Good port retailers in London

[roel]

I'll be in London next Saturday, by car. Good opportunity to stock up on some ports which are hard to find on this side of the channel.

I'm primarily looking for (reasonobly priced) Niepoort 2007 (full case), '83, '80, '77, '75 and '70 (1 to 5 bottles each depending on the vintage).
I'm also interested in single bottles of other 1975 vintages.

Any good addresses that would be recommended? I prefer not having to drive into the congestion zone and will probably be parking at the
Q-park at Butlers Wharf. So anything in central london (I don't mind carrying a few bottles around) or south-east towards the M20
is perfect.

Roel.

[RAYC]

You will be lucky to find any of these in/around London (and older Niepoort is generally hard to find in the UK).

Raeburn in Edinburgh have old Niepoort wines every now and again.

Otherwise, in London, BBR have some odds and ends in their St James's store (though not everything that is on the website, and some additional things on top of what is listed on the website). Very little Niepoort, but they may still have a '77 Garrafeira available if you're feeling flush!Fortnum and Mason have a nice range of portuguese wine and port.

Good wine merchants outside London (that sell port) which i have used include Wilkinson, Seckfords, Nickolls and Perks.

Otherwise Fine and Rare or Winesearcher are your best bets for odd bottles.

If ordering to London, be aware that many merchants have restricted delivery over the next few weeks due to the Olympics.

[roel]

Thanks for the info!

I have used F&R before, but that takes a bit more preparation (and a UK shipping address to have everything delivered prior to my arrival). This trip will be a quick hit-and-run - arriving at noon and returning home in the evening.

So I was just wondering whether there are some retailers in the central London area that have a good stock of older ports for reasonable price levels and worth a visit. BBR is a good tip - never been there and will sure visit them sometime in the future. But probably too far west for this trip - already on a tight schedule with a theater visit (matinee), dinner, evening plans and tight timeslots on the eurotunnel - it's a busy weekend for them, a lot of timeslots already sold out. Damn olympics

Roel.

[JacobH]

Assuming that you’re watching a show somewhere in the West End, Berry Bros isn’t that difficult to get to: the nearest Tube, Green Park, is on the Piccadilly and Victoria lines which go through the West End and will take you back to Kings Cross St Pancras for the Eurostar in about 10 minutes.

Although there is quite a lot of older Port washing around the UK Wine Merchants, I think Berry’s is about the only one which has a selection available for sale in central London. Others (including Fortnum’s) might a have a couple but not a great deal of choice.

[DRT]

Harrods also have some older vintages, but are at Harrods prices.

You could also try Davy's Wineshop, which is the online wine shop of the Davy's wine bar chain. They have quite a lot of Vintage Port on their list (which you can download from the page linked to above) and you can arrange to have your purchases delivered to any of their wine bars/restaurants for collection.

[roel]

Going even further east, all the way to Harrods, will really mess up my itinerary for the day. I have a couple of other people to take into account, and they will probably view buying port as a waste of time .

But as far as I can see (central) London is not a good place to shop for older ports. What I've seen so far online are pretty limited selections and price levels that are equivalent to prices here. I'll probaby place another order with F&R at sometime in the future, they've got a few wines that would fill some gaps in my collection. If they would just ship to the Netherlands - it would make arranging an order a lot easier!

Thanks for all the good advice!

[DRT]

Going even further east, all the way to Harrods, will really mess up my itinerary for the day. I have a couple of other people to take into account, and they will probably view buying port as a waste of time .

Are you sure about your geography of London?

Both BBR and Harrods are to the west of the West End and both are easily reached on the Piccadilly Line. I reckon you could do a circuit from the West End to Harrods to BBR and back to the West End in not much more than an hour

[roel]

Going even further east, all the way to Harrods, will really mess up my itinerary for the day. I have a couple of other people to take into account, and they will probably view buying port as a waste of time .

Are you sure about your geography of London?

Both BBR and Harrods are to the west of the West End and both are easily reached on the Piccadilly Line. I reckon you could do a circuit from the West End to Harrods to BBR and back to the West End in not much more than an hour

I know where knightsbridge is Still remember running from there all the way to Picadilly Circus to be in time for a show at the comedy store - after just having eaten. Thanks to tube outage, something to do with snow and ice issues . Which also takes the fun out of running by the way - but we made it without falling once..

But I reckon that your hour is still a very optimistic estimate Tube, walking, time in the store (which for Harrods can be substantial), etc.. And probably not finding anything for a reasonable price.

I did however find some '75's (which unfortunately is not a real special year, but still my birthyear) online at the Whiskey Exchange in Borough (in the Vinopolis building). Which is not that far from where I plan to park. So I might just take my friends for a quick stroll over Borough market

Roel.

[DRT]

The Whisky Exchange store their port offsite so you will need to pre-order what you want so that they can deliver it to the shop for you to collect

[roel]

The Whisky Exchange store their port offsite so you will need to pre-order what you want so that they can deliver it to the shop for you to collect

Thnx!

[Alex Bridgeman]

I'm sure we had a thread moaning about the change of name of the Bunghole to the corporately tedious "Davy's Wine Bar Holborn", but I can't find it so I'm parking this post here.

Well good news chaps (and chappesses), Tim Davy has listened to Julian's feedback and we're back in business as The Bunghole Cellars

HOORAY!!

[jdaw1]

Tim Davy has listened to Julian's feedback and we're back in business as The Bunghole Cellars

Fabulous. How do I get the Bank of England to do that?

[PhilW]

Tim Davy has listened to Julian's feedback and we're back in business as The Bunghole Cellars

Fabulous. How do I get the Bank of England to do that?

I doubt they'll be prepared to change their name to "The Bunghole Bank" however hard you try.

[djewesbury]

Does the name matter when the room is still rubbish?

[Alex Bridgeman]

Does the name matter when the room is still rubbish?

What a ridiculous question. Of course the name matters. It's the principle of the thing, don'tcha know?

[DRT]

Does the name matter when the room is still rubbish?

What a ridiculous question. Of course the name matters. It's the principle of the thing, don'tcha know?

Don't worry, Alex, he just likes causing a fuss.

Great news and well done Julian, who is now on a hat-trick. I wonder who will face his next ball? (presumably not the Bank of England who will simply refuse to come to the crease)

[SCP]

Great news and well done Julian, who is now on a hat-trick. I wonder who will face his next ball? (presumably not the Bank of England who will simply refuse to come to the crease)

Surely that would be given "Timed out" and would not affect Julian being on a hat-trick...