For The Love Of Port

... over $100 for a bottle of Port?

Where do you draw the line in the sand and say ... that is the most I'd pay for any Port wine?

Roy Hersh wrote:... over $100 for a bottle of Port?

Where do you draw the line in the sand and say ... that is the most I'd pay for any Port wine?

I think I would pay over $100 (depending on the exchange rate, about € 70-75 ). I've paid € 105 for a bottle of over 40-yo Tawny from Vasconcellas at their lodge in VNdG last May. But only on very limited occasions and it'll have to be some pretty impressive port!
As a rule I would say that I'll stop at €50 a bottle. Only exeptions I can think of, besides winning the lottery from where on money wouldn't be an issue anymore, are VP's from legendary years when I could get my hands on them at a fair price (what's fair depends on the specifics of those bottles) or VP's from the birthyears of my wife, my mother or father (1977, 1947 and 1945 )

Sure, I will pay $100+ for a bottle of port, but prefer that bottle being part of an event rather than a bottle I just drink by myself. I have spent many times more than $100 to participate in various verticals and have in the end it was money well spent.

I've spent well over that on a single bottle before, but to get past $100 the bottle needs to be something pretty good. And like Moses, I'd prefer for bottles like that to end up part of some special event that I share with other Port lovers so that more people get to enjoy it.

My normal limit has changed over time as I've learned about Port (and the economy has tanked). I'm not buying all that often right now, but would still pay $80-$100 for the right bottle(s). When the economy was better that limit was closer to $150.

According to CellarTracker the most I've ever spent on one bottle was $468 for a 1938 Kopke Colheita from the FTLOP buying opportunity. That's my Dad's birth year and the bottle was a gift for him, so it was a special occasion. Second highest was $351 for a 1937 Noval Colheita, also from an FTLOP buying opportunity. Then things drop rapidly into a more sane range. My collection averages $78/bottle at the moment.

$78/bottle eh? I had never computed that number, but since you did and I have a tracking spreadsheet ... $48.55 for me.

I have multiple threasholds for what I am willing to pay. I have a lot of bottles that I purchased around $30-40. At $30, I'm willing to try just about anything. But I won't buy an unknown or lesser bottle if it is much more than that. Next comes the big names and good years, for which I'll pay $60-70. Finally, there are the outstanding bottles, for which I am willing to pay more than $100 for, like something wonderful from 1970, a 1994 Taylor, or 1997 Quinta do Noval. I don't have many of these, but a few. And like Glenn and Moses, I like to open these for a tasting or group to maximize the enjoyment factor.

Eric Menchen wrote:$78/bottle eh? I had never computed that number, but since you did and I have a tracking spreadsheet ... $48.55 for me.

Yeah, I think what's going on there is that I don't bother to collect much of the (relatively) cheaper stuff. I have limited space for storage, so have to make every slot count. That ultimately drives up my average price because I don't have that many $30 bottles balancing out the few big budget bad boys.

Divided into $20 increments, a quick perusal tells me that my mode bottle cost is probably the $80-$100 range.

I've actually shrunk my cellar drastically throughout the summer (mostly through auction, but also through determined consumption), and I've plowed some of the proceeds back into a much smaller collection of much better (and usually much more expensive) wines -- this includes a substantial increase in the average age of my Ports, which is now over 40 years.

My wife and I just don't drink enough to justify a huge cellar, so I decided to clear out the dead weight. And now I can grab just about anything out of the cellar and I know it will be pretty good, for those occasions when we do host a dinner or tasting. So going forward, I will continue buying in relatively small quantities, but definitely at a higher price point than in the past.

But still, with the exception of very old Ports, I won't go over $150 for a bottle. That price point can easily buy enough nice cabs and pinots to keep me very happy and make me feel very fortunate.

Glenn E. wrote:Yeah, I think what's going on there is that I don't bother to collect much of the (relatively) cheaper stuff. ...

Likewise I have very few bottles of reserve, maybe three at the moment. I just don't keep them around because I can pretty easily go out and buy more when needed.

Over the years I've noited that my "ceiling" has ebbed and flowed upward as well as downward. Like Eric, I really don't keep much in the way of Reserve level Port on-hand and consequently the average price per bottle in my cellar (per my cellar software) is just north of $110.00. Many of the bottles I've purchased have been between $50 and $90 dollars, although there are also quite a few outliers that cost far more (but not many bottles fell below the $50 mark.) Considering that the average age is just shy of 40 years, the $110.00 average seems about right.

My average bottle is 14 years old, the same as about a year ago. I buy some old bottles, then some 2007, so it doesn't move much.

Yes, I've paid o er $100 for a bottle of port, sadly...

-Lars

It made me think for a moment, what percentage of all wine drinkers have ever paid over $100 (USD value) around the globe. I'd be willing to venture a guesstimate that the number is probably under 3% of all wine drinkers. And yet, the vast majority of us here (if not all) have done so at one time or another. We should realize we are in a very small minority of wine consumers and this is not limited to Port.

I'd pay $100 for something if that's a decent amount less than the average selling price. Somewhere in a marketplace, there's always somebody who is looking to sell something for less that it's worth. So I'd never pay $20 for a $10 bottle, but I'd definitely pay $100 for a $200 bottle. It's all relative.

Roy Hersh wrote:It made me thing for a moment, what percentage of all wine drinkers have ever paid over $100 (USD value) around the globe. I'd be willing to venture a guesstimate that the number is probably under 3% of all wine drinkers. And yet, the vast majority of us here (if not all) have done so at one time or another. We should realize we are in a very small minority of wine consumers and this is not limited to Port.

We are also a very, very, very small minority of the people who have paid $100 for a bottle. We are the tip of the tip of the iceberg

So I'd never pay $20 for a $10 bottle, but I'd definitely pay $100 for a $200 bottle. It's all relative.

True that. But sometimes an apparent bargain is anything but. I've tasted that axiom many times over the years from the cellars of those that consider themselves to be wine buying sleuths and/or thrifty. That said, there's no question that a ton of the fun of any collection ... and Port is no different ... is obtaining a great deal re: value for money.

Recently paid over $100 ($115 to be exact) for a 1994 VP as a birth year port for my daughter. All, time, my average bottle price is about $33--but I drink mostly LBV's and good rubies mixed in with VPs.

Roy Hersh wrote:

So I'd never pay $20 for a $10 bottle, but I'd definitely pay $100 for a $200 bottle. It's all relative.

True that. But sometimes an apparent bargain is anything but. I've tasted that axiom many times over the years from the cellars of those that consider themselves to be wine buying sleuths and/or thrifty. That said, there's no question that a ton of the fun of any collection ... and Port is no different ... is obtaining a great deal re: value for money.

How often would you say that the apparent bargain is anything but? I have found that to be true at times with other bargains in life, for sure. I certainly try to do whatever due diligence I can before pulling the trigger on something. I'm certainly appreciative of whatever advice I've received from this board before I either pulled the trigger or decided to pass it up.

Roy Hersh wrote:But sometimes an apparent bargain is anything but. I've tasted that axiom many times over the years from the cellars of those that consider themselves to be wine buying sleuths and/or thrifty.

So far my experience with bargains has certainly been net positive. In some cases the results have been outstanding, e.g. 1983 Smith Woodhouse for $40, wonderful! In most cases the bottles haven't performed as great as that, but been worth what I paid or more. I can't think of a time when I thought the bottle was worth less than I paid, but there may may have been one.

I can't think of a port I felt "beat " from buying online/retail in recent memory. There have been a few auction bottles that ended up being refunded, but that should not count.

It comes down to QPR for me.

I pay over $100 often for Port, it's hard to buy pre 1970 Vintage Port for less than that.
I think the most I've ever spent on single Port bottle was $2300, but I've spent more on Madeira!