a Taylors 2007 LBV purchased last weekend at the dockands store for just under $17 AU - in my opinion this is the best bargin fortified that you will find in the country. (slightly ahead of the Morris Muscat and Tokay) Not sure what they pay for this in the US but not far off
- they also had Quinta de Vargellas 2001 at just under $40 AU which is a fantastic price in Australia, but I think it has shut down and needs to be left alone for a minumum of 10 years.
I might add that these two items are the sole reason I have a Costco membership.
I've never seen Taylors VP on the shelf anywhere but Brad is right that Vintage cellars used to stock them. I know that the 07 Taylors VP were offered en-primer, but my interest in Port didn't start until after that so I missed the offer

As Brad has pointed out $50 AU is not a reasonable price for Fonseca Bin 27. I've seen Grahams 6 grapes for similar too. While I like both, I can't justify paying that much for either.
Dan Murphy's seems to be stocking some of the Cockburn's ports - special reserve, 10year old tawny, LBV and sometimes Quinta dos Canais ( 08 I think at the moment).
Some, but not all stores have Croft and Fonseca.

I buy a lot of my port through Langtons Auctions, I've also just signed up to MW Auctions. Most of it I haven't tried yet so I am certainly taking a risk. The ports that I have tied have been good though. You can sometimes take an educated guess on how the ports have been stored by working out who might be offering them.

winestar.com.au stock some ports and are worth a look. I think they had some older Warres vintages last time I looked and the prices were not bad by Australian standards. Otherwise, you have to work out who imports what and trace it through. The Spanish inquisition handle Niepoort and Quinta do Vale Meao, I think Tyrells were importing Dow, bibendum do Noval, though timetimes, prices seem extreme

I hope that helos a little. I find it hard to find specific things in AU, but interesting things do come up from time to time

cheers
Paul

[Eric Menchen]

- at this very moment I am drinking a Taylors 2007 LBV purchased last weekend at the dockands store for just under $17 AU - in my opinion this is the best bargin fortified that you will find in the country. (slightly ahead of the Morris Muscat and Tokay) Not sure what they pay for this in the US but not far off
- they also had Quinta de Vargellas 2001 at just under $40 AU which is a fantastic price in Australia ...

It looks like the USD<->AUD is about 1:1 right now, so I'd say those are excellent prices.

[Bradley Bogdan]

Ouch, that means that bottle of Bin 27 was more expensive than a decent number of VPs I've bought.

[Andrew E Murphy.]

Thanks Bradley and thanks Paul I appreciate your information and will be making a trip to Costco ASAP and chasing down the sites and auctions you have mentioned!

Cheers

Andrew.

[Andrew E Murphy.]

@Paul I have found a few a bottles of the Taylors left over in some vintage cellars stores but think it was just luck,I bought 3 2000 vp and a few 2007's and found a Warres 2000 and one 94 vp as well.
Have you had any experience with the seppeltsfields para vp? I recently picked up a 39 and 44 at a reasonable price.

[Paul Fountain]

@Paul I have found a few a bottles of the Taylors left over in some vintage cellars stores but think it was just luck,I bought 3 2000 vp and a few 2007's and found a Warres 2000 and one 94 vp as well.
Have you had any experience with the seppeltsfields para vp? I recently picked up a 39 and 44 at a reasonable price.

I've not had any of the really old paras. Are you sure the ones you have are VPs? Most of the older bottles are single harvest Tawnies rather than VPs. I do have a 47 sitting at home and also a 78. I have been meaning to pick up some of the other older vintages . I've had a 78 previously which was fantastic. Judging by auction prices, I think the 39 might be the pick.

Good work on finding the Taylors - I've never seen any in the Vintage cellars I've looked at, but I don't have a Vintage Cellars very close to me so I seldom get to check. The few Taylors VPs I own have been bought at auction, along with various vintages of the Vargellas, with the exception of 2001s I got at costco.
I don't think you can go wrong with just about anything from 2000 and 1994 - both were fantastic vintages

[Roy Hersh]

I just sent Paul a note, to come say hello in your introductory post, Andrew. But I see you've already had the pleasure.

Excellent!

I have a feeling before you know it, you will be sharing bottles together.

[Andrew E Murphy.]

I've not had any of the really old paras. Are you sure the ones you have are VPs? Most of the older bottles are single harvest Tawnies rather than VPs. I do have a 47 sitting at home and also a 78. I have been meaning to pick up some of the other older vintages . I've had a 78 previously which was fantastic. Judging by auction prices, I think the 39 might be the pick.

Good work on finding the Taylors - I've never seen any in the Vintage cellars I've looked at, but I don't have a Vintage Cellars very close to me so I seldom get to check. The few Taylors VPs I own have been bought at auction, along with various vintages of the Vargellas, with the exception of 2001s I got at costco.
I don't think you can go wrong with just about anything from 2000 and 1994 - both were fantastic vintages

I'm not sure if the Paras are VP's Paul will have to check,had some luck today searching and found a shipment coming in of Dow's,Quarles Harris,Cockburns and a few others with some vintages from 70 up to 09, might be worth looking at :)

[Andrew E Murphy.]

@paul the shipment I mentioned is suppose to be coming straight from the estates and has been there since bottling and being shipped in refrigerated crates,so it should be in excellent condition.

[Paul Fountain]

@paul the shipment I mentioned is suppose to be coming straight from the estates and has been there since bottling and being shipped in refrigerated crates,so it should be in excellent condition.

I think I know the one you mean - It looked like there was some really good stuff on offer, I only spotted it on the weekend and I didn't have much time to investigate further. I was't sure if it was a current offer or not. If you do find out more about that one, let me know

cheers Paul

[Andrew E Murphy.]

Yeah it's the latest offer and awaiting shipping,the site was grand millesime got quite a bit of variety and some good pre delivery prices as well.
I ordered a few bottles of 77 Quarles Harris vp and a few Gould Campbell's 83 vp's which for Australian prices I thought was good.

Cheers Andrew.