Benchmark Wine--pre-arrival ports

[Mike C]

Benchmark sometimes can be beat on price, but I've never seen them offer so much port. Here's the e-mail I got. Hope these work for someone--I'm still thinking about it.

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You can thank this lovely European collector for storing these fantastic ports for the last 20+ years... He bought them on release and has let them age slowly in his cellar until now. You can't put a price on that level of provenance, but we did - and it is the lowest price in the country! The icing on the cake is that they are finally ready to drink! Pre-Arrival.

Taylor Port 1955 ~ 12 @ $369 MB**** "Still fairly deep-coloured; a vast, deep, high-toned, spicy nose; fairly sweet, full-bodied, packed with fruit, extract, tannin and acidity. Taylor backbone and '55 vintage flesh which, I trust, will outlive its spirit and tannin." - Michael Broadbent

Dow Port 1963 ~ 12 @ $199 WA92, WS92 "This is a wonderfully silky and rich wine. Deep and concentrated raspberry and cherry character, with a hint of spice. Full-bodied and very sweet, with layers of fruit and a long finish." - Wine Spectator

Cockburn Port 1983 ~ 12 @ $105 WS97, WA95 "A big, tough Port for long-term aging. It underlines what people mean when they say a great young vintage Port should overpower one's plate with fruit and tannin. Inky color, with perfumed cherry and berry aromas, full-bodied, with tons of tannins, intense cherry and berry flavors and a lingering finish." - Wine Spectator

[champagnes deleted]

Portugal
Barbeito Boal Historic Series Boston NV ~ 12 @ $47 WS90 (Pre-Arrival)
Broadbent Madeira 1964 ~ 2 @ $197 (In-Stock)
Graham`s Port 1963 ~ 1 @ $285 WA96, WS97 (Pre-Arrival)
Graham`s Port 1966 ~ 4 @ $199 WS93 (Pre-Arrival)
Kopke 30 Year Old Tawny Port NV ~ 12 @ $100 (Pre-Arrival)
Kopke Colheita Port 1957 ~ 2 @ $363 (Pre-Arrival)
Kopke Colheita Port 1977 ~ 5 @ $119 (Pre-Arrival)
Kopke Dry White Port NV ~ 11 @ $53 (Pre-Arrival)
Quinto do Fojo Duoro 2000 ~ 2 @ $73 (Pre-Arrival)
Smith Woodhouse Port 1985 ~ 3 @ $65 WA90 (Pre-Arrival)
Taylor Port 1963 ~ 1 @ $325 WS97 (Pre-Arrival)
Taylor Port 1977 ~ 4 @ $179 WS98 (Pre-Arrival)
Warres Port 1963 ~ 4 @ $249 WS92 (Pre-Arrival)
Warres Port 1985 ~ 3 @ $76 WS91, MB****/* (Pre-Arrival)

Cheers! Whitney/Kari, sales@benchmarkwine.com, 707-255-3500

[Andy Velebil]

Thanks Mike, there are some good prices and some not so great prices there.

And the Kopke NV Dry White Port...don't buy it! It's their basic dry white Port that retails for about $15/bottle. I've been in email contact with them about the pricing mistake since last week. They've sent me pictures and I confirmed it was the basic Dry White. The response was that when they get around to repricing things that would be first up on the list, but no time frame...so they are obviously trying to sell it at the higher price first. While I've bought from them before and had great experiences, this reply was a bit troubling to me.

[Mike C]

You're right Andy--that is a little off-putting.

Whenever I've checked, lately anyway, Vinfolio.com has beat these guys.