That's a big bottle of Niepoort!

[Eric Menchen]

Received an e-mail today from Vintage Berkeley and Solano Cellars. Apparently they are giving away this bottle to one customer in December picked from purchasers between November 17th and December 17th. I haven't figured out how to enter to win without making a purchase, which should be possible because if you can't enter without making a purchase, it is gambling, which isn't legal. I have purchased from Solano before--a bunch of 2005 and 2007 Niepoort VP.

[Hannes Erven]

"Unfortunately", this is "just" red wine aka Fabelhaft, not Port. Don't get me wrong, Fabelhaft is a great wine for casual drinking...

-hannes

[Peter W. Meek]

I just ordered an 18 liter bottle of Goretti Sagrantino di Montefalco (2004). I plan to open it on my 70th birthday. That's a pretty big bottle. Two cases of wine in one bottle.

[Roy Hersh]

Peter,

Hopefully you will still be able to lift it to pour that 18 liter bottle at that point in your life.

I remember doing so for a Poncho Auction in Seattle in 1998 and weighed close to 100 lbs. I was in a suit and it was quite the challenge and I was in much better shapen then. Good luck!

[Peter W. Meek]

Peter,

Hopefully you will still be able to lift it to pour that 18 liter bottle at that point in your life.

I remember doing so for a Poncho Auction in Seattle in 1998 and weighed close to 100 lbs. I was in a suit and it was quite the challenge and I was in much better shapen then. Good luck!

Hey! That's only 20 months away. I'm not deteriorating THAT fast. (Did you think I was some sort of KID???)

Seriously, I would like to make a pouring cradle, but even if I don't, it's easy to set the bottle near the edge of a table and tip it slowly, leaving the lower rim on the table. It's how I poured from the previous large format bottles I have opened for birthday and other summer parties. Four 3 liter and one 6 liter bottles, so far. I think large format bottles are very festive, so when I had a chance to meet Sara Goretti again, she said they could put any wine they made into large format bottles, and that they had up to 18 liter available. They even had a 22 that they could get, but the only person who ever got one was the guy who owns the Bugatti? Museum in CA, who had one for his wedding AT THE WINERY(!!!) and now had it on display at the museum. I hated to spoil his uniqueness, so I chose the plain old 18 liter size. (I wonder how much it will cost - it was never discussed. 24 x the retail of single bottles of the wine would come to just over $900.)

BTW, any FTLOPers in the area are welcome. Details as they firm up. (There will be some port available.)

EDIT: And I'm NEVER in a suit, so that difficulty is eliminated. I will try to get the pouring cradle designed and built, though.

[Moses Botbol]

I love the large format bottles. I am sucker for them; just wish I knew enough people to drink the ones I have so far.