For The Love Of Port

There is only 3 bottles left ... between two sizes of the 100 point rating by Suckling ... who called this the greatest Dow ever. That judgment call is up to you!

2007 Dow:

6 liter = $1099 USD. ... 1 bottle left.

9 liter - $1499 USD ... 2 bottles left.

Premier Cru: 510.644-9463 ext. 10 and ask for Mederick. Tell him you saw this on FTLOP.

There is NO financial connection, but I told him for letting me know that I would help him to promote these unusually large formats!

I see that they also have 2 cases (or more) of the 2007 Dow in regular 750's for those of us that aren't prepared to take on a montser bottle just yet!

Yes, but the 750 ml bottles had already been listed here by David. They are $89 and there were exactly 25 bottles left as of my posting earlier.

At the risk of asking a(nother) dumb question, if the 750ml bottles are available for $89 each, what incentive is there in purchasing these oversize bottles, if the 6L format works out to about $137 x 8 equivalent bottles, and the 9L format works out to $125 x 12 equivalent bottles? Will these oversize offerings improve the eventual quality and/or ageing potential of the wine?

Admittedly, an oversize bottle has one non-vinous advantage, they look like a million bucks, and can make even the most unphotogenic person, holding same, an interesting and pleasant sight. I can confirm this from direct experience, having just purchased a Jeroboam (a mere 3L) of California Pinot Noir. A large bottle just feels great, and brings a smile to the dourest of men.

Rarity i guess...i suspect there will be plenty of 0.75l bottles available to purchase in 20 years, but it will be a good deal harder to get a 6l or 9l bottle. (cf Graham 1994 available at £35 per bottle, versus EUR2,200 for an Imperial of it this week at Christie's).

I suspect there's also a bit of opportunism here from the retailer because of the 100 point score - i seem to recall the pricing on Niepoort 09 had a small premium for the 5l and 9l bottles (presumably reflecting the greater expense of non-standard bottles/cork) but that it was not significant.

The large format bottles are also typically bottled by hand, so there's more handling involved in their production which makes it more expensive.

I think the real difference comes from their rarity, though, with possibly a small premium being paid for the allegedly slower aging.

Thanks to you both. While I could appreciate a premium on aging potential, I have yet to see a reduction on a 375ml bottle by comparison to a 750ml bottle due to its presumed lack of ageing potential.

Q regarding ageing in these things: once you're up to 9litre / 15 litre bottles, what is the difference between these and one of the niepoort bon-bons used for garrafeira? Or is a producer essentially half way towards a garrafeira if they bottle some LBV in one of these?!

Rob C. wrote:Q regarding ageing in these things: once you're up to 9litre / 15 litre bottles, what is the difference between these and one of the niepoort bon-bons used for garrafeira? Or is a producer essentially half way towards a garrafeira if they bottle some LBV in one of these?!

I think the difference is the time spent in wood. The Niepoort bonbons are filled with wine that has been in wood for seven years. The wine is unfiltered but, I believe, is racked off the lees that it left in the cask.

Filling a 15l bottle with VP would create a far different environment in which the wine would mature in glass. Added to that is the fact that VP would have contact with the cork whilst the bonbons do not.

All that said, I think an experiment of tasting a Dow 1970 15l bottle against a Niepoort bonbon of 1970 is the only way to be sure

Yes - hence i was thinking more about an unfiltered LBV (a quick check shows Niepoort 1950 Garrafeira was put into demijohn in 1955 - i.e. spending 4-5 years in wood).

Hadn't appreciated the bon-bons were not corked - how are they sealed?