For The Love Of Port

Atlantic Wine has 3, 6 & 9 liter bottles of Warre's VP 2007 for sale...

Dear Wine Lover,
You may think that I'm a loon (most people do!), but this is one of the coolest things that we've been offered in a long time! Warre's, the prestigious Port house, has offered us a few large bottles of their outstanding 2007 vintage port. When I say large, I mean LARGE! We are able to offer this delicious wine in 3, 6 and 9 liter bottles. That's right.... a 9 liter bottle... a whole case of port in one big bottle!!! AND these bottles sizes are extremely rare, there are only 30 of each of these monsters for the entire world. If you have interest, let us know.

If you would like to reserve any of this wine simply respond to this email or call us at the shop:
The wines are coming from Portugal and will be available in August.

Regards,
Patrick

Warre's 2007 Warre's Vintage Port

3 Liter - $549.99
6 Liter - $1099.99
9 Liter - $1599.99

Atlantic Wine Inc. 3906 Roswell Rd. NE --- Phone: 404-846-5770
wineinfo@atlanticwineinc.com
http://www.atlanticwineinc.com

Wow, that's a huge premium over 750ml bottle pricing. Is that typical for Vintage Port in large format?

You're right--I was so stunned by the concept I did not pay much heed to the price. However, since there are only 30 in the world and I've never seen these sizes before, there must be a premium.

Question: If a 375 matures faster than a 750 which in turn is faster than a mag, how long would it take for a 9-liter bottle to mature?

John M. wrote:... how long would it take for a 9-liter bottle to mature?

Check Dirk's thread. He said the Demijohns (10 liter) age differently than 750s, not slower. IIRC he said "finer".

Tom D. wrote: Wow, that's a huge premium over 750ml bottle pricing. Is that typical for Vintage Port in large format?

Yes, actually. If you check closely you'll note that even magnums often cost more than two regular bottles.

The larger bottles are hand filled and hand corked, and sometimes (I think) they're even hand made. Plus they're so rare that it's not at all unusual to have to pay a fairly significant premium to get one. This is the first time I've ever seen them offered for sale, but then I've only been drinking Port for about 5 years.

John M. wrote:Question: If a 375 matures faster than a 750 which in turn is faster than a mag, how long would it take for a 9-liter bottle to mature?

At my age, and considering that these are 2007s, I'll never know.

The 2007 Warre is superb and will probably need a good 30 years to reach full maturity in a 750ml bottle. Larger bottles do seem to age more slowly, so it could easily be 40-50 years before a 9-liter bottle of 2007 Warre VP is deemed fully mature. As much as I hope to still be drinking Port in 50 years, the odds are fairly slim.

Know what you mean about 50 years--I'd be laying it down for my children or their kids....but it sure would be fun just to have one in your cellar (think about trying to finish it in 3 days--even with a lot of friends around ).

Wow, I always make sure I have friends to help finish a 750ml. I think a 3 liter even with a party would be a stretch to finish for me, maybe I need bigger parties. I can't imagine how many people you'd need to drink a 9 liter bottle, unless it was a FTLOP party. I'm guessing some of those larger formats are more collectibles than drinkers.

I do believe that some credit is due to Julian D. A. Wiseman for his campaign to persuade the shippers and the IVDP to allow such monsters to be produced and shipped. Well done Julian

Hurray for me!

At a dinner with other wine courses one needs half a bottle per person. So a 9L bottle is excellent for a 24-person dinner. Me want.

But I did ask that bottles up to a melchior be permitted: the Symingtons didn’t go quite that far.

Very cool to see these large formats being sold. 9 liters of Port ... now that is like a week's consumption ... in moderation, of course!

Nobody has posted the correct response to this, so I shall. Obviously what needs to be done is to acquire a ½-bottle, a 750, a magnum, a Jeroboam, an Imperial, and a Salmanazar, all ex-cellars. They need to lie next to each in a cool British cellar, undisturbed: lock the door, leave the key at the bank. Wait thirty years. Hope that enough of your friends have survived the intervening three decades of drinking. Then do a very large tasting.

Because there’s a ½-bottle, there can’t be more than six people at the tasting. Hopefully they will be thirsty.

(My 500th post: so it must be true.)

Re: HUGE BOTTLES of Warre's 2007
by Roy Hersh » Fri May 07, 2010 2:55 pm

Very cool to see these large formats being sold. 9 liters of Port ... now that is like a week's consumption ... in moderation, of course!

What we need is a FTLOP Convention! I suggest the NYC area--half way for the west coast folks and our European friends (& of course I live near NYC). Then a 9-liter bottle may not be enough .

J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:acquire a ½-bottle, a 750, a magnum, a Jeroboam, an Imperial, and a Salmanazar, all ex-cellars. They need to lie next to each in a cool British cellar, undisturbed: lock the door, leave the key at the bank. Wait thirty years. Hope that enough of your friends have survived the intervening three decades of drinking. Then do a very large tasting.

I'm in. But I can't be sure that I will last thirty years so nominate my son to take my place if I don't.

J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:Because there’s a ½-bottle, there can’t be more than six people at the tasting. Hopefully they will be thirsty.

Don't you mean "Because there's a ½-bottle, that will be enough for 6 Americans and the 6 Brits can take care of the 750, magnum, Jeroboam, Imperial, and Salmanazar"?

J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:Because there’s a ½-bottle, there can’t be more than six people at the tasting. Hopefully they will be thirsty.

Ummm, why not two (or more) ½-bottles? My 2007 Warre came today, some halves and full bottles. I doubt I can resist the halves for thirty years, however.

John M.,

We did a 3-day Gala Port Celebration in 2009. We will be skipping 2010 for lots of reasons. Planning is already underway for 2011, but most likely it will be here in Seattle (area) again. Still undecided on time frame, but keep your eyes peeled. I don't want to steal this thread though, so you can look up the one that was used most recently so we can get back to er, um ... large formats of Warre's VP.

J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:Nobody has posted the correct response to this, so I shall. Obviously what needs to be done is to acquire a ½-bottle, a 750, a magnum, a Jeroboam, an Imperial, and a Salmanazar, all ex-cellars. They need to lie next to each in a cool British cellar, undisturbed: lock the door, leave the key at the bank. Wait thirty years. Hope that enough of your friends have survived the intervening three decades of drinking. Then do a very large tasting.

Because there’s a ½-bottle, there can’t be more than six people at the tasting. Hopefully they will be thirsty.

(My 500th post: so it must be true.)

Do a Tontine. That way there will be just one taster.

Eric Menchen wrote:

J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:Because there’s a ½-bottle, there can’t be more than six people at the tasting. Hopefully they will be thirsty.

Ummm, why not two (or more) ½-bottles? My 2007 Warre came today, some halves and full bottles. I doubt I can resist the halves for thirty years, however.

Two ½-bottles: fabulous—slightly lowers the probability of being thirsty at the end of the evening. Of course, the two halves might differ, so all the tasters would need to taste both: implying a maximum of six tasters.

J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:

Eric Menchen wrote:

J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:Because there’s a ½-bottle, there can’t be more than six people at the tasting. Hopefully they will be thirsty.

Ummm, why not two (or more) ½-bottles? My 2007 Warre came today, some halves and full bottles. I doubt I can resist the halves for thirty years, however.

Two ½-bottles: fabulous—slightly lowers the probability of being thirsty at the end of the evening. Of course, the two halves might differ, so all the tasters would need to taste both: implying a maximum of six tasters.

If we have two halves, which might differ, it would be essential to have two of every other size so that the halves didn't have an unfair advantage.

Quote Derek T. Re: HUGE BOTTLES of Warre's 2007
by Derek T. » Tue May 11, 2010 10:46 am

J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:
Eric Menchen wrote:
J. D. A. Wiseman wrote:
Because there’s a ½-bottle, there can’t be more than six people at the tasting. Hopefully they will be thirsty.

Ummm, why not two (or more) ½-bottles? My 2007 Warre came today, some halves and full bottles. I doubt I can resist the halves for thirty years, however.
Two ½-bottles: fabulous—slightly lowers the probability of being thirsty at the end of the evening. Of course, the two halves might differ, so all the tasters would need to taste both: implying a maximum of six tasters.
If we have two halves, which might differ, it would be essential to have two of every other size so that the halves didn't have an unfair advantage.

Forgive me but you can drive a truck thru this one....."So this is the classic case of the Halves versus the Halves Not".....(big groan, I know)

Curious: Did anyone buy any of these bottles? Would love to see photos of them.