Stored Labels
- djewesbury
- Graham’s 1970
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Stored Labels
A fellow user and I might have recently bought a Scottish bottling of a 1970 port that's been lying in bond in the bottler's store since 1972. We were informed that the labels were not affixed at the time and are in the merchant's library; they can be affixed prior to delivery or alternatively taken separately.
Has anyone come across this before? Is this quite a common occurrence? Perhaps it's not so often that one finds bottles that have been in store with their original bottlers since shipping and bottling. Will I say 'bottle' once more just to amplify the strangeness of that last sentence? No, I bottled it.
Has anyone come across this before? Is this quite a common occurrence? Perhaps it's not so often that one finds bottles that have been in store with their original bottlers since shipping and bottling. Will I say 'bottle' once more just to amplify the strangeness of that last sentence? No, I bottled it.
Daniel J.
Husband of a relentless former Soviet Chess Master.
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Husband of a relentless former Soviet Chess Master.
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- Quinta do Noval LBV
- Posts: 232
- Joined: 01:11 Thu 04 Jul 2013
Stored Labels
Wow, I'm not sure whether that's cool or slightly worrying. Obviously it's a reputable bottler or you wouldn't be buying, but my skeptical American side would eat at me a bit if I didn't know them well.
However, skeptical me aside, that's actually pretty awesome, I've only heard of such things for ex-cellars bottles from the producers themselves. I always figured most of the bottlers would have labelled and sold off the last of their pre-bottling imports long ago.
Corrected for spelling.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
However, skeptical me aside, that's actually pretty awesome, I've only heard of such things for ex-cellars bottles from the producers themselves. I always figured most of the bottlers would have labelled and sold off the last of their pre-bottling imports long ago.
Corrected for spelling.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Stored Labels
Prior to the mid 1970s it was standard practice for shippers to provide the corks and labels with each pipe sold.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
- uncle tom
- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
- Posts: 3519
- Joined: 23:43 Wed 20 Jun 2007
- Location: Near Saffron Walden, England
Re: Stored Labels
I don't find this at all suspicious, as it is highly likely that the capsules will be embossed to confirm the ID, and labels do not survive well when bottles are bin stored.
But heck! I am surprised that over 40 years after UK bottling ended, a merchant still has the labels neatly filed away..
But heck! I am surprised that over 40 years after UK bottling ended, a merchant still has the labels neatly filed away..
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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- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
- Posts: 3511
- Joined: 14:22 Wed 15 Dec 2010
- Location: Near Cambridge, UK
Re: Stored Labels
So were theyuncle tom wrote:But heck! I am surprised that over 40 years after UK bottling ended, a merchant still has the labels neatly filed away..
- uncle tom
- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
- Posts: 3519
- Joined: 23:43 Wed 20 Jun 2007
- Location: Near Saffron Walden, England
Re: Stored Labels
Well, I can go one better..
The offley '63 magnums that are going under the hammer tomorrow have clearly embossed capsules, and were supplied with a stack of labels..
The offley '63 magnums that are going under the hammer tomorrow have clearly embossed capsules, and were supplied with a stack of labels..
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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- Cockburn’s Special Reserve
- Posts: 41
- Joined: 23:26 Wed 04 Dec 2013
- Location: Southampton, UK
Re: Stored Labels
Desultory browsing of the website yesterday evening led me to this thread ... for which I do have relevant experience.
One of the wine merchants I use occasionally is Whighams of Ayr. Nowadays it is part of the Corney and Barrow organisation -- and on the ground floor it is a modern wine shop. But the underground cellar is 250 years old and an Aladdin's Cave. Whighams claims that in the late 18th century it was certainly visited regularly by one Robert Burns, a local excise man and a friend of the proprietor. This is probably true, since it seems at times that Burns was a good friend of every supplier of alcoholic drink in the South West of Scotland!
When I was shown the cellar some years ago, I was told that up to the 1970s wine arrived in casks and was bottled on the premises (there was an elderly cork flogger in one corner), but not labelled ... the humidity of the cellar was good for corks but bad for labels. The bottles were stored in bins -- sections of the floor against the wall delimited by wooden boards -- the ones they showed me contained several hundred bottles, all belonging to Whighams customers. When a customer opted to take delivery of his or her wine, the bottles would be wiped clean and labelled.
Later,
John
One of the wine merchants I use occasionally is Whighams of Ayr. Nowadays it is part of the Corney and Barrow organisation -- and on the ground floor it is a modern wine shop. But the underground cellar is 250 years old and an Aladdin's Cave. Whighams claims that in the late 18th century it was certainly visited regularly by one Robert Burns, a local excise man and a friend of the proprietor. This is probably true, since it seems at times that Burns was a good friend of every supplier of alcoholic drink in the South West of Scotland!
When I was shown the cellar some years ago, I was told that up to the 1970s wine arrived in casks and was bottled on the premises (there was an elderly cork flogger in one corner), but not labelled ... the humidity of the cellar was good for corks but bad for labels. The bottles were stored in bins -- sections of the floor against the wall delimited by wooden boards -- the ones they showed me contained several hundred bottles, all belonging to Whighams customers. When a customer opted to take delivery of his or her wine, the bottles would be wiped clean and labelled.
Later,
John
Re: Stored Labels
Must ask: are there old price catalogues? Cellar books?John Owlett wrote:is Whighams of Ayr. Nowadays it is part of the Corney and Barrow organisation -- and on the ground floor it is a modern wine shop. But the underground cellar is 250 years old and an Aladdin's Cave. Whighams claims that in the late 18th century it
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- Cockburn’s Special Reserve
- Posts: 41
- Joined: 23:26 Wed 04 Dec 2013
- Location: Southampton, UK
Re: Stored Labels
Sorry, Julian, I don't know. I was just a customer being given the "Tour of the Cellar". They gave me a copy of their 2007-08 Wine List, which I suppose is an old price catalogue within the meaning of the act, but I doubt whether it is what you want.jdaw1 wrote:Must ask: are there old price catalogues? Cellar books?
They sell me wine, but haven't told me where, and whether, the wine labels are kept. They haven't even told me whether the splashes of white paint are vinyl or acrylic.
John
- Alex Bridgeman
- Graham’s 1948
- Posts: 14902
- Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
- Location: Berkshire, UK
Re: Stored Labels
Surely neither! A proper wine merchant will only use whitewash.John Owlett wrote:They haven't even told me whether the splashes of white paint are vinyl or acrylic.
(But I admit I am not a proper wine merchant - I tend to use Dulux white matt when I have to re-smit (smite?) an old bottle.)
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.