Where to find less common ports in the UK

John Owlett · Post by **John Owlett** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:13 am

In a thread on the Port Basics forum, Roy urges me to widen my horizons and include in my short list some ports I know less well. Fair enough: but how do I find them?

There are two groups of wines that I cannot easily get from Berrys', which for most purposes frankly serves me very well. The first group comprises the grander wines, such as Quinta do Noval Nacional or Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha. Berrys' has a limited quantity of the latter: when I was at the Basingstoke shop recently I was told they had 30 bottles of 2004 QVVV coming ... but that it had all been sold "on allocation". How does one get to buy a couple of bottles of such a wine?

The other groups comprises the less common quintas. Wine-searcher will tell me where to buy a half-case of Quinta do Portal, but where can I find a trial bottle or two?

And where on Earth am I going to find Quinta da Cavadinha?

Later,

Dr Owl

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John Owlett, Southampton, UK

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 7:33 am

Tracking down specific wines at a specific time can prove frustrating.

I have a long shopping list, and pick up what I can when I can, mostly at auction. The provincial auctions, such as Dreweatt Neate and Straker Chadwick, often have have small value lots, while the London houses try to avoid hammer falls of less than £100.

Warre's Cavadinha does not often appear on merchant lists, but periodically turns up in the supermarkets - cast a quick glance at the port shelf each time you go shopping.

Also, try using wine-searcher

Tom

John Owlett · Post by **John Owlett** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 3:35 pm

Ah well, I shall just have to try to be patient and to keep my eyes open.

Thank you for the pointers, Tom. Dreweatt Neate, in particular, is no great distance away. I had no idea that it held auctions of wine.

Later,

Dr Owl

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John Owlett, Southampton, UK

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:34 pm

Sainsbury's are currently listing Cavadinha 1987 BTW

Tom

John Owlett · Post by **John Owlett** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:29 pm

Once again, thank you for the pointer, Tom.

I was in our local large Sainsbury's this afternoon, but they had no Quinta da Cavadinha in stock. They did, however, have several single-quinta/second-blend wines (Fonseca Guimaraens, Taylor Quinta de Vargellas, Graham Malvedos & Quinta do Crasto) so that clearly is a shelf I should look at from time to time.

Later,

Dr Owl

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John Owlett, Southampton, UK

Johannes Stadler · Post by **Johannes Stadler** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:48 am

Are these Auctions special for UK or does anyone know if they also exist in Germany? Would surely be a great place o pick up sth. from time to time.

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:54 am

There are regular auctions in Zurich, Amsterdam and Paris - I would expect them in Germany also, except that I cannot recall any..

Perhaps German law is a problem here - I don't know...

- strange...

Tom

simon Lisle · Post by **simon Lisle** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:27 pm

Johannes try the munich wine company for starters,there are several auction houses in germany that deal in wine I had a job finding them spending hours googling.The one I've mentioned is on wine searcher .com

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 3:43 am

John,

The only thing that I can suggest is that you keep looking at wine searcher. From time to time, one-off bottles will come up to the market. Four Walls Wine currently offer the 2000 Vargellas Vinha Velha for £108.20 plus VAT per bottle - I'm slightly surprised that hasn't shown up on wine searcher already for you since that was how I found the bottle I recently posted a tasting note on.

Naçional is not hard to find on wine searcher and occasionally comes up for auction, usually at one of the London auction houses. My quick look just now has shown UK retailers offering 18 odd vintages between 1960 and 2000.

Cavadinha is also not common but is not hard to find with a little help from winesearcher. Sainsbury's online wine retail appear to be offering the 1987 (which is an excellent and underrated vintage) for £20 per bottle.

Most wines can be found given enough time and patience, if you are prepared to wait for them to turn up.

Good luck.

Alex

John Owlett · Post by **John Owlett** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:26 pm

Thanks for that, Alex. Clearly I wasn't being at all expert in my use of Wine Searcher. So I spent a little time yesterday evening experimenting with its search engine -- using multiple search arguments and leaving the Vintage field blank -- and found the references you mention.

The Sainsbury's reference continued to puzzle me until I realized that the wines on sale at sainsburys.co.uk (where I had failed to find the Cavadinha) are different from those on sale at sainsburyswine.co.uk.

All I have to do now is learn to be patient.

Later,

Dr Owl

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John Owlett, Southampton, UK