For The Love Of Port

Love the buyer's opportunities. Finances are the limiting factor for myself as well. I spent heavily at auction last year, maybe 3 or 4 years worth for me normally. I also like most those items difficult to find for myself such as Portal or Quevedo. Would love to see more Colheitas.

Roy Hersh wrote: Daniel R.,

In most cases it is not possible for American wine importers/distributors or retailers to sell wine to companies overseas. The paper work to circumvent "the powers that be" or try to work within the bureaucracy is next to impossible. This is no different than trying to get Portugal companies to ship here. It is nearly impossible unless one has an import license. It is doable ... here, but it is VERY expensive. I am sorry that it is so difficult, but you must understand as you can't even find these Portuguese beauties in your own country. Kind of like someone from Hong Kong asking me to ship them fireworks. ; )

I understand perfectly, and thanks for the explanation, I was just explaining why I am not buying!

For me, the desire to become a member was to see what could be produced in these sales for pricing but also for high quality / hard to find things. I am not expecting screaming deals like $100 nacional or something, but my interest for collecting would be mainly vintage and very old rare cohleita's for the cellar as opposed to 10 to 20 year tawnies. I would look to participate in vintage or rare cohleita's even if they are jsut priced competitively, they don't have to be the cheapest on wine searcher if they are sourced with good provenance. I would think of my subscription as more for access to hard to find top of the line, it doesn't need to be a screaming price necessarily.

I was closest to ordering the Quinta do Crasto Reserva 07...but then I forgot about it...

Roy - As I am still building up a decent port and Madeira cellar, I look forward to more buying ops. That said, I, too, would love to see some opportunities to get older ports, both vintage and especially colheitas, and Madeiras. I still kick myself for missing with the Quevedo buying op .

I appreciate all the work it takes to arrange these. Thanks.

Peter,

Glad you figured it out. I am not sure if it was your computer's cache, but I would think that had to be it. Yes, there are a few hundred pages to make your way through while sipping. Enjoy!




Melanie,

If you remind me when I see you next week, I might find a moment to give you the unabridged version. But to dramatically simplify the entire issue ... it is all about the producer and importer protecting the interests of their distributors and retailers.




Glenn wrote:

This last one may have just been a perfect storm where some one thing - the economy, the season, the pricing, the selection, whatever - wasn't right for most of us, so in combination it made for a poor aggregate purchase

You could certainly have hit the nail squarely on the head. I dunno.




Alex,

In theory that is a great idea. In reality, due to the arcane regulations of interstate shipping here in the 50 countries of the US, (ONLY applicable to liquor sales in this case) those that run wine storage facilities are unable to ship without licenses which are expensive. Shipping to private individuals (by a wine "storage" facility) across state lines ... er, would require some serious legal protection, like having The Godfather as a brother in law. Sadly, our country does not allow THAT type of freedom. It can be done, but it is very expensive to set up and filing a license means having to do a major long form multi-page application with EVERY state ... and paying a fee and a promissory note re: paying of taxes in said state ... that they'd be shipping to. I am not wealthy enough to afford lawyers to do that. The types of non-retail or winery companies that can get that done ... have extraordinary "connections" ... legal and otherwise.



Eric I.,

We have had LOTS of Colheitas, from Noval/Kopke/Quevedo and more. Anyway, I always consider the full spectrum of categories of Port/Madeira/Douro whenever possible. I am willing to put in a $5 Ruby if I can find it and it is good. I am equally thrilled to include a $500-1500 bottle rarity (e.g. that Burmester one off Op).




Russ,

I totally get where you are coming from. That's why, I worked for several months to make the 1890 Burmester deal work out for FTLOP. Believe it or not ... there were a significant quantity of those bottles sold, even though the price was pretty crazy high. I did not expect that. I was shocked that it was so popular. Mature VINTAGE Port is not as easy to do, because even the importers in the USA don't stock much of it. That is something I'd have to work out directly with the producer, the way TFP Mag opportunity went down in 2010. I am so sorry you missed out on that 2007 Q d Crasto Reserva ... a VERY spectacular version of that fine bottling.




Sandy B.,

You are most welcome sir. Finding old Colheitas is much easier for me than old VPs. That is not easy. But the ideas I've read in this thread have made me at least see that there is continued interest to move forward and continue to look for more ops in 2011. BTW, the newsletter goes into Stewart's hands tonight and then I am free to send you the itinerary as promised. It is going to be one awesome trip in Feb. and I am really looking forward to having you and Mrs. B with us again!




To all,

Thank you for sharing feedback. This thread is a good read for me to see that people do care and do enjoy the Buyer's Ops. It also gave me some insight (although if you have more ... I am still reading here :) into what you are all looking for. Less is more, and possibly the frequency needs to be slowed down so people have a chance to regroup (funds & space) but your input is invaluable and I truly thank those who took the time to relay their thoughts!

It's easier to get old Colheitas? I'm curious why that is. Could we maybe just build a pipeline that funnels them directly into my house?

Roy Hersh wrote:Less is more, and possibly the frequency needs to be slowed down so people have a chance to regroup (funds & space) but your input is invaluable ...

The Buyer's Ops are a great opportunity, but not my only buying. Given that, I'll probably only participate in one or two per year.

Melanie,

Arguably, Colheitas have more stability and sale-ability on a wine shop shelf today than Vintage Port. At least I know I'd rather buy a Colheita that's been on a shelf, for a few years even, rather than a VP which will be typically standing up/exposed to flourescent lighting, with temp. fluctuations etc.

Nonetheless, the real reason is that there are just way too few old Vintage Ports brought into the USA directly from Portugal. So when older ones come in from auctions, gray market sources and even old UK clubs and schools selling off stocks ... those normally wind up in online marketeers' websites rather than brick and mortar wine shops in the USA. Sad but true. Whereas, old Colheita can be bottled tomorrow and come over here looking fresh as a daisy, a few months out of cask.

It all boils down to provenance and availability. That's why always buying on the cheap, is not the best strategy ... unless you don't mind taking risks with drinking pleasure down the road. For me, there is nothing as sad as opening a bottle that's been in your cellar for years ... only to have it show poorly. Most people look at those bottles and IF they can tell that something is wrong with the Port, (many have no idea it is even "lacks any sign of typicity") blame its poor showing on a cork flaw. Often times it is not that at all. The bottle has crossed the ocean being sold back and forth, or was kept in a passive cellar with wild temp. swings and then sold off by a knowing owner and so many other similar dynamics related to poor storage and handling.

This has mostly been covered by now, but what the heck...

It was the curiosity of a buying op that moved me to subscribe a few years back, and I value them a great deal. There may have been one that I missed, but other than that, I've bought a decent amount from each of them, including the recent one, and expect to continue to do so.

I would love to see more colheitas. I do not find too many of those, and do not have so much time to look. One of the things I enjoy about the buying ops is the convenience. Between work, family, etc., I don't have much time to devote to searching for interesting ports to buy, and the buying ops are a big help in that regard. The pricing is great, but even competitive pricing in my opinion is attractive simply because it's a selection that Roy has some regard for that does not require alot of research time by me. So for that Roy, thank you.

I don't have a strong desire for a repeat of the last one, as I bought what I was interested in already. That said, I suspect a few more 10 and 20yr Ferreira's would find their way into my cellar if it was offered.

Bryan H. wrote:I suspect a few more 10 and 20yr Ferreira's would find their way into my cellar if it was offered.

Same here. I could not buy from last offer - so I would love a redux. The Ferreira 10 & 20 year old are some of my favorites in that category.

OK, I'll give that some more consideration and when do you think it would be best to do the offering ... would March work?

March or even better - April would work for me!

April sounds good...