Hi guys..first post and i'm asking for advice!

gonzo · Post by **gonzo** » 08:08 Mon 08 Oct 2007

I have a case of Taylors 2000 that I want to sell.It has been stored properly etc . My question is where is the best place to sell it? I see this port selling for £750 plus per case but the best bid i've been shown is £500. Should i expect to get that much less than value going via a broker??
Any advice would be much appreciated!

Post by **Alex Bridgeman** » 09:07 Mon 08 Oct 2007

Gonzo,

Welcome to The Port Forum. Hopefully you will be amused and interested by what you read here and will post again.

The current low retail price for Taylors 2000 is around £550 per case plus VAT. A broker will take a margin from that and an auction house will take their seller's commission and the price a buyer will offer to the auction house will also reflect the buyer's premium that would be paid. Your only alternative would be

(a) an internet auction (including ebay if you can get the bottles past the ebay police) or
(b) a private sale

Anyone looking to buy from you privately would also be looking to achieve a substantial discount from the current retail price to reflect the costs that you are saving and the increased risk that they are taking on in not knowing how you stored the port between purchase and resale.

£500 for the case does not sound unreasonable in my opinion. But the best thing to do with the port is probably to store it for another 20 years or so and then enjoy it at its best (when it will be worth far more than £500 for the case).

Alex

gonzo · Post by **gonzo** » 13:52 Mon 08 Oct 2007

Thanks fot taking the time to reply. You're right..i'll add the case to my LCB account and keep it.. i was not going to bother but i may as well!

Conky · Post by **Conky** » 14:03 Mon 08 Oct 2007

Gonzo,

Hi. If you dont know already, have a look at Wine-searcher.Com, you can get all the trade prices for the UK there, and see the availability.

I also hope you like your Port and you might fancy sticking around, and joining in.

Alan

gonzo · Post by **gonzo** » 14:13 Mon 08 Oct 2007

Well...i really do love my port ..in fact just finished the last of my Dows '63

. Unfortunately as i have 3 kids my buying of nice vintage port is getting harder and harder to justify with the Mrs

It has now become a Christmas/special occasion drink for me...i will start to search through the forum for tips on less expensive yet great port for drinking now,it may be the way forward for me..

Post by **Alex Bridgeman** » 17:47 Mon 08 Oct 2007

gonzo wrote:just finished the last of my Dows '63

I'm a '63 baby and I've never tried the Dow '63. One day I will.

If you want some hints on cheap, every day, respectable value for money ports then we can highly recommend the Cruz 1989 from Morrisons (£10.50 a bottle unless you buy in a sale when it's £8 a bottle) or the Morgan 1991. Not sure where it retails but it was sold at Christies earlier in the year for under £9 a bottle.

Alex

KillerB · Post by **KillerB** » 11:12 Tue 09 Oct 2007

we can highly recommend the Cruz 1989 from Morrisons

No we can not. Alex is basing this on the fact that at a blind tasting earlier this year we didn't rate it as badly as previously. Try it for yourself but don't go buying a case-load until then.

I would pick up some single quinta vintage Ports (SQVP) instead. When Tesco do a 25% off six bottles, run in and get some Dow's Quinta do Bomfim and Taylor's Quinta da Vargellas, both of which are excellent. If Sainsbury's allow fortifieds in their box of tricks again then they have Fonseca Guimaraens and Graham's Malvedos as well as their Taste the Difference vintage Port which is Quinta do Crasto.

Welcome aboard Gonzo. Sorry it took some time to get you approved but I hope you enjoy it here. There is much good advice, most of which does not include Cruz.

Post by **Alex Bridgeman** » 14:54 Tue 09 Oct 2007

AHB wrote:highly recommend the Cruz 1989 from Morrisons

Hmm. Perhaps I was a little carried away with my enthusiasm on this one, but I think on reflection that Alex is right - I can't highly recommend this wine.

However, I have had three of these now, all bought from Morrisons in the last 12 months and I know that Alan has also had at least one other bottle. In my case, two of the three were very respectable wines, simple, straightforward, mature and enjoyable. Not stunning or complex vintage ports, but at £10 a bottle then what do you expect? The other bottle I put down to poor storage conditions or poor treatment while in the store.

Alan also appears to have enjoyed the bottle that he was bought as a gift by his other half.

However, Alex is probably still sulking over the fact that when I sneaked one of these bottles of Cruz '89 into a blind tasting then no-one identified it for what it was, and some people were even speculating that it might be a Fonseca from a lesser year. But I think he is right that this is a wine that you should try before you buy in bulk.

I'd also throw in my thoughts on the Bomfim and Vargellas '96/'98 that are currently in the supermarkets. While decent wines, I don't find them particularly enjoyable at the moment. To my taste they are at that awkward stage between youthful fruitiness and mature elegance. That said, I do still buy the odd bottle every now and then just to have something to open instead of one of my more precious older bottles.

Alex B

gonzo · Post by **gonzo** » 15:58 Tue 09 Oct 2007

More great advice thank you... whilst i'm not going to buy a £100 pound bottle to drink casually,i'm still happy to lay out between £20 and £30 for some quaffing port. I will keep an eye out for the SQVPs mentioned!!

Post by **DRT** » 17:48 Tue 09 Oct 2007

gonzo,

If it is quaffing port you are after the you need to know that there is a man here who has more Morgan 1991 than anyone could ever need and he sells it by the 6 pack for a ridiculously low price. Hopefully he will PM you with an offer when he reads this.

Welcome aboard

Derek

Axel P · Post by **Axel P** » 10:09 Wed 10 Oct 2007

Gonzo,

welcome to the Port Forum. As you introduced yourself with a Dows 63 no one except me will ever dare to advice you with anything other than a VP. I can totally understand your point in the VP-marriage-relationship. I do drink VPs on special occasions as well, although the phrase special will be interpreted on daily basis. I would suggest you try some unfiltered LBVs, who are giving a very good price-value relatio. From my point of view Noval, Warre and Niepoort are very good in this branche.

Axel

gonzo · Post by **gonzo** » 11:25 Wed 10 Oct 2007

Noted.Thanks Axel.

Neil

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 11:50 Wed 10 Oct 2007

If you dont know already, have a look at Wine-searcher.Com, you can get all the trade prices for the UK there, and see the availability.

Wine-searcher lists retail prices (ex VAT) - not trade prices.

Last time I clocked a case of Taylor 2000 at auction it sold for £350.

It's on my 'want' list, but as there is absolutely no hurry, and no shortage of supply, my current bid limit is around the £320 mark - depending on the buyer's premium charged by the auction house concerned.

Unfortunately, port bought at first release is a pretty lousy investment - unless you only have it in mind to drink yourself...

A case of Taylor 2000 bought now will probably increase in value by around 3-4% p.a over and above the rate of inflation over the next 20 years - so maybe £750 case at auction (plus inflation) in 2027.

Against this you have to consider the cost of storage. If you don't have a cellar of your own, it's likely to prove a fairly neutral investment.

Tom

Luc · Post by **Luc** » 14:42 Wed 17 Oct 2007

gonzo wrote:Well...i really do love my port ..in fact just finished the last of my Dows '63 . Unfortunately as i have 3 kids my buying of nice vintage port is getting harder and harder to justify with the Mrs It has now become a Christmas/special occasion drink for me...i will start to search through the forum for tips on less expensive yet great port for drinking now,it may be the way forward for me..

Salut Gonzo !! Bienvenue .
I have two kids ( 6 yr & 4 yr )
It seems to be universal constant : Mrs. + kids can leed to a diminished intake of Vp .