Acker May Auction

[Russ A.]

There are some very old Madeira bottles in the upcoming Acker May auction which attracted my attention:

http://webdocs.ackerwines.com/154NY_FINAL_WEB.pdf

Lots 941-944, with a photo of the six bottles on the following page. I have limited experience with Acker but I'm slightly nervous due to their association with a certain Mr Kurniawan several years ago. However the bottles certainly look genuine and sufficiently beaten-up given their age. Does anyone have any experience with these particular bottlings?

Thanks

[John M.]

I've got a couple lots from them (port). I was pleased, but I also was not spending big $$ either so unlikely to be fakes. They have another auction on right now (final May 10) and I've bid two lots...one a couple of 1995 VPs (Smith Woodhouse & Vesuvio) and the other a 1977 Smith Woodhouse.

I did notice this May 21st auction has some serious lots of VP--Noval and Taylor mainly. Lots of Nacional...and a 1931 Noval.

[Eric Ifune]

Some of their catalog attributes seem odd. While the 1842 Borges Terrantez is a famous wine. The 1715 Terrantes is not known to be Borges. There is a known 1715 Terrantez in a burgundy shaped bottle and red stenciling, but it is not attributed to Borges. The oldest Borges I've heard of is the 1720 Pather and the oldest Terrantez is the 1760. Looking at the photos, I'm not sure what to make of it. The 1715 is in a burgundy shapped bottle, but the stenciling looks newer. The 1842 looks like a known bottling without a producer attribute.

[Russ A.]

Very intriguing. One thing I noticed is that the 1715 appears to have the spelling 'Terratez' (from the part we can see in the photo) rather than the correct spelling of 'Terrantez'. Some of the 1715 burgundy shaped bottles you refer to Eric also had the 'n' missing.

[Mark L]

Hmm... I agree with you guys that some things were peculiar. I have neither bought from nor sold with Acker, and I honestly cannot comment wisely about whether bottles are authentic or not, or fishy or not. I can only comment upon what I have or have not seen, and with ancient madeira like this, I've not seen more than I have seen.

That said, I am under the impression that normally something that is 1842 Borges actually references Borges in some way on the bottle, whereas there are additional bottlings that are not labeled so (including this one), but that some folks 'presume' are Borges. Other 1842 bottles just like those shown in the Acker auction have come up elsewhere, recently, but this is the first time I've seem them referred to very clearly as Borges in the description. Perhaps they have more concrete evidence on these bottles that others have not had. Or perhaps they feel the existing evidence is enough not merely to be 'presumed' Borges.

Regarding the 1715, I also have not seen this particular bottle or bottle stenciling before. I've done a fair amount of research regarding these bottles, and even owned one many years back. The stenciling was very different than the one in their picture, and it was from JCA & Co, which is what all the other 1715s I've seen are... I believe there is a 1715 Moscotel out there as well, but also not attributed to Borges from my recollection. The misspelling is certainly not uncommon, and I used to have a 1720 Pather which was also misspelled.

Perhaps it's a bottle finally making its way to the surface, now that there has been such a huge spike in the ancient madeira market. In fact, perhaps we will begin to see very very old bottlings that have been sitting in private cellars untouched for many many decades that are finding their way to the auction market for the first time in a long time due to the prices they are now fetching. Who knows? In fact, it may be interesting to see what surfaces if these prices keep up. Of course, we will be worried and wary of anyone trying to take advantage of collectors of ancient bottles going for astronomical prices with little known provenance or written history. All I know is that I cannot afford them any longer!

[Eric Ifune]

Yes, the 1842 Borges Terrantez has a similar paper label to the ones shown, but has Borges displayed on the label. I used to own one until I supplied it to a tasting. There are a few bottles with the labels shown in the photo, I have one myself, but most auction attributes are "shipper unknown." The presumption is they may be Borges, but no one is sure.

I've had a problem buying with Acker, especially since the Rudy information has come out. It didn't sound they were too interested in ensuring provenance.

Perhaps it's a bottle finally making its way to the surface, now that there has been such a huge spike in the ancient madeira market. In fact, perhaps we will begin to see very very old bottlings that have been sitting in private cellars untouched for many many decades that are finding their way to the auction market for the first time in a long time due to the prices they are now fetching. Who knows? In fact, it may be interesting to see what surfaces if these prices keep up. Of course, we will be worried and wary of anyone trying to take advantage of collectors of ancient bottles going for astronomical prices with little known provenance or written history. All I know is that I cannot afford them any longer!

Yes, they are out of my price range as well!

[Andreas Platt]

The oldest Borges I've heard of is the 1720 Pather and the oldest Terrantez is the 1760.

Hi Eric,

May I contribute to our common knowlegde regarding ancient Borges Terrantez, then this is it https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1128049

I bought 2 of these directly, so no question about their genuity.

Too bad that we couldn't arrange for a small tasting, since I'm currently sitting in the desert and I miss the oportunity of sipping Madeira.

Many greetings from the Coachella Valley

Andy

[Justin A]

I believe there is one source of these wines which keep popping up at auctions around the world. None of the auction descriptions, if I recall correctly, contained anything about the provenance of the bottles. However, I think I remember being offered similar bottles as the ones being offered here privately and there was a convincing back story as to how the seller acquired them, but it did not reference anything about them being Borges wines, which, in my opinion, they are not.
FWIW, I think we tried the 1811 "Malvasia Candida" last month, and it was not a great wine.

[Matt K]

I missed this thread earlier but I bid on 2 lots in this auction won lot 1114. Estimated at $1400-1800, I threw out a low bid at $1250 a few weeks ago and, somewhat surprisingly, won. I also low bid lot 873 but was 20% off of the final hammer price...I wasn't super motivated because it was a 20 bottle lot and I only truly wanted like 8-10 of the bottles.

Lot 1114
- Vintage 1863, Boal, Abudarham (1)
- Vintage 1914, Boal, Abudarham (1)
- Vintage 1926 Boal, Cossart Gordon (1)
- Vintage 1944 Sercial, V. J. H crc (1)

Lot 873 (est $3000-4000, hammered at $3200)
- Vintage 1863 Malmsey Solera, Leacock (2)
- Vintage 1898 Boal Solera, Henriques & Henriques 2lbsl, 1ltal (2)
- Vintage 1950 Sercial, Royal 4sos(12), Sercial, Royal (1)
- Vintage 1952 Verdelho, Jubilee Selection, Royal (3)
Above 20 bottles

Lot 1114 arrived a few days ago.

[David Spriggs]

Wow! Nice!

[Matt K]

Thanks - I'm pretty happy with this buy. :)

[Mahmoud Ali]

Acker and expensive old bottles - not a good combination in my opinion. Of course I freely admit that I am no expert.

Cheers............Mahmoud.

[John M.]

Yes--just a few lots in the Sept 10 & 12 auction and large lots (17-30 bottles per)

[Gary Banker]

Yes--just a few lots in the Sept 10 & 12 auction and large lots (17-30 bottles per)

John,

I missed these. What are the lot numbers?

[John M.]

Gary...they are

346
347
918

just search on PORT and they pop up (with a few others)

[Eric Menchen]

Gary...they are
346
347
918
just search on PORT and they pop up (with a few others)

Those are some impressive lots, Taylor and Fonseca from great years.