For The Love Of Port

Trying to locate and buy ports with good provedence and prices from reputable sources is not always the easiest. So, I thought it would be nice if people could list the stores that they buy from. Hopefully the store has a web listing so the rest of us could shop there and be assured from fellow FTLOP members that the store is of good standards.

Here are a few that I have used with great results.

http://www.klwines.com

http://www.winex.com

http://www.whwineco.com

http://www.vinopoliswineshop.com/
http://winelibrary.com/default.asp
http://www.golden-west-wine.com

I have used these in past to buy port,and no problem.

htpp://winelibrary.com I have usedthemforseveral years for wine and port and I have always been satisfied.

htpp://zachys.com I have been buying wines from them since the early 80's. The one important aspect of doing business with them is ONLY buy when they have a major sale, otherwise the prices are out of line. Their auctions are good because the provonances of the wines are impecible.

htpp://pjwine.com Theri prices are always the lowest. Very satisfied with their service.

I have ordered futures from Zachy's and PJ's for several years and to date have always received what I have ordered. Again I only order futures from Zachy's when they have the firsr tranche pricing, if not I don't.

I just ordered from NapaCabs (1/11/06) http://www.wine-club-central.com. Yesterday they followed up with a confirming e-mail. This morning I have another e-mail giving me sepcific shipping info with a projected date of delivery. If it works this way wow and I will buy again from them.

My other sources are my local wine merchants. Over the years I have developed relationships with them and routinely get discounts (always ask) when I make purchases. I find the key to this approach is to save up a little then go in and buy 2-3 cases of fine wines. In todays market of a world wide wine glut, this gives you a little leverage. As your local merchants get to know you they will call you and let you know when they have or are getting the wines which you like.

Anyway this formula has worked for me.

My one big rule of wine is never ever buy unless it is a sale.

I haven't mail-ordered wine in some time now, mainly because there are well-stocked wine stores with good prices here in the SF Bay Area and paying shipping costs doesn't make sense in the price range in which I usually shop. If I were to get something like a Vintage Madeira, then I probably would use mail order.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Rare Wine Company:

http://www.rarewineco.com

They are the source for Vintage Madeira in the US - to the best of my knowledge, the few other American sources of Vintage Madeira buy from them. Their selection of Vintage Port is good also. I'm not sure if you can mail order Vintage Madeira directly from Madeira itself. (I started another thread on that question, but haven't gotten any answers yet.)

Here's some local (SF Bay Area) spots that I buy from, most of which also have mail order:

http://www.thewineclub.com
http://www.weimax.com
http://www.dandm.com

In San Francisco, The Wine Club and K&L (klwines.com) are within a few blocks of each other and are close competitors. The Wine Club seems to have a slight edge on prices - they seem to be slightly better at finding good discounts on good wines than K&L, but both are good sources. The Wine Club has two other retail outlets in California, in Santa Clara and Santa Ana.

Weimax is a store in Burlingame with an excellent selection of Port and all sorts of other sweet fortifieds - Madeira, Banyuls, Moscatel de Setubal, Dolce Monastrell, etc. They do mail order, but you have to call and arrange it with them rather than just order online.

I don't typically shop at D&M as their prices on "everyday" Ports and Madeiras (LBV, 10-year Malmsey, etc) are nothing to write home about, but they have a good selection of Vintage Port.

Another store worth mentioning is Beltramo's (http://www.beltramos.com) in Menlo Park. Their website isn't very developed yet - it only gives the store's location. They have a good selection of sweet wines however, including hard-to-find items like V Sattui California Madeira. Worth checking out if you're in the area.

Peter

Today, my travels took me through Sacramento, CA, and while there, I decided to swing by a store I'd heard was known for its Madeira and Port selection, Corti Brothers Grocery.

This is full gourmet grocery, but the real standout is the wine department, and in particular, their selection of sweet and fortified wines. The have a huge selection of Ports and Sherries of all kinds, and all sorts of other sweet wines - Banyuls, Muscats, even something I've heard of but never seen before - bottles of Superiore Marsala. Not the cheap stuff used for cooking, but aged, well-balanced (and rather expensive) Marsalas that meant for the wineglass rather than the saucepot.

But it was the selection of Madeiras that floored me. Most wine stores have, at best, half of a shelf devoted to Madeira. Corti Brothers has a selection taking up four or five full-size shelves of different kinds of Madeiras from a number of different houses. A complete line of Henriques & Henriques Madeiras - every variety and I believed 5-, 10-, and 15-year old examples of each. A large selection of Barbeito Madeiras, including some Barbeito Rainwater Madeira with an incredibly retro-looking label on it. (I almost bought it for the label alone.) I don't think Barbeito had used this label for years, and yet the bottles and label were new-looking and carried a distributor's stamp. They had all of the Broadbent Madeiras, including 10-year-old Malmsey at $28/bottle (before tax). They also had many of the usual MWC brands (Blandys, Cossart Gordon, Leacock's, Miles).

And that's not to mention the locked shelves of Vintage Madeiras and Ports, going back to the 19th century. Apparently, the owner Darrel Corti visits Madeira every year or so and does much of his own importing. Unfortunately, certain bottles in the collection are mainly for show (in effect, part of his private wine cellar), so you may not be able to buy some of the bottles on display. I saw a 500-ml bottle of Moscatel de Setubal Superiore for $62.50 which I was ready to snap up, but unfortunately, that was a keeper. I was told a few years prior, they'd had a whole stack of boxes of these out. Darn!

Another neat thing about this store is that they keep lots of empty bottles of very old and rare wines, including old Madeira bottles. These bottles are still corked, and if you pull the cork and smell, the wonderful bouquet of old Madeira is still readily apparent.

I was so taken with their Madeira selection that I never did explore the Port selection closely. I ended up buying an Henriques 10-year-old Sercial (which I've always wanted on hand as an aperitif) and an Henriques 15-year-old Malmsey. Tasting notes on these later.

The store is in Sacramento, CA at 5810 Folsom Boulevard (between 58th & 59th). The nearest freeway exit is the 65th St exit on I-50.

They have a website at: http://www.cortibros.biz . Strangely, the website has no mention of their Madeira selection.

Peter