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Hello - advice wanted

Posted: 13:22 Mon 01 Jun 2009
by Scozzy
Hi everybody,

My name is Kevin and I am currently living in New South Wales in Australia.

I stumbled across this site whilst trying to find out some information about a bottle of port that I picked up at a garage sale just recently. The label says it is a 1952 Porto Colheita from the Niepoort Co. It is in a wicker basket and was imported into Australia by Kalmar PTY in Sydney. The paper seal across the top of the bottle is damaged / missing, but the tin seal over the cork is intact and still bears the stamp marks from Portugal.

As I said, I picked it up at a garage sale. The woman was selling off her (soon to be ex) husband's stuff at ridiculous prices. I paid $5 AUS for it.

The intenet searches I have made seem to suggest that this bottle of port may be worth a little bit. The going rate seems to be anything from 200 Euros to $800 US.

As I am in no way a port expert, even though I love a drop of the stuff, I feel a bit reluctant to crack open a potentially expensive bottle and not be able to fully appreciate it. I would welcome any advice about this particular port. I can provide photos if anyone needs to see before giving me any information. I think I may have stumbled across a once in a lifetime bargain for my five bucks. Can anyone please enlighten me as to the real value of this port?

I look forward to all replies.

Many thanks

Kevin.

p.s. I will content myself with the Hunter Valley "port" that I bought earlier this year in the meantime. Not quite the real thing but pretty palatable all the same. Is this sacrilege, but at the cellar door we were introduced to the concept of squeezing fresh orange juice into a glass of port. I really liked it but being Scottish I felt that this was akin to pouring cola into a nice single malt. Comments?

Re: Hello - advice wanted

Posted: 20:33 Mon 01 Jun 2009
by Alex Bridgeman
Kevin,

Welcome to the Port Forum - you are the first Australian-based person to have raised his head above the parapet and join us!

You've got a great bargain for your $5. This is a port made exclusively from the 1952 harvest. The wine would have been made in the usual port manner (ie. fermented for a couple of days and then the fermentation stopped by the addition of grape brandy) and then stored in wood for a minimum of 6 years. Eventually, when Rolf Niepoort decided that the port was ready, it would have been bottled and sold off.

Somewhere on the bottle it should say when the port was bottled (or it might say when it was decanted, means the same thing).

The port was made by the Niepoort family, who have a great reputation for making goods ports. Provided it has been well looked after, it should be very drinkable. (If it's not been well stored in a cool and dark place it will taste like stewed plums - might still be quite enjoyable.)

In terms of value, you seem to have picked up on the top end of the price range, which no-one sensible would pay. You can check the current retail prices by taking a quick look at http://www.wine-searcher.com, where you can see that the lowest retail price is A$375. At auction, I would expect to pay less than A$200 for a bottle like this, probably closer to A$150. If you were to try and sell it through an auction, you'd probably end up netting A$100-120 after commissions.

While that would be a neat return on your $5 investment, it would be a real shame. These wines are made for drinking. Why not find a time when you could open the bottle and share it with friends to celebrate a special occasion.

Whatver you decide to do, please come back and let us know.

Alex

Re: Hello - advice wanted

Posted: 21:12 Mon 01 Jun 2009
by DRT
Kevin,

It's about bloody time we had another Scot around here - I've been surrounded by the English, Yanks and Europeans (there are also lots of Canadians but I'm never sure if they qualify as Yanks or Europeans or both) for two years now and it's good to have some civilised company at last :wink:

I bought the 1957 version of the port you have on Ebay about 3 years ago. It was also in a wicker basket but cost me around £70. I opened it about 18 months ago and it was superb. Absolutely stunning juice. I agree with Alex, you should drink it rather than selling it. And if you have a need to visit your Scottish granny bring it over and we'll have a party 88)

Welcome to :tpf:

Derek

Re: Hello - advice wanted

Posted: 21:27 Mon 01 Jun 2009
by Scozzy
Hey guys,

Thanks for the quick reply. As I said, I am no expert when it comes to port or wine of any kind for that matter so your advice is greatly appreciated. Was the additin of the wicker basket intended to apppeal o the export market? I suppose it adds to the mediterranean feel of the thing just like the Aussies' penchant for putting boomerangs or koalas on on all of their merchandise that goes oversees.

It is quite hard to get a decent wine over here. Most of the wines, especially from the Hunter Valley about an hour from where I live, are Shiraz based. Not one of my favourite varieties. I have done a few trips to the region and gone round a fair few of the wineries and sampled a good number of their various wines. A lot of the wineries produce some sort of port. A few of these are quite ok. There is one small winery that dddoes a rather nice white port but they had sold out last time I went there. They are the same people that showed me the orange juice thing.

Will keep on quaffing and keep in touch.

Thanks again fellas.

Kevin

Re: Hello - advice wanted

Posted: 16:22 Tue 02 Jun 2009
by KillerB
Welcome aboard Kevin.

Can't add aything to teh above advice, but can comment on the orange juice thing. Port and Orange was an abhorrence that was hanging around in the Eighties, it was something that I had to mix for people when I was a barman and simply couldn't get the appeal. I can understand it to make Cockburn's Special Reserve seem palatable but I wouldn't be doing it your Niepoort.

As for putting cola into whisky, I agree, I only ever put Tizer into my Royal Lochnagar.

Re: Hello - advice wanted

Posted: 18:30 Wed 03 Jun 2009
by ac-fast
Hey Kevin

Welcome onboard :D