For The Love Of Port

How have you found the prices at auction? How about the provenance of the bottles you have purchased?

Some people love them, some just the opposite! So do you swear by them or at them?

I've bought a little at auction, mostly from Wine Commune, and so far I've been very happy with the results. Then again, I don't buy from private sellers on it that do not have a fairly long track record and good ratings from other buyers. All of the bottles were got at some good prices with no signs of leakers, heat damage, etc.

I don't swear buy them or hate them, but I am very cautious/picky about what I bid on. I don't bid on lots that I am not 100% comfortable with.

I have found them extremely variable. I think for single bottles, winebid has the best deals even when tacking on the commission. For multiple bottles/lot Acker is my choice although they have a pretty hefty commission (I think 20%) I actually like to bid on bottles with torn labels or even some leakage because I rarely get bad bottles and it seems others shy away from these. :)

Quite enlightening so far. I hope others will express their opinions too.

I have bought at Auctions in UK over several years and am generally pleased. I have not chased anything at auction and place carefully calculated bids since I am not generally able to attend and inspect te bottles. What have I got? Quite a lot of port at prices I am happy with that has tasted consistent with tsating notes. And my son has claimed the vesuvio boxes for his wooden railway...bargain!

Sometimes after an auction I glance over the hammer prices and am often bewildered by what some Port lots go for. I usually am a slow and steady minimum bidder at auction for Ports. Many times I am not successful, but after a while I can pick things up for a relative bargain, especially in the summer months or December auctions when many people are distracted by holiday.

I have normally been very pleased with the bottles purchased at auction. I prefer Chicago Wine Company as there is no buyers premium and their shipping department is very helpful in arranging shipping during short weather windows for me in Alaska.

In my low income days, I even bid on a few caveat emptor Port lots which introduced me to some awesome VP that I would not have been able to pay full price for.

These days I do find the caveat emptor helpful in picking up tawny port for a song, often 10 year for $10/btl, 20-yr for $20/btl and recently a 30-yr for $40/btl--way cheaper than retail for me with shipping factored in. Sometimes Colheitas seem to be stuck in this section because auction goers don't buy them??? I've never been dissappointed by these purchases.

Interesting topic..It really boils down to the age of the bottles you purchase -if you buy the latest release than sure buy based on best price......I find that I am much more interested in back filing on older vintages. This raises the risk of improper storage somewhere along the life of the bottle -lets face it how many folks had proper temperature controlled cellars 15 or 20 years ago? So I would rather pass on the internet auctions sites....some of the established auction houses are a better be t especially if someone tells me that they know the cellar & the seller and that the provenance is good ....It's always good to have relationships in place- this way if there is a problem with the wine you may have recourse....Also there are some retailers that will stand behind the product yes you will pay more but as far as I am concerned I would rather pay a little more knowing the merchant would stand behind the product...

I've had some nice success on Wine Commune - in particular their "Consigned Wines" section. Not shilling for WC, but have had only good experiences. Wines that close on Sunday are mainly consigned from private individuals, and wines that close other days are essentially auctions of wines that Wine Commune (now called JJ Buckley on this "retail" side) have purchased as excess distributor stock. I've picked up some good deals on halves of 2003 Ports like Dow, Taylor, Fonseca. They tend to come up every now and then.

My most fun auction story was a number of years ago, I was following an auction with Magnumwines.com which used to be swell for Port bargains and obscure offerings. I scored some interesting old bottles which I usually drank relatively within a year or so of winning a bid, which at the time was relatively easy to do. Not anymore!

So anyway, I noticed this one lot of pristine 1.5L 1966 Graham's for a great price at the time. The interesting thing I noted was that the closing of the auction was on a Sunday and this particular one, coincided with what was surely going to be either the middle or end of the 4th quarter of what turned out to be an exciting Super Bowl. I kept running back and forth between my TV and my computer (I was on dial up in those daze). As my team was not involved and I wanted the mags more than I cared about the outcome of the SB, I waited in stealth mode and placed my only bid, a couple of minutes before the deadline. The game lasted another 4 or 5 minutes after the auction closed and I have opened two of them so far. One by accident and the other was opened by Nicos N. with a Port tongs in my kitchen, the first time he had ever done so. I've kept the bottle as a momento. I still have a couple left and will open them sparingly.

I can't offer too much in this thread, but I just participated in my first wine auction. I didn't win any of the lots I was bidding on, then again, my bids were definitely low (fair, but low), and the prices they fetched were just about retail price before shipping. Nothing ventured, nothing gained (literally in this case!)

R

If my history is correct, Ports were kind of built to tolerate the journey back to England, right? So aren't they less likely to get damaged by heat and rough handling?

I guess my question for others is how likely is it to be on the receiving end of a really badly damaged bottle? I don't think it's ever happened to me, that I know of at least.

I recently concluded my first acution purchase on WineCommune - a 1970 Warre. I think the closing price was about $40. The really interesting part was that there were three bottles up for auction, and their policy is that they show the picture of the WORST bottle of the lot. The lable on the picture that they showed was pretty mangled and soiled, but I was in the buying moood and thought that for $40, it would be worth taking a chance.

I won one of the three bottles, and when it arrived, the lable was almost perfect. There was some slight seepage that had stained the IDVP tag from under the capsule, but otherwise the ullage was great, and I was very happy to get this bottle for such a price.

Having just tasted another bottle of this wine this weekend, I will be opening my bottle in the next few months, and will post a tasting note.

Always a good score! way to go Stewart! :)

Of course, Murphy's Law would state that if *I* were to get into the auction game, the exact OPPOSITE would have to occur to me.

Todd

Of course, there is always the possibility that ANY wine you buy ANYWHERE could be corked or cooked. But I figured that for this wine, the price was right, and I've got better odds than I would get if I were in Vegas...

:)

I've nothing but good luck from buying at auction. I'll usually grab a few bottles on a mixed lot that my friends win to help them out (and me).

I buy most of my older ports via the London auction houses and nearly always buy cases held in bond as I believe this gives a pretty high probability of it being stored correctly, I will buy cases not held in bond but normally at a discount which they tend to trade at anyway and always after ringing the auctioneer to check provenance, I would never buy from ebay type auctions/single bottles

I have only ever had a problem once and that was with the Niepoort 97 which has it's own issues discussed elsewhere on the site. The discount to full retail means I am happy to take the odd hit.

One point I would recommend if you store away from home is to get your storage company to check the delivery if you have any concerns.

I just bought my first bottle of port from an auction today, and I'm quite happy about the price ($91 US for Ferriera 1970 VP). The bottle is supposed to be in good condition, but since this is actually for a gift I will not know the condition of the contents for a while.

-Lars