Pointless Statistics

Anything to do with Port.
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PhilW
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by PhilW »

Looking back over 2017, this is the first year since starting to build up the cellar where I have taken more bottles out of the cellar than I have put in. At the of the start of 2018, my cellar comprises the following (2017 values in brackets for comparison):

Port by type:
81% Vintage/SQVP (82%)
9% LBV (9%)
3% Crusted (4%)
6% Tawny/colheita/white (6%)

Vintage port by shipper:
The producers with highest representation for VP in my cellar are Fonseca at 23% (23%), Warre at 22% (23%) and Graham at 9% (9%).

Vintage port by years:
The years with highest representation for VP in my cellar are 1970, 1985, and then 1977 (previously 1970, 1977 and then 1985).

The above figures show minimal overall change; the underlying detail also shows:
- a notable reduction in representation of '77s (due to drinking them).
- a notable increase in '85s (from purchasing).
- the lack of Dow has been partially repaired.
CPR 1
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by CPR 1 »

I am very late this year, but I have finally updated my stats. Thus I can see that as of 1st Jan 18 my port 'cellar' held the following:

Taylor 13% (15%) last year
Dow 12% (8%)
Fonseca 11% (14%)
Graham 9% (11%)
Warre 9% (8%)

If port is ready to be drunk at 21 years of age then 63% is 'ready' and the top 4 vintages are:

1977 12% (15%)
2011 10%
1994 9%
1970 8%

5.1% of my port is in magnum or Tappit Hen
4.3% is in half bottles

I opened bottles from 25 different vintages and 25 different shippers in 2017 (plus Tesco, Avery and BBR which I am not sure how to classify!) 6% was Tawny/Colheita, 6% was LBV and 12% SQVP
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uncle tom
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by uncle tom »

I was fairly restrained in my purchases last year - until two 'turkey shoot' sales cropped up late in the year at Bonhams and Christies.

This has resulted in my collection of vintage port now topping one thousand imperial gallons, with an average bottle age of just over one billion seconds.

The collective age of my VP now advances by one day every 14.5 seconds and is currently just under 192,000 years in total..
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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DRT
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by DRT »

uncle tom wrote: 14:17 Sun 11 Mar 2018my collection of vintage port now topping one thousand imperial gallons
:shock:

I recall you telling me about a decade ago that you planned to keep your collection at around 2,000 bottles. 500+ case is slightly more than that :roll:
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Would you believe it, this is my 10th annual posting of pointless statistics? I also had a look back to that first post and have noted how things have changed over the decade in italics.

At the end of 2018, I had a cellar which was composed of:
90.4% Port (90.8% last year; 82% in December 2008)
3.3% Bordeaux (3.4%;2008-7%)
1.2% Champagne (1.2%)
0.9% Australian (0.9%; 2008-2%)
0.8% South African (0.8%)
0.6% Spain (0.7%)
2.8% Other (2.2%), each less than 0.5% individually (including English, Hungarian, US, NZ, Lebanese, Portuguese, Chilean and other regions in France).

I added 257 (209) bottles of Port to the cellar this year, although quite a few came in and went straight back out as part of shared purchases. The oldest added was from 1920 (1870) and the youngest from 2016 (2015).

Using the 21 year rule, 64% (64%; 2008-42%) of my Port is ready for drinking, implying that almost none of my cellar comes from the 1998 vintage.

The average age of the Port in my cellar is 35 years and 135 days (34 years, 2 days).

88% (89%; 2008-96%) of the undrawn Port corks I own are in 75cl bottles, 8% (7%; 2008-4%) in half bottles or smaller and 4% (4%; 2008-none) magnum or larger. 66% (67%) of the containers hold Vintage Port (which includes Quinta do Noval but excludes Quinta do Vesuvio), 26% (26%; 96% was Vintage or SQVP in 2008) hold Single Quinta Vintage Port (including Quinta do Vesuvio), 5% (5%; 2008-2%) hold LBV, 1% (1%; 2008-2%) hold Crusted and 2% (2%) hold other stuff. I own 16 (9; 2008-1) bottles of Port which would be considered Colheita Port under current regulations.

The shippers making up the largest share of my Port cellar are Quinta do Vesuvio (14%, was 14%; 34%), Graham (9%, was 9%; 5% in December 2008), Warre (7%, was 7%) and Fonseca (7%, was 7%; 10% in December 2008). Looking only at the Port ready for drinking the picture changes slightly to be Warre (10%, was 10%), Fonseca (9%, was 9%), Graham (8%, was 9%) and Vesuvio (8%, was 9%).

8% (8%; 0%) of my port is from the 2011 vintage with another 7% (8%; 13%) from 1963; 5% (6%; 9%) is from 1994.

I have 564 different Ports in my cellar.

Pointless statistics on my tasting notes will follow at some point in the future when I have caught up with my tasting notes.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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uncle tom
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by uncle tom »

For the eighth year in a row I consumed exactly 48 bottles of vintage port at home last year, with an average age of 43.8 years compared to 44.1 years in 2017

I currently have 874 different ports, of which 616 are vintage.

Average age of my VP as of Jan 1st was 32 years, ten months and 24 days

Collectively, my vintage port gains another bottle year of age every 88 minutes and 5 seconds (16.35 years per day)
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
CPR 1
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by CPR 1 »

Thus an update to my Pointless Statistics.....

In 2018 I opened bottles from 29 different vintages from my cellar. With 1977 being the vintage with I opened most often, followed by 1970 and 1966.

Graham was again the favourite shipper being opened more than 50% more often than any other and ahead of Warre and Dow in 2nd and 3rd places.

Despite my best efforts to drink down the cellar the overall number of bottles in the cellar seem to have been multiplying again this year. I now find that only 60.5% (63%) of my bottles are ready to be drunk, indicating I bought some 2016 and could not resist the relative value of 2000/03 VP, and that these purchases outweighed the older VP purchases.

The shippers in my cellar have been changing and are now much more equally distributed:

Graham 11% (9% last year)
Taylor 10% (13%)
Fonseca 10% (11%)
Warre 10% (9%)
Dow 9% (12%)

With the vintages being led by 1977 11% (12%), 2011 10% (10%) and 1994 9% (9%)

I seem to have lost track of my non fortified wine which I must remedy thus not sure the current % that Port makes up in the cellar.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Charles's note has made me realise that I can also talk about the bottles which came out of my cellar this year, without having to wait to finish typing up my tasting notes.

The shippers which came out of my cellar most often in 2018 were Warre (11 bottles including Cavadinha) followed by Dow (9 bottles) and Graham (9 bottles including Malvedos). The vintages which came out most often were 1963 (9) and 1985 (8).
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
PhilW
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by PhilW »

As I enjoy reading the same from others, here is my own updated cellar stats looking back over the last year.
At the of the start of 2019, my cellar comprises the following (2018 values in brackets for comparison):

Port by type:
80% Vintage/SQVP (81%)
7% LBV (9%)
3% Crusted (3%)
10% Tawny/colheita/white (6%)

Vintage port by shipper:
The producers with highest representation for VP in my cellar are Warre at 22% (22%), Fonseca at 21% (23%) and Graham at 8% (9%).

Vintage port by years:
The years with highest representation for VP in my cellar are 1970, then 1985 and 1977 tied (previously 1970, 1977 and then 1985).

Overall no large changes, except for the increase in tawny/colheita.
winesecretary
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by winesecretary »

This thread above all others is the one that led me to become active in this group, I find it oddly soothing to read and re-read. So I spent some pleasant time over the new year break doing a comprehensive cellar audit.

As at 03/01/2020 my cellar comprises the following:

Unfortified 57.6%;
Fortified 41.4%; and
Spirits 0.8%.

45.5% of my cellar is Burgundy (i.e. 78.9% of unfortified wine) and 3.3% is Rhone. Of my unfortified wine no other region or country reaches even 1.5% of the total.

Fortified wine, as a percentage of the whole cellar, breaks down as follows:

Port 34.6% - I have been drinking some but buying more;
Madeira 4.5% - I have been drinking some, and not buying much; and
Sherry 2.1% - I am surprised this is as high as it is, it's more because it doesn't get drunk than because it does.

Of my fortified wine, port thus makes up 83.6%.

Considering solely the port:

7.2% is SQVP;
91.1% is VP (including Vesuvio); and
1.7% is other types of port.

8.2% (by volume) of my port is in halves, and 91.8% in bottles. I have no magnums or larger bottles.

Using the 21 year rule, 49.7% of my port is ready for drinking. Using the 30 year rule this percentage falls to 29.0%.

By decade, my port stocks break down as follows:

2010s 25.3%;
2000s 23.7%;
1990s 20.7%;
1980s 18.1%;
1970s 8.9%;
1960s 1.3%; and
1950s 0.6%.

By shipper the percentages are as follows.

M&S 16.8% - all of it purchased this year, I could not resist the challenge of tracking down ever more £6 VP;
Taylor 16.1%;
Warre 11.0%;
Graham 10.2%;
Dow 8.9%;
Fonseca 7.6%;
Vesuvio 6.3%;
Croft 4.3%;
Niepoort 2.3%;
Smith Woodhouse 2.3%;
Gould Campbell 2.1%; and
Quarles Harris 2.0%.

No other shipper reaches 2.0%.

I have 88 different ports from 27 different vintages.
PhilW
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by PhilW »

That was a good early reminder! Ok then...
At the of the start of 2020, my cellar comprises the following (2019 values in brackets for comparison):

Port by type:
84% Vintage/SQVP (80%)
9% LBV/Crusted (10%)
7% Tawny/colheita/white (10%)

Vintage port by shipper:
The producers with highest representation for VP in my cellar are Warre at 19% (22%), Fonseca at 17% (21%) and Graham at 9% (8%).

Vintage port by years:
The years with highest representation for VP in my cellar are 1970, 1985, and then 1977 (previously 1970, then 1985 and 1977 tied).
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uncle tom
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by uncle tom »

Yet again, I kept to my target of 48 bottles of VP drunk at home last year, with a collective age of 2161 years, an average bottle age of just over 45 years; topping the previous year's record of 44.1 years. The oldest vintage drunk was 1955 (3 bottles) and the youngest 1995 (1 bottle). As usual, I observed my rule of not drinking the same VP twice at home in one year.

Total stock of VP has now crept past the 6000 bottle mark with a collective age that now tops 200,000 years
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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DRT
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by DRT »

uncle tom wrote: 08:59 Sun 05 Jan 2020Total stock of VP has now crept past the 6000 bottle mark with a collective age that now tops 200,000 years
Tom, I think you might have failed in your objective of just over a decade ago of not going over 2,000 bottles :lol:

That is a seriously impressive cellar you have. I am quite sure many Port shippers have less impressive Pointless Statistics in terms of age, if not quantity.

Bravo!
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Andy Velebil
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Andy Velebil »

DRT wrote: 22:04 Sun 05 Jan 2020
uncle tom wrote: 08:59 Sun 05 Jan 2020Total stock of VP has now crept past the 6000 bottle mark with a collective age that now tops 200,000 years
Tom, I think you might have failed in your objective of just over a decade ago of not going over 2,000 bottles :lol:

That is a seriously impressive cellar you have. I am quite sure many Port shippers have less impressive Pointless Statistics in terms of age, if not quantity.

Bravo!
:lol: :lol: Looks like I may have to make a trip across the pond to help Tom reduce back down to 2,000.
PCM
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by PCM »

uncle tom wrote: 08:59 Sun 05 Jan 2020 Total stock of VP has now crept past the 6000 bottle mark with a collective age that now tops 200,000 years
48 bottles per year, more than 6000 bottles!! How old are you planning to be :o ??
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uncle tom
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by uncle tom »

PCM wrote: 14:05 Mon 06 Jan 2020
uncle tom wrote: 08:59 Sun 05 Jan 2020 Total stock of VP has now crept past the 6000 bottle mark with a collective age that now tops 200,000 years
48 bottles per year, more than 6000 bottles!! How old are you planning to be :o ??
I like to be optimistic! - I've also got 2200 bottles of non vintage port and 1200 bottles of wine to get through.. 88)

An odd little calculation:

If I started at my oldest bottle of VP and worked forward at 48 bottles p.a., the youngest vintages to be drunk would be 1969/70 in 2037/8 when they would be 68 years old. Thereafter they would get older and older.
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

uncle tom wrote: 11:55 Tue 07 Jan 2020An odd little calculation:

If I started at my oldest bottle of VP and worked forward at 48 bottles p.a., the youngest vintages to be drunk would be 1969/70 in 2037/8 when they would be 68 years old. Thereafter they would get older and older.
Now that is the most wonderful Pointless Statistic. I need my spreadsheet...
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

winesecretary wrote: 10:47 Fri 03 Jan 2020 This thread above all others is the one that led me to become active in this group, I find it oddly soothing to read and re-read. So I spent some pleasant time over the new year break doing a comprehensive cellar audit.

As at 03/01/2020 my cellar comprises the following:

Unfortified 57.6%;
Fortified 41.4%; and
Spirits 0.8%.

45.5% of my cellar is Burgundy (i.e. 78.9% of unfortified wine) and 3.3% is Rhone. Of my unfortified wine no other region or country reaches even 1.5% of the total.

Fortified wine, as a percentage of the whole cellar, breaks down as follows:

Port 34.6% - I have been drinking some but buying more;
Madeira 4.5% - I have been drinking some, and not buying much; and
Sherry 2.1% - I am surprised this is as high as it is, it's more because it doesn't get drunk than because it does.

Of my fortified wine, port thus makes up 83.6%.

Considering solely the port:

7.2% is SQVP;
91.1% is VP (including Vesuvio); and
1.7% is other types of port.

8.2% (by volume) of my port is in halves, and 91.8% in bottles. I have no magnums or larger bottles.

Using the 21 year rule, 49.7% of my port is ready for drinking. Using the 30 year rule this percentage falls to 29.0%.

By decade, my port stocks break down as follows:

2010s 25.3%;
2000s 23.7%;
1990s 20.7%;
1980s 18.1%;
1970s 8.9%;
1960s 1.3%; and
1950s 0.6%.

By shipper the percentages are as follows.

M&S 16.8% - all of it purchased this year, I could not resist the challenge of tracking down ever more £6 VP;
Taylor 16.1%;
Warre 11.0%;
Graham 10.2%;
Dow 8.9%;
Fonseca 7.6%;
Vesuvio 6.3%;
Croft 4.3%;
Niepoort 2.3%;
Smith Woodhouse 2.3%;
Gould Campbell 2.1%; and
Quarles Harris 2.0%.

No other shipper reaches 2.0%.

I have 88 different ports from 27 different vintages.
It is wonderful to read the statistics of other Port lovers. Thanks to George, Phil and Tom for posting - and others please feel free to post if you're thinking of doing so.

I've been surprisingly busy the last few weeks and particularly the last few days, but I will post my Pointless Statistics for end 2019 before too long.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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nac
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by nac »

As at close of play on 7th January 2020, I believe my total stock of port to be 699 bottles (of varying sizes).

74% is resting in my cellar and the remainder is in bond.

73% is "normal" Vintage Port; an additional 5% is what I've described as "Premium Vintage Port" (ie, Nacional, Stone Terraces, Capela); 19% single quinta; 5% colheita.

77% is in 750ml (or similar) bottles; 18% halves; 4% magnums; 1% each for Tappit Hens and double-magnums. The figure for halves is skewed by 24 each of TV and FG 2012.

30 shippers are represented, with a top 5 of Taylor at 28%, Fonseca 19%, Noval 13%, Warre 10%, and Vesuvio 6%. The high figure for Noval is largely due to the 60bts from 2012/13/14.

There are 47 different vintages with 2012 coming top at 14% (again skewed by 36bts of Noval). Only four vintages in the top 10 meet the "21 year old ready-to-drink" rule - 3rd 1970 8%, 8th 1977 4%, 9th 1963 3%, and 10th 1997 3%.

There are 130 different ports.

Only 38% of the total are "ready".

The last two decades account for 62%, and after these the biggest representation is the 1970s (13%).

Total age of contents = 8,749 years.
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uncle tom
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by uncle tom »

Only 38% of the total are "ready"
What is your definition of 'ready'?

For VP, mine crept forward over the years from 18 years to 21 and then 24 and finally to 24 'for investigative purposes' and 30 for mainstream drinking.
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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nac
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by nac »

uncle tom wrote: 14:11 Wed 08 Jan 2020
Only 38% of the total are "ready"
What is your definition of 'ready'?

For VP, mine crept forward over the years from 18 years to 21 and then 24 and finally to 24 'for investigative purposes' and 30 for mainstream drinking.
I've used the 21 year rule for the calculation, but the reality is that I'm still unlikely to be drinking 97s yet. In fact, for VP currently not drinking anything younger than 1983...
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nac
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by nac »

nac wrote: 18:06 Wed 08 Jan 2020
uncle tom wrote: 14:11 Wed 08 Jan 2020
Only 38% of the total are "ready"
What is your definition of 'ready'?

For VP, mine crept forward over the years from 18 years to 21 and then 24 and finally to 24 'for investigative purposes' and 30 for mainstream drinking.
I've used the 21 year rule for the calculation, but the reality is that I'm still unlikely to be drinking 97s yet. In fact, for VP currently not drinking anything younger than 1983...
Using a 30 year rule "ready" falls to 28%.
winesecretary
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by winesecretary »

@nac - question - why so much 12/13/14 Noval? Do you feel it is a house that is on a particular roll in those years, or is there a back story of which I am not aware?
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nac
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by nac »

winesecretary wrote: 23:02 Wed 08 Jan 2020 @nac - question - why so much 12/13/14 Noval? Do you feel it is a house that is on a particular roll in those years, or is there a back story of which I am not aware?
2012 was a "strategic purchase" - was offered 3 bottles of the Nacional 2004 with 3 cases of the Noval. Then picked up individual cases of 13 and 14 in subsequent years.
winesecretary
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by winesecretary »

@ nac - Given how the price of the 04 Nacional has leaped up since release, that sounds like a very good deal indeed!
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