For The Love Of Port

I get updates from a place in SF called Dee Vine Wines, a shop that specializes primarily in German wines. I have always had good experiences with them (no business relationship of any kind)

Their latest update had the following:

Quinto do Noval 1963 US$1,500
Quinto do Noval 1967 US$900
Quinta do Noval 1970 US$350

A quick e-mail confirmed that they were Nacional bottlings, but that they were already out of the '63. I picked up a couple of bottles of the '70 and thay are indeed Nacionals, and appear to be in pretty good shape. I dont know if any are left or not, but they had three left after I got mine.

Dee Vine Wines
http://www.dvw.com
1-877-389-9463

Jay

I've shopped at Dee Vines a lot for Germans. I've also attended a few tastings where they'll have some older (Pre 1971 wine law) wines to try. Didn't know they had much in fortified wines though.

I'm on their e-mail list due to my shopping there for Reisling, which as you say, they sure have a lot of. If you are looking for an obscure German wine you need look no further. They are also currently having a sale on a lot of young Reisling (picked up some of that as well!).

They have always had a small assortment of Port, but I had never used them for that before. I'll be keeping an eye on them for Port in the future.

Jay

Jay,

Were they really selling Nacional 63 at that price

That is about half the price it currently sells for in the UK. Someone got a bargain!

Derek

That is the best price I've seen on the 1970 in over a decade. A thrill ride of a Nacional too that should sell for double that (unless it is 375 kidding of course). The 1967 is a GREAT Nacional, but that is quite a bit over priced for it. I personally prefer it to the '70 but it is ridiculous with a $550 spread. $1500 is a very fine price. I bought 7 bottles for $9k two years ago and thought that was an exceptional price. One can never have enough of them. A friend was dying for some and he only had to pay $1500 at the time when I could easily have charged $2000-2500 per bottle. He returned the favor and opened one up after I delivered 'em.

That was really the price for the '63 and the '70. I thought the '67 was overpriced and so did not even inquire about that one, but someone a little faster than me picked up the '63. I'll have to be content with my 1970s, and finally feel like I got a reasonable price for some Port without moving to the UK

The 70s are now safely tucked into my cellar, and look to be in good shape (and their not 375s). Did anyone else pick some up? The bottles never appeared on their website, only their e-mail (hence the phone number I posted above).

Jay

Great going Jay. You're going to love that '70! Also, I don't believe that Nacional has ever been bottled in 375 and as you know, to this point, has never been bottled in Magnum either.

I may be looking for more vintages this fall in Portugal. Now my collection extends to only two vintages (the 70 and the 64, picked up on the '06 harvest trip). The lack of magnums I guess is not to surprising from what I recall of the size of the lager they were churning up the Nacional in during 2006. Each magnum would be a significant part of the harvest!

Jay

I still say Christian should have bottled 250 Mags of the 2006 in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the demarcation of the douro. I would have made sure that every one of the tour participants had the opportunity to buy one signed. It is not something out of the question and I am going to speak with Christian again about this.

I'm certainly up for one should it come to pass in the future!

Jay

Jay Powers wrote:Quinto do Noval 1963 US$1,500
Quinto do Noval 1967 US$900
Quinta do Noval 1970 US$350

Lord, that 1970 NN is something I could actually afford

I'm sorry I missed out on this. Possibly the only time I could ever have dreamed of sipping the sweet forbidden nectar of Nacional.<sigh>

Todd

*cough*

Todd, you didn't miss out by much. I just called them and bought the last 2 bottles of the 1970, and they are indeed Nacionals for $350.

If you would like one of them, I'm sure we can arrange for that to happen!

Maybe acquiring one of those bottles could serve as a little added incentive for you to come out here in October for a Dow's verticle. :twisted:

Ack! There was still some left?!?!?!?! :hoppingmad: :wall: :wall: :wall:

PM on its way...

Todd,

We're out of luck. They called me to say that after accepting my order they discovered that they'd taken duplicate orders for the bottles. Unfortunately, my order was the 2nd one.

They did say that I'd be first in line if they ever get more in stock, but at that price I suspect the odds of that happening are roughly equal to the chances of Bush being re-elected for a 3rd term.

Glenn E. wrote:Todd,

We're out of luck. They called me to say that after accepting my order they discovered that they'd taken duplicate orders for the bottles. Unfortunately, my order was the 2nd one.

They did say that I'd be first in line if they ever get more in stock, but at that price I suspect the odds of that happening are roughly equal to the chances of Bush being re-elected for a 3rd term.

Ouch... that hurts. I was excited about the prospect of actually getting my hands on a Noval Nacional! Ah well - I do want to thank you for your amazing generosity in allowing me to "share" one of these with you if you had gotten ahold of them though Glenn - truly very noble and kind.

Hmm, now, to go browse Jacob's remaining collection...

Todd