1997 Warre VP for $40?

[Chris Doty]

Two retailers based in Chicago are blowing out their stocks of the W97 for $40 a pop and I wanted to see if the board had any thoughts as to how strong a buy this is.

I know a bunch of us had it at the BBR event last fall, my note from that was as follows:

"Again, in a bit of a strange phase, although J+P expressed the view that this is drinkable now (not sure I agree). In general, this is a lighter wine than most I've had from this vintage, not weak, but not really singing. And again, I really like the '97 vintage too (especially pristine bottles of Niepoort, which makes drinking all other bottles of '97 Niepoort so frustrating!)

85pts for drinking now ~90(?) at maturity?"

Thoughts

ps -- long time no see!!

[DRT]

He's alive!! He's alive!! Wooo-hooo!

Good to see you back here, Chris.

There are a couple of tasting notes here that are by no means spectacular, but at that price how wrong can you go?

Warre isn't a long-term option if you are looking for a blockbuster but at 20-30 years old it is normally very solid and then seems to quickly go into that elegant very mature phase, where it stays for decades. I would guess that this will be a very nice glass of port in 5 to 10 years from now and a good one to have for drinking rather than longer term cellaring.

More importantly, when are you coming home?

[uncle tom]

My hunch is that the 97's are moving into their 'Kevin' phase, and will give very mixed messages for the next few years.

'97 is a really hard vintage to get a proper take on - there are those who argue that it is the next '66, but I think we'll have to wait another five years or more to know for sure.

Curiously, I bought a case of W97 at Christies just a few minutes ago. It was bundled with 6 bottles of N97.

Bought the lot for 500 + BP..

- happy?, me?, Yes...!!

Tom

[PhilW]

Nice, congrats
I'm still a port auction virgin at the moment (not counting ebay!) and have not yet registered etc so have only been watching and information gathering. I would have bid on Lot3 (6xW91, 6xW94, 12xW97, went for £805). I'd also have been tempted by the 12xW00, 12xW03, 12xW07 which went for £748, though I'd be amassing too much too quickly for my current plans with that one).

[RAYC]

If Warre '97 were on sale here for approx. £25 all in per bottle i would certainly be taking 6 bottles - it seems a good price to me.

[Chris Doty]

Thanks for the input, all --- sounds like I'll be picking up some bottles.

DRT: I will try to make it over some time this fall, and as I was born on March 31st, the birthday tasting next spring is looking rather attractive

Tom: Sounds like a very nice score indeed. I also bought some port at auction this weekend, one lot contained a bottle each of the 77 Smith Woodhouse and the 87 noval ($85 + BP), one had 4 bottles of the 77 Sandeman ($100 + BP) and the last was 5 bottles of the 1970 Dow ($300 +BP), which I am splitting w/ G-Man.

Also purchased some vintages of Climens sauterens, assorted rhones, and a dozen barolos, but I know better than to mention those on this board.

RAYC: If I grab the W97, I'll happily tuck a bottle in a suitcase next time I come to town

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Chris

[RAYC]

RAYC: If I grab the W97, I'll happily tuck a bottle in a suitcase next time I come to town

I would take you up on that - please feel free to! I bought this (or, rather, the BBR own-selection version of this) in magnums so it would be nice to have a couple in single-bottle format so i can test how it is going from time to time.

[JacobH]

Warre isn't a long-term option if you are looking for a blockbuster but at 20-30 years old it is normally very solid and then seems to quickly go into that elegant very mature phase, where it stays for decades. I would guess that this will be a very nice glass of port in 5 to 10 years from now and a good one to have for drinking rather than longer term cellaring.

Derek, since they are probably beyond their use-by date, I’ll happily swap any bottles of the Warre 1970, 1966 or 1963 you happen to have in your possession for some 1991 (to give you time to drink it before it gets to old)

Incidentally, the Warre 1997 was the first bottle of full-declaration Vintage Port I purchased, though it seems I’ve never tried it as I’ve resisted the temptation to open it.

[DRT]

Derek, since they are probably beyond their use-by date, I’ll happily swap any bottles of the Warre 1970, 1966 or 1963 you happen to have in your possession for some 1991 (to give you time to drink it before it gets to old)

Unfortunately I have drunk them all as I hought they were about to go off?

[DRT]

DRT: I will try to make it over some time this fall, and as I was born on March 31st, the birthday tasting next spring is looking rather attractive.

Shall I put you down as a (t.b.c)?

Same rules apply as the others, you just need to confirm one way or the other by 31 Jan 2012. OK?

[Chris Doty]

Shall I put you down as a (t.b.c)?

Please! May as well make it a +1 while we're at it

[DRT]

Shall I put you down as a (t.b.c)?

Please! May as well make it a +1 while we're at it

Done.

[SushiNorth]

Just to add to this, there's a retailer near me that had regularly been "sale"-ing W00 and W03 at $40.