For The Love Of Port

Hello dear fellow madeira enthusiasts!!!

So I was perusing the Christie's e-catalogue of their London auction (that happened earlier today, although curiously I only got the email just 30 minutes ago) and saw a few ancient madeira for auction.

A 1715 was up for auction, but it looked like it had brand new wax on it.... In fact, in the description of the lot, it was indeed recorked by O.P Brothers in Dec 2015.

Does anyone know of these OP Brothers?

Christie's catalog also says this:
All wines were selected by
O.P. Brothers, two gentlemen with a keen eye for quality
Madeira. This collection was sourced from private island
collections and, after inspection and recorking where
needed, they were stored in the cellar of O.P. Brothers on
Madeira.

I really really hate hate hate to be so skeptical and suspicious, but without knowing anything about OP Brothers, I can't help but feel exactly this way.

I'm hoping that someone here can help my conscious feel good about the state of mischief in madeira (in that there hopefully isn't much mischief) and tell me that the OP Brothers are in fact very reputable and have a crystal clear record. Is it just me, or does it seem a tad weird that someone would recork that bottle? If the OP Brothers are reputable, then I suppose it would be more excusable. (If Ricardo had recorked it, for instance, I trust him and therefore would trust the bottle)

Hopefully someone has some good news about OP brothers! or perhaps votes of confidence for recorking ancient bottles.

Meanwhile, if anyone has any big scores from that auction, let us know!!!

I also found it odd that they only sent an email just before the auction. I didn't have time to bid.

I received an e-mail from Christie's today, but I also received one a week ago, "Your weekly sale update," that had the auction listed as well.

Hi Mark,

I had exactly the same query, but instead of posting here, I dropped Reidar a note - was reluctant to potentially smear someone's reputation without cause. Unfortunately he was travelling, so haven't (yet) got an update. But I'll be seeing him in a few weeks anyway.

I've come across these guys several times. They claim to have bought up old bottles from private cellars on the island (I knew this prior to the Christie's auction), and then offer them for sale with their own 'recently printed label' (although this is the first time I've seen recorking by them).

I also played it safe and have passed on all their bottles (so far).
Not sure if I kept a copy of their label (it seems almost too simple to be a fake!). If I did I'll post.

And I had early notification of the auction.

Alan

Edited to add - didn't keep a copy of label! But it's block capitals on a white background (IIRC).

I don't mean to pour gasoline on the fire, as I know nothing, But I did come across their website, which contains no information at all. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in.

http://opbrothersprivatecollection.weebly.com/

Thanks everyone.

And yes, Alan, I totally agree that I was hesitant to post here because I didn't want to be 'that guy' who automatically assumes the worst and points fingers. I certainly did not want to post "hey, look at these fakes" because honestly, I just don't have enough knowledge about the situation to make an informed decision either way. In keeping with my ignorance, I figured collectively there is a lot of 'knowledge' represented here in the forum that could contribute to the situation. I tried to put it politely as in "help with info about OP Brothers" while at the same time fully admitting my worries as being the reason why I was asking. I hope this doesn't open the door for people to jump to conclusions as that was not my intent, however poorly I may have worded my original post.

Thanks for asking Reidar. I'm rather optimistic in general, so I'm thinking this thread will have a happy ending!

Cheers,
Mark

Hi all!

First time I encountered these wines was in October 2015.

The Christie's auction was:

Fine and Rare Wines
Featuring a Vintage Port Tribute
to 200 Years of Fonseca
Thursday 22 October 2015
reference: FONSECA-10464

Several wines from the so called OP Brothers were presented and most were newly recorked.

These wines were described as "Recorked by O.P. Brothers Private Collection May 2015’."

By that time I was curious and asked a few Funchalese friends if they knew something about the OP's but...nothing.

Christies informed me that they themselves were on the island and (implicitly) gave me the understanding that the wines resp. the OP's were trustworthy.

Not knowing if these wines are sound and how they were stored as well as having NO tracking record I decided to not place bids on any OP Brothers bottles; neither for the Oct. 15 auction nor on any of the following 3 or 4 auctions where OP bottles showed up since then.

This is still my position and the more bottles appear from the OP's the more I uncertain I get.

I for one prefer my bottles either with original cork or in the case of recorked bottles such with certificate of the Adega itself; there is only 1 exception to the rule: Mr. Albuquerque. This way I can be 100% sure of the contents of my bottles. And this is what all my bottles are like.

So if anyone buys a OP bottle and opens it: please let us know your thoughts.

Thanks and greetings