Laying down a Barrel of Port for your children. Question?

[Conky]

Quick one that pricked my curiousity.

The olden day tradition of buying a barrel of Port for your Son, and storing it until he came of age. What was the age, 18, 21 or did it vary? And how many modern day bottles would you get in a traditional Victorian (Or even earlier) barrel.

I'll do the research, if no-one knows, but I'd guess one of you do?

Alan

[uncle tom]

A traditional barrel of port - always termed a 'pipe' - normally holds 550 litres.

Allowing for a little wastage, it should be possible to fill 60 dozen bottles from one pipe - quite a respectable contribution to a gentleman's lifetime requirements, if a little monotonous..!

However, unless one has a taste for Colheitas, it should not be stored in the barrel, but bottled and laid down.

- A gentleman always comes of age at 21!

Tom

PS: As bulk exports are no longer permitted, this practice has come to an end - but it might be possible to do a discreet cash deal, stick a pipe in the back of a van (you'd need an engine crane) and smuggle one home.

Green glass bottles and wax capsules anyone??

T.

[Overtired and emotional]

I think that it was the butler's job to bottle the port and even claret which might come over in cask. The wasteage from cask to bottle must have reddened the butler's nose.

[Alex Bridgeman]

You can still buy a pipe of port to keep alive the old tradition of providing for your children / godchildren / grandchildren and ensuring that they have plenty of port to keep them going once they come of age. However, you can only do this in one of two ways:

(a) buy the pipe in Portugal and negotiate to have it stored in barrel in Portugal; or

(b) a few years back, Berry's put together an offer to sell a pipe of the 2000 port. This comprised 56 cases of mixed shipper ports including (and here I am being illustrative as I can't remember exactly what was in the offer) 6 Taylor, 6 Fonseca, 6 Graham, 12 Quarles Harris, 12 Smith Woodhouse, 12 Noval, 1 Nacional, 1 Vinha Velha. Sadly, the price tag of circa £20,000 meant that I couldn't take advantage of this offer - I wonder if Berry's did sell any?

Alex

[jdaw1]

Do we mean a pipe as a measure of volume—in which case it’s easy enough to buy enough cases—or do we mean a pipe as in a single wooden container holding approximately that volume—in which case it’s trickier?

[uncle tom]

Do we mean a pipe as a measure of volume

Although the IVDP always talks in hectolitres, all old records of production talk in pipes, and the productivity of quintas (and capacity of lagares) is still counted in this measure.

Although not all the pipes used in Portugal are the same size, the standard capacity is 550l

Tom

PS: here's an interesting link:

Measures book

PPS: Portuguese weights and measures are less than consistant - a pipe is 550litres according to Mayson, an almude is 16.8 litres according to the Portuguese wiki entry, but 26 x 16.8 is only 436.8litres..

But, if the sun's shining, who cares...

[Andy Velebil]

Whenever you make it to Portugal and into a producers cellars, pay particular attention to the markings on the barrels. Despite the standard size, they range in capacity quite a bit. I've seen up to almost 600 liters and as low as about 510 for a standard pipa.

[Conky]

Wouldn't it be great to be able to buy a Poor Mans Pipe, say around the size of a beer keg. Thats about 80pints. Imagine having an oak barrel of say F85, on tap, for years?

Well one can dream! Like Sideways Avatar! Would it last in that sort of condition? Or would the empty part of the barrel being consumed change things and spoil it?

Alan

[Andy Velebil]

Pipa's are topped off to keep them full. Evaporation rates vary depending on the humidity, temp, and how well sealed the barrel is. The less that is in the barrel means there is more surface area exposed to oxygen. So its would be like decanting your port and drinking it over months and months (to use a crude analogy).


BTW, you can still buy a pipa of Port from some producers. However, it must remain in their cellars until you decide when you want it bottled (so its really a colheita your buying, unless you bottle it between the second and third years of harvest). They take care if it (topping it off, etc) until you're ready.