I have noticed on many bottles of different styles that they are bottled by "Quinta and Vineyard Bottlers Vinhos SA, Oporto" - this seems to be prevalent in mid range ports (LBV, Reserves etc) and "Own Label" VP (i.e. Supermarket and Wine Merchant own label bottlings).
Is this an indpendent bottling company? If so, which shippers are using this service and which are continuing to do their own bottling?
It would also be interesting to know if QdVB are following the same bottling methods and using the same corks for all shippers wines. Do they have a premium bottling service and a budget bottling service. If so, who is using which service?
Are we going to reach the position where all large volume producers are using the same bottler and therefore the same method and cork? Thus levelling the playing field.
Derek
Port Bottling
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Frederick Blais
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I'm not a 100% sure of what I'll say, it is mostly a guessing of what I know what I think it might be. I've never seen any of these bottlings as none are making their way to Canada.
Super market port are called Bias Brand Port or Bias Brand Market in the trade language. These port are made by reputable companies/shipper from grapes they buy or left overs of their vineyards.
Did you know that 80% of Symington's production or sale(pretty sure the number is accurate here) is Bias Brand. This is a safe source of money. But I'm pretty sure that putting their name on the label could affect the image people have the company. So "hiding" behind Quinta and Vineyards bottler is a good marketing tactic.
Super market port are called Bias Brand Port or Bias Brand Market in the trade language. These port are made by reputable companies/shipper from grapes they buy or left overs of their vineyards.
Did you know that 80% of Symington's production or sale(pretty sure the number is accurate here) is Bias Brand. This is a safe source of money. But I'm pretty sure that putting their name on the label could affect the image people have the company. So "hiding" behind Quinta and Vineyards bottler is a good marketing tactic.
Living the dream and now working for a Port company
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Frederick Blais
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- Location: Porto, Portugal
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Steven Kooij
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Ok, this is from memory, so I might be wrong: the company Quinta & Vineyard Bottlers, Shippers S.A. is either owned and created by The Fladgate Partnership, or is the business name of TFP. I understand that QVBS came into existance when Taylor / Fonseca bought Croft / Delaforce, and indeed handles the bottling and shipping of the numerous brands of TFP. The name should appear on every wine of TFP since the 2003 Vintage (I don't store my wine at home, so I can't check).
Perhaps a fair comparison would be with the Symington family: they also own a lot of brands. However, their BOBs mention the producer (Silva & Cosens, Smith Woodhouse, etc.) instead of for instance "Symington Port Producers"- attaching a famous name to what might be concidered a lesser quality Port. I can imagine the folks at TFP thinking "we do not want the name of Taylor / Fonseca / Croft / etc. mentioned on a "lesser" wine. Just a thought - and again, this is from memory.
Perhaps a fair comparison would be with the Symington family: they also own a lot of brands. However, their BOBs mention the producer (Silva & Cosens, Smith Woodhouse, etc.) instead of for instance "Symington Port Producers"- attaching a famous name to what might be concidered a lesser quality Port. I can imagine the folks at TFP thinking "we do not want the name of Taylor / Fonseca / Croft / etc. mentioned on a "lesser" wine. Just a thought - and again, this is from memory.
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Frederick Blais
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I had a similar conversation with Paul Symington when he was leading the tasting at Berry's late last month. What prompted the question was the change on the label of the 1994 to 1995 Tesco own label VP.
The 1994 Tesco VP has in small letters at the bottom of the front label that the wine is supplied by "Quarles Harris & Co".
The 1995 has in small letters that the wine is supplied by "The Symington Family Co Lda" (from memory, so I may have this slightly wrong).
I asked why this change had occured as if I see Quarles Harris as the supplier on an own label then I know the style to expect. Paul explained that part of the reason for the change was administrative - that all the different companies owned by the Symingtons had now been brought together into a single company (but that the "brands" and house styles for the shippers would remain separate and distinct) and that another part of the reason was to protect the house style. Wines selected for own label tend not to be selected by the house, but by the own label buyer. Thus, the style of a Tesco VP (supplied by Quarles Harris) will be distinctly different from the same vintage from a bottle labelled "Quarles Harris Vintage Port". Thus by supplying own label wines from the wider Symington Family company there will be no chance of misleading a consumer into expecting a particular style other than that of the own label owner. It also makes it clear that in order to achieve the own label owner's style, that they may well blend across quintas, shippers and internal brands.
Alex
The 1994 Tesco VP has in small letters at the bottom of the front label that the wine is supplied by "Quarles Harris & Co".
The 1995 has in small letters that the wine is supplied by "The Symington Family Co Lda" (from memory, so I may have this slightly wrong).
I asked why this change had occured as if I see Quarles Harris as the supplier on an own label then I know the style to expect. Paul explained that part of the reason for the change was administrative - that all the different companies owned by the Symingtons had now been brought together into a single company (but that the "brands" and house styles for the shippers would remain separate and distinct) and that another part of the reason was to protect the house style. Wines selected for own label tend not to be selected by the house, but by the own label buyer. Thus, the style of a Tesco VP (supplied by Quarles Harris) will be distinctly different from the same vintage from a bottle labelled "Quarles Harris Vintage Port". Thus by supplying own label wines from the wider Symington Family company there will be no chance of misleading a consumer into expecting a particular style other than that of the own label owner. It also makes it clear that in order to achieve the own label owner's style, that they may well blend across quintas, shippers and internal brands.
Alex