For The Love Of Port

I know that lots of you have said you prefer 375s to 750 ml bottles. So what do you think of Magnums of Vintage Port? Do you own many, any, or think this is just folly? I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts and about the Mags in your Port collection. Thanks!

My entire VP cellar is in 750ml bottles - not a single half or magnum.

There seems to be one upside to magnums - and two downsides.

The upside is that on the odd occasions when magnums and bottles of the same wine have been drunk simultaneously, those participating have tended to judge the magnum to be superior - but I'm not sure if this has been documented often enough to be certain of the fact.

The downsides are:

1) Large format bottles offer far fewer drinking opportunities, and when such occasions do arise, it is often more agreeable to compare different bottles than to have two of the same.

2) Decanting a magnum is much more of a performance, and generally requires a switch from one decanter to another without righting the bottle - or the use of a jug.

That said, I would quite like to invest in a small number of double magnums for special occasions - possibly even arranging a limited edition bottling -

- anyone else like the idea?

Tom

Tom has summarised the way that I feel about magnums. My entire port cellar comprises bottles and half bottles. I have never purchased port en magnum and probably never will. I just can't anticipate a time when I would want to serve the same wine to 16+ people. Most of the time I would rather have two different bottles to try against each other.

Alex

Although I have never bought a magnum of port, I will not say that I never will. I'm sure some time in the future I may pick up one or two just for heck of it. :twisted:

I buy VP's in magnum-sizes from time to time. I find it wonderful some day, with a few of my friends and relatives, to pop up a magnum sandeman or whatever and really go decadent on VP.

Roy,

I love magnums of Port! I last opened a 1966 Grahams mag about 2.5 years ago aand it was so youthful! I have not touched my 1970 Fonseca mags I have some mags of 2000 Taylor and Fonseca that I will drink on my 60, 70 and 80th birthdays.

Nicos

Roy,
I have 2 magnums of 77 Dow, 2 mags of 77 Grahams and a 70 Grahams mag. I wish at the time I would have simply bought the equivalent in 750ml. A magnum of Port is a heck of a lot of Port when you consider that a glass contains about 3 ounces.
If you want to make me an offer on those 77 Grahams I will happily entertain it! (somehow, I doubt you will....)
Dave

Roy,

I LOVE Magnums, although I have far more 750s.

A Mag is just so freaking festive, that for a special occasion, let's say a 50th birthday or 35th wedding anniversity, etc., they can't be beat. And since Port is at the top of my list, Port mags are extra special. Probably have about 3+ cases, nothing before the 70s and most in the 90s

Ted
PS: Now if Port is served as an after dinner AND after thought, a Mag may be too big for even a big crowd. But if it's an after thought (even if only in the minds of others), why waste Port. A Mag of Port demands attention! Jumps from after thought to center of interest

I have only 2 magnums and they are from the 2000 Vintage, probably my favorite in the last declarations I have taste in their youth. I bought Graham's and Vesuvio. I do like magnums and since I have a Port collection I have to own some. I did not see any magnums of 2003 yet in Quebec else I'd have bought 1-2 again.

I love magnums, but have way to little of them. They look cool, and a great for (tasting) parties. With 8-12 people, a magnum is quickly finished, just as long as it isn't poured after 10 other wines.

I have never purchased a magnum of port, this will change! Buying En Primeur it is great to be able to specify so I suspect on my next such purchases I will buy some. When having friends around for dinner one bottle is never enough and it adds to the occasion. I rather like Tom's idea of the double Magnum!

How about a Tregnum?

They are much easier to find than a double Mag of Port! Seriously.

I bought my brother a double magnum of Barolo for Xmas last year - I felt it was a very handsome, yet manageable (just about!) bottle size. It is also big enough to justify it's own individual wooden case.

I'm not sure I've ever held a 'Tregnum', but it's an idea!

I very much like the idea of arranging a limited edition bottling - a top wine - and all wine drawn from a single pipe selected by the wine maker.

Perhaps from each vintage, 100 large format bottles, individually boxed, and with labels numbered and signed by the proprietor of the Quinta.

The bottles might be released slowly onto the market via a very small number of prestige outlets, maybe only parting with two or three from each vintage each year.

I have one or two ideas about quintas who might be approached, but I would be interested to hear if anyone else (particularly in the USA) would like to get involved, and also from those on the ground in the Douro.

Tom

I've already had this discussion Tom, with Christian Seely of Quinta do Noval when I found out that Nacional had never been bottled in Magnum. He will seriously consider it in the future when he believes the quality is extraordinary.

Double Magnums are hard to come by and even harder to come by in the USA. I own one and it is the only one that I know of (this particular Shipper/vintage) that was around in the USA. They were never for sale though and outside of the occasional auction bottle in Tregnum, I've never seen bottles larger than Magnums of VP sold in the USA.

I own about four cases of mixed Mags of which most are from 1966-1977. I have a couple of younger ones and my oldest is 1935. I only open them for very special occasions these days and love having Magnums around to do so. Back in 2003, on consecutive evenings I opened 1970 Fonseca and Taylor Mags which was a ton of fun, with the right crowd here to enjoy.

A year before that I opened a Mag for my brother and the two of us finished it off that night. We did start drinking at 5 p.m. though.

Noval Nacional is an obvious for this project - but perhaps a little too obvious.

There are several other quintas who are knocking at the door of excellence, whose reputation is likely to rise over time, and might be more amenable to the project - whereas Nacional can only defend their position - and prices!

A logistical detail that held me back previously was the possible difficulty of obtaining dark bottles of the appropriate size, but my recent visit to Croft confirmed to me that such bottles are available.

I see the extreme rarity of double mags as an important detail - look up the price of large format Champagne bottles, and you will find it always exceeds the cost of the same volume in standard bottles.

Tom

Heck, I can put a small piece in my upcoming newsletter about this. I know that every single producer that was on my list in the last newsletter, receives it (I can only assume that most do read it).

I have told my partner, Jo, on a number of occassions that I want my ashes poured into an empty bottle NN 63 (or NN31 if I have one by then) and stood up on the top shelf of the Noval shop in VNG forever. I have also asked Jo to make sure the details of my Wake are posted here so that you guys can come along and drain the bottle before I'm poured into it.

I now have a new plan.......

If Roy can persuade Mr Seely to create 6 foot high bottles of NN, my entire corpse can be pickled in Nacional and placed as a monument to the excesses of port drinking at the side of the Douro directly opposite the Noval shop. Brilliant

Derek

Derek,

This is grotesque!

Get yourself cremated, and leave a nice bottle of NN31 for your friends to enjoy (+me!) while I arrange for your ashes to be loaded into a 10" shell and blasted 1000ft into the air, before being burst into the wind above our heads.

(OK, we'll put our hands over the top of the glasses in case there's any blow back)

- but that's class! 8)

Tom

I think we can pursuade the owners at Noval to allow us to spread some "Engrais de Derek" over the Nacional vines. Of course, while enjoying a sip of NN 31 at the same time. :twisted:

Magnums age a little slower than 750's, right?

So when would a 2000 Grahams or other top port from 2000 be ready to drink from magnum? Given that I'm 40 now, should I expect to even be able to drink it before being shot out of a howitzer in a 10" shell on my demise? It sounds like I (a recent convert to port) would need to go all the way back to 63 to get a "properly aged" port in magnum (although I do enjoy the young ones as well).

As a flip side, does anybody have a comment on the drinkability of the 1994 vintage in 375 mL bottles? The would age a little faster right? I got a half bottle of 1994 Dow that I might open this weekend, any clues on decanting time?

Jay