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What to do with 6 bottles Caleb 1985

Posted: 13:19 Thu 13 Jul 2017
by cstuart
Thorny one. I live in Australia, over in UK sorting out my mother's house after she passed away. There are 6 bottles of Caleb 1985 port. Unfortunately they show some signs of leakage. My dilemma - Option 1 shipping to OZ attracts duty and taxes that are prohibitive. Option 2 drink it -bit two problems, limited time and effectively stealing from my kids in Australia for whom the port was intended. Options 3 sell it - but I guess the leakage is likely to affect value. Any suggestions?

Re: What to do with 6 bottles Caleb 1985

Posted: 16:21 Thu 13 Jul 2017
by PhilW
Hi cstuart, welcome to :tpf: . I can understand your dilemma; perhaps a compromise approach might work, drink most of them and take 1 or 2 back to share with the children? I'm assuming that if you wrap them well and take them in your checked luggage, such a small quantity might be allowed and avoid duty/tax, as well as solving the shipping costs?

As far as value is concerned, I'm assuming this is Calem (vs Caleb) 1985, which would normally retail for around £50/bottle; that means if your bottles were in impeccable condition from good storage, you might be looking for £25-30/bottle; however from the description of them all showing signs of seepage, this is not good for the likely quality or price; you might perhaps get £10-15/bottle - and at that level packing/delivery starts to be an issue, so you might not get any interest depending where you are located.

It would therefore seem better to me to drink them locally (and/or give some to friends?), and either save one or two to take with you - or alternatively, perhaps drink them and then "replace" them with something similar (another main shipper from 1985) once back in Oz?