For The Love Of Port

I just received two bottles won at auction---the infamous 1997 Niepoort. The description of bottle conditions was Excellent. Upon arrival, one has obviously leaked just a little, fill level is nearly identical to its sister bottle.

If I keep them, how long should I wait for bottle shock to settle out before I can open the leaker?

Would you keep them or return them? Its an all or nothing proposition.

I bought a 6-pack of Ni97 a while back before I'd heard about the problems. I opened one as soon as I heard about the problems and it was most excellent. But... none of mine are leakers and none of them show pushed corks, etc.

As far as bottle shock goes, a couple of days to a week is probably sufficient for that young of a Port. You could open the leaker this weekend if you wanted to.

Regarding returning the bottles... depends on the deal you got. You'll still be on the hook for return shipping, so it's sort of a question of how much are you willing to spend (on shipping) in order to make a point. They'll likely just get auctioned off again with a more accurate description, so it's not really going to hurt the auction house all that much.

6 weeks is best to wait so I read. If in no rush, why not wait? '97 is still on the young side.

Definitely debatable as to how long to wait post shipping. I'll have to look up the Wine Library TV episode where a couple of knowledgable enthusiasts compared side by side bottles of the same wine, blind, and really found little difference between one at rest for 6 mo and one shipped cross country and arrived the day before.

That said, I always strive for a month post shipping, but on the odd occasion where that hasn't been possible, haven't found it to be an issue. IIRC, one or two of the bottles for the '83 at 30 tasting were shipped within days of the event, and again, IIRC showed as expected.

So, long story story short, I'd store it upright if the leaking looks semi fresh, and drink in 4-6 weeks.


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Brad Bogdan wrote:... side by side bottles of the same wine, blind, and really found little difference between one at rest for 6 mo and one shipped cross country and arrived the day before.

What wine, how much sediment, and what was the consistency of the sediment?

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I would wait a week for that particular bottling. I have little doubt that would be plenty enough time for a 1997 of that caliber. When they are good, they are very very good. I've been lucky that none of the bottles of this VP have been leakers. All of mine were purchased en primeur back then, in London. I've tasted two bottles that were leakers from other people's cellars and I could not detect anything wrong with them at all. I didn't know they were leakers until after the bottles were revealed though, blind in both cases back around the time my daughter was born.

Eric Menchen wrote:

Brad Bogdan wrote:... side by side bottles of the same wine, blind, and really found little difference between one at rest for 6 mo and one shipped cross country and arrived the day before.

What wine, how much sediment, and what was the consistency of the sediment?

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http://m.ustream.tv/recorded/21731379?rmalang=en_US

Hopefully this works on computers. It's not working on my phone but I think that's just the phone.


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Bradley, while not an actual leaker, the pretty darn fine showing of the 1960 Ferreira we had this past weekend, was from a bottle with a fully saturated cork, that was protruding 1/16th of an inch. I just read that Al B. opened what looked like a pristine bottle of 1966 Taylor and it was the worst one he's ever tasted. There is no rhyme or reason with these old bottles of Vintage Port.