As you grow older, do you shy away from purchasing new Vintages of Port wine?

[Roy Hersh]

This should be interesting!

[Tom D.]

Yup. I'm only 50, but most of the VP in my cellar is pre-1980, and the youngest is 1994 - and that has been laid down for my grandson who is two. I prefer some age on my VP, so that's where I allocate my Port budget.

[Russ K]

I am only 36, but I can't stand buying too much old stuff becuase it stresses me out to much where its been. So ex-cellars I look for, or hopefully like your deal this month Roy (hoping its truly been taken care of as described)....but easier just to get the new stuff.
I will enjoy my 60's...majority of my cellar is 2000+.

[Gary Richardson]

I am 47 and stopped buying Vintages younger than 2003, as a general rule. I do have the odd 2005 and 2007, though.

Of course, LBVs are a different story.

-- Gary

[Rune EG]

I am 56, and hope to be on this planet for another 25-30 years!
Recently I have been buying 2003 + 04 + 05 + 07, partly for keeping, but also partly for drinking.
I understood during the FTLOP Harvest Tour 2010 that I do like younger VP more than I had previously thought.
But I have also purchased some cases of 1983 from several producers and bottles from various other vintages
in the 80s, so I really don't I have a clear strategy to do this or that.
I think that is too early for me! Being optimistic that health will stay good.

Will participate also on the Harvest Tour this year, so it is going to be interesting to get further impressions.

[Glenn E.]

2007 will probably be my last VP purchase in any quantity. I may buy a bottle or two of the "best" from upcoming declarations, but I'm going to need to live to be almost 90 as it is to enjoy the Port I've purchased when it's fully mature.

[Eric Ifune]

Yes,
I like some age on mine. 52 now, so unless I make it to my late 80's, not worth it; especially since prices on older wines are not too bad.

[David Spriggs]

Definately. I bought quite a lot of the 2003 vintage. I have essentially passed on all following vintages. Ok, ok... I did buy 2 bottles of 2007 Dow. Personally, I've been buying older vintages. Not that I don't like current vinatges (I think that they are likely even better made wines than the old vintages) - but I'm not sure that they wil be mature in time for me to enjoy them. I've also been loving tawny and colheitas lately, so have been concentrating on those for current consumption.

[Paul Fountain]

I'm 36 so at this stage I'm not worrying about it too much. As I'm a fairly recent collector, I've mostly been concentrating on building a collection, so I'm not intending to drink too much of it in the next few years. The best value for me can be found between 2000 - 2005 and with a couple of cracking vintages in there thats where I've started. I'm gradually starting to branch out into the 90s and the 80s and will start to pick up a few from the 70s as well, but I'll also keep an eye out for newer vintages like the 07s when the price is right. I still want more 2000s and 2003s though

[Eric Menchen]

I turn 43 this year. For retirement planning purposes I like to think that I'll live to be 90, although here the SSA says I should expect to live to be 78. So I need Ports for another 35 or maybe even 47 years. Given that, I haven't started to shy away from purchasing new vintages. I actually ended up buying more 2007 than I initially thought I would. I plan to buy just a case of 2009, but not because of my age. After that, I'll probably buy into the next generally declared vintage, and maybe one or two after that. And then ... ?

[Andy Velebil]

I'll continue to buy new releases but as I get older that amount will no doubt gradually shrink a little simply because as much as I like young Ports I also prefer old Ports. And at some Point when I get much older it will be time to start drinking all that I've accumulated, saving some for my friends to drink at my funeral, as I despise funerals that are too depressing. So I would like all my friends to crack some of my bottles and enjoy.

[Gerwin de Graaf]

I'm turning 38 in a few months.

I've bought lots of 2005 and 2007 VP, as these are the birthyears of my sons. I will therefor keep some cases for the boys from these vintages. At the moment I'm buying older VP's (when I can find some good deals) so I'll have some mature VP's to enjoy now and the coming years. I don't think I will buy great numbers of new releases, but I guess I will be buying the odd bottle or 6 of VP from new vintages, if the quality is expected to be excellent. And I think I will be doing so for at least the coming 10-15 years. If I should not be around to enjoy them, then I'm sure I can find a good home for my VP's for the future.

[Michael Hann]

I'm 55. I don't buy many VPs at all. I've collected about 24-30. At this point my oldest VP are some 1997s, and I probably won't buy anything younger (I do have some 2000 Sandeman Vau VPs, but I understand those are generally early maturing).

Here is a knuckle-ball that I am throwing into the discussion. Does consideration of health issues enter into your Port management strategy? What do I mean? If you are destined to die at 90 years of age . . . does that mean you can drink your Port at the age of 89? Will your physical condition allow you to enjoy your Port at that age? Will your physical condition permit you to drink Port at all at that age? As a possible scenario, what if your doctor puts you on blood thinner at the age of 80 to reduce your risk of stroke? Alcohol use is discouraged when taking blood thinners such as Cumadin and the generic Warfarin. Some doctors allow the consumption of alcohol in moderation when taking these blood thinners; I'm guessing others doctrinairly forbid alcohol use. Certainly other chronic health scenarios are possible that could interfere with Port drinking.

My own expectation is that my consumption of alcoholic beverages is probably going to drop off substantially somewhere in the vicinity of 75 years of age. Thus, I'm not planning to acquire bottles that I can't consume at reasonable maturity within the next 20 years. I'm not collecting wines for my children, either. If I can drink with pleasure and without debilitating my health at the age of 92, I'll be very happy.

[Chris G]

This is a very interesting question. Particularly topical as looking at Roy's recent tasting notes in the newsletter some of the ports had drinking at best-how shall we say - sometime after I expect to be departed. At first this rather depressed me as I like buying the new port vintages (where I like them ) from Shippers and Growers that I know.

However I have come to the conclusion that at least for the next 10- to 20 years it will not change materially my wish to buy new vintages, for my own consumption I will clearly be trying to buy more older port than I have been doing but it won't make me shy away from buying new vintages.This is for 2 main reasons 1) I consider port buying to be a multi generational interest, I would love to be able to pass on a wonderful port collection to my children and godchildren that as they grow up will give them a wonderful cellar ( or if they have to they can sell it). It is effectively just a different way of handling wealth to the next generation. I could give them cash but prefer to give them decent port!
The second is I have actually come to rather like younger port so am much more open to drinking young port than I would have historically been, I love seeing how port changes over time, this requires the purchase of new vintages.

[Derek T.]

I like buying the new port vintages (where I like them ) from Shippers and Growers that I know.

I have actually come to rather like younger port

Chris,

I was about to send you an email inviting you to join me for lunch next week to share a magnum of Croft 1945. Now that you have clarified your preferences I will slot that back in the cellar and bring a Nieeport 2007 instead

[Eric Menchen]

I'll trade my 2007 Niepoorts for 1945 Croft if someone would prefer them

[Moses Botbol]

For sure this is a consideration in both port and dry wine. I am only buying newer vintages on sentiment or "too cheap to pass up". It's quite difficult to find older vintages of Douro red's, so I am stuck with buying what is current to lay down for 10-20 years.

Like today. I am driving to my parents' house and may stop at Costco on the way down for a 2007 Fonseca Magnum for $156. When the hell am I ever going to drink that? Even worse that there's 15 magnums ahead of it.... Sure has a pretty label though

[Jeff G.]

i'm 31 and i with moses'

I only buy recent vintages for "sentimental" purposes only as the prices have steadily increased to the point where 70$+ to get in the game is starting to put too much a dent in my savings account

but i too will jump if i see any too good to pass up deals,

like croft 00 for 25$
and warres 00 for 28$

[Paul_B]

I'm turning 44 next month and for myself, I stopped buying at VP2003(wedding year), but for my kids, I got 2007 and will get some 2009 (their respective birth years). The plan is as you get older you can afford to buy older VP. So VP I have in the cellar spans 1985-2003... and should I feel for anything pre-85, I just go out and buy it.

/Paul

[Rob C.]

For me (and i do feel guilty saying this), the main reason for not purchasing new vintages of wine on release is simply cost, rather than the fear i will grow old before i can enjoy it.

- in the UK, at least, you can get many well stored ports from the 80s and 90s for much the same price as new-releases - a great many of which will last far beyond my years in any event (perhaps the best example of this is currently the Fonseca 85).

- looking at UK auction prices, it is noticeable that most ports actually suffer a decrease in prices between a few years after release and the end of their teenage years. I have seen some very, very attractive pricing on 2003s, 2000s and 1997s recently - even for big hitters such as Taylor and Fonseca which, if not below current release prices, are often at least as cheap and someone has already paid for professional storage for all those years...

Building a cellar from scratch over a number of years does require some thought as to how money should be allocated amongst the different vintages. Whilst i agree with Paul that the aim is to be able to afford older VP as you grow older, I am keen to secure some key '63s, '66s and '70s before prices of the '63s go the way of the '55s and prices of the '70s go the way of the '63s etc. Then you see '94s might just be coming out of their awkward phase and so worry that prices will rise correspondingly for those soon...So all this combined can mean that new vintages are actually fairly low down on the "to buy" list, unless it is a mind-blowing wine made in fairly limited quantities (eg Noval 2007) or a limited availability format (eg double magnums).