ThePortForum.com

Hi

I have twelve bottles of 1977 Vintage Port including a Croft, Dows, Grahams, Quinta do Cachao, Gould Campbell, Sandeman, Taylors, Warres, Rozes, Fonseca and Smith Woodhouse and Co.

They have all been stored horizontally in a dark cool cellar in my parents house since I was given them as a baby.

I live in Edinburgh.

I would be very grateful for your advice on what to do with them/how much I could expect to get for them. I am well aware that they may not be worth very much.

Many thanks

Rachel

We usually advise drinking rather than selling.

You have some good names there, and some less good. I guess average retail would be in the range of £40 to £50 a bottle, though wine-searcher.com will know better. You should expect half retail^†, so my guess suggests £240 to £300 for the dozen.

One of our number often visits Edinburgh, but for the next two weeks he is away beyond the reach of internet. Can you wait for his return?

My daughter lives in Edinburgh, and I might be able to persuade her to buy and hold these for me until I get there next month. Will pm you.

You've only named 11 shippers - is there a 12th or is one of the bottles duplicated?

If you are at all interested in port, you have a terrific selection of bottles to drink or to share with friends and family. Some of the 1977 ports are among the very top in terms of their reputation - Graham, Fonseca and Taylor are the ones I would put into this category. Some - Gould Campbell and Dow - can be fabulous but suffer from a very high frequency of bad corks that just renders the port to taste of nothing more than mouldy cardboard and damp cellars. But if you are lucky enough to open one of the bottles that does not suffer from this, then these two are also in the very top category of quality ports.

And even the "weaker" ports such as Croft, Messias, Sandeman are lovely, much more elegant and refined and less of a blockbuster than the ones listed above.

Are you sure we can't persuade you to open at least one and share it with friends or family? You may get convinced like we have...

A mixed case of 12 well-stored 1977s is interesting, particularly as it includes a Taylor and Fonseca. One of the various regional auctions (Straker Chadwick, Tennants etc.) would also be worth a look.

Hi

Many thanks for all your advice.

Sorry that I missed one of the bottles - the twelfth one is an Offley Boa Vista.

I am in no particular rush to sell so am happy to wait a couple of weeks for your friend to return.

You've started me thinking about drinking one or two bottles. How would this affect the value? Would it be better to sell all 12 bottles as a case? Also, how would it affect the value if I held on to them for a few more years?

Many thanks again for all your help.

Rachel

Please, were these sold through the forum or were the original poster's questions resolved? It would be nice to know that this is a settled query!

rach wrote:I am in no particular rush to sell so am happy to wait a couple of weeks for your friend to return.

I suspect it was me that jdaw1 was referring to. I am now back but am not in the market for 1977s. If they are sold to someone I see regularly I might be able to help with transport.

If they have not been sold, I would like to buy them when I am through Edinburgh next month. Let me know by pm at what price you might be interested to sell them.