Port wine buying mistakes

[Roy Hersh]

Any regrets, whether in specific items you've purchased, a producer, a vintage, a case buy or "other"?

[Eric Menchen]

I saw a local b&m had 2003 Cockburn's on sale for $30 each maybe a month ago. I went today and bought the only two they had left. My regret is not getting there sooner. Maybe in 20 years I'll be happy drinking something else, but today ...

[Jeff G.]

croft 45 @ 275$

I passed =(

[Kurt Wieneke]

Local liquor store, there was a 1970 Graham's for $100 with slight signs of seepage. Went in a couple of times and looked at it. 3rd time I went in it was gone. . .

[Brian C.]

The one that gnaws at me was when a shop was selling 1994 Rozes LBV a few years ago for only $14 and I only bought 2 of them. After having liked one, I should have just bought the case or so that was left.

[John M.]

Passed on a magnum of 1997 Niepoort for $99...what was I thinking???

Probably the biggest mistake was a 1994 VP I purchased from a poor wine store, stored upright on a top shelf with limited AC. The wine was oxidized. Good lesson (I was pretty new to port and did not know better). Provenance, provenance, provenance.

[Jeff G.]

The one that gnaws at me was when a shop was selling 1994 Rozes LBV a few years ago for only $14 and I only bought 2 of them. After having liked one, I should have just bought the case or so that was left.

i bought 2 cases

[Glenn E.]

I had the chance to buy two bottles of 1970 Nacional for $300 each. I debated it over and over and finally decided to go for it. Even then I had buyer's regret because I felt like $300 was an awful lot for a VP, so I was actually kind of relieved when there was a mixup in the ordering/shipping process and I didn't get the bottles. (Allegedly someone else bought them over the internet while I was on the phone placing a written order with a salesman who didn't get the order entered into their system until later that day.)

Now I look back and wish I'd just bought them immediately. $300 for a Nacional is something of a steal.

[Jeff G.]

I had the chance to buy two bottles of 1970 Nacional for $300 each. I debated it over and over and finally decided to go for it. Even then I had buyer's regret because I felt like $300 was an awful lot for a VP, so I was actually kind of relieved when there was a mixup in the ordering/shipping process and I didn't get the bottles. (Allegedly someone else bought them over the internet while I was on the phone placing a written order with a salesman who didn't get the order entered into their system until later that day.)

Now I look back and wish I'd just bought them immediately. $300 for a Nacional is something of a steal.

good thing i was on hand to pick up the Noval 97 eh?

[Tom D.]

More of a general strategic mistake in my case: I bought too much young VP early on. As I gained more experience with Port, I realized I enjoy mature VP and tawnys more, and the younger vintages I'd purchased wouldn't hit that spot until I am very old or not even in my lifetime. So the younger stuff has been either sold off or laid aside for my grandson - that's not a bad thing though.

[Glenn E.]

good thing i was on hand to pick up the Noval 97 eh?

Good thing I saved you from needing to post in this thread! That was a seriously good price.

[Roy Hersh]

Now I look back and wish I'd just bought them immediately. $300 for a Nacional is something of a steal.

Sometimes you get lucky and find a steal, as I did on 1991 Nacionals, 3 ea. @ $300 per. But to find the 1970 Nacional for $300 ... even a few years ago, is an amazing price for a stellar Vintage Port.

[Andy Velebil]

Buying a bit too much younger stuff as compared to older stuff in the early years of my Port collecting. The good part of that is in about 20 more years I'll have a very nice mature cellar.

[Marc J.]

I'd say (and this is the total opposite of Andy's post) that purchasing quite a high percentage of old VP early on probably resulted in my missing out on deals on some young VP. Over the years my focus had changed to a more balanced acquisition strategy that should ensure that I'll always have a bottle at the ready.

[Al B.]

I have two slight regrets, one the mirror image of the other.

One regret is not buying more of the Morgan 1991 port when it was sold at Christies for £8 ($12.50) per bottle. I only bought 2½ cases and I don't have much left. Boy, I wish I had more!

And the opposite regret is the amount of Croft 2004 LBV in halves that I have bought. Tesco did a deal with TFP to ship these into the UK supermarkets in time for Christmas 2010. It's a really nice port, which is very easy to drink and was sold for £3-4 a half, depending on promotions. I really enjoy drinking this, but did I really need to get so carried away that I bought 84 of them? I'll be drinking Croft '04 LBV for many years to come...

[Rob C.]

And the opposite regret is the amount of Croft 2004 LBV in halves that I have bought. Tesco did a deal with TFP to ship these into the UK supermarkets in time for Christmas 2010. It's a really nice port, which is very easy to drink and was sold for £3-4 a half, depending on promotions. I really enjoy drinking this, but did I really need to get so carried away that I bought 84 of them? I'll be drinking Croft '04 LBV for amy years to come...

We'll see - i predict you'll experience another Morgan 91 moment by 2015!

My main purchase regret is a couple of expensive bottles i purchased early on without asking the right questions, and came with poor fill levels.

My other regret is that I missed out on a very attractively priced case of Justerini & Brooks own label 1977 - taking just a single bottle instead.
By the time i had opened it up and realised that it was the SW 77 proper (but for approx 1/2 price) and provenance was great, the other 11 had gone...sometimes you need to take a chance...(to have bought and lost...etc!)

[David Spriggs]

Biggest regret.... well... there have been so few when it comes to Port. Probably not buying multiple cases of 1970 Taylor when it was $25 per bottle.

[Andy Velebil]

Biggest regret.... well... there have been so few when it comes to Port. Probably not buying multiple cases of 1970 Taylor when it was $25 per bottle.

Uh yeah

[Eric Ifune]

More magnums.

[Andy Velebil]

More magnums.

I hear ya on that one but I've also increased my buying of mag's in the past couple years to help resolve that. Now, I'll just have to wait 50 more years before they are ready to drink.