Pointless Statistics

Anything to do with Port.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

I finally got caught up with a few things and so have taken an hour out to run through my cellar list and generate this year's pointless statistics.

At the end of 2019, I had a cellar which was composed of:
90.1% Port (90.4% last year; 82% in December 2008)
3.1% Bordeaux (3.3%)
1.1% Champagne (1.2%)
0.9% South African (0.8%)
0.8% Australian (0.9%)
0.8% Portugal (less than 0.5%)
0.7% Spain (0.6%)
1.4% Other (2.8%), each less than 0.5% individually (including English, Hungarian, US, NZ, Lebanese, Chilean and other regions in France).

I added 244 (257) bottles to the cellar this year. Many came in and went straight back out as part of shared purchases and many were daily drinking wine such as Altano Branco. The oldest Port added was from 1934 (1920) and the youngest from 2017 (2016).

Using the 21 year rule, 63% (64%) of my Port is ready for drinking, and using the 30 year rule it is 45% .

The average age of the Port in my cellar is 35 years and 255 days (35 years, 135 days).

89% (88%) of the undrawn Port corks I own are in 75cl bottles, 7% (8%) in smaller format and 4% (4%) in magnum or larger format.

65% (66%) of the containers hold Vintage Port (which includes Quinta do Noval but excludes Quinta do Vesuvio), 27% (26%) hold Single Quinta Vintage Port (including Quinta do Vesuvio), 5% (5%) hold LBV, 1% (1%) hold Crusted and 2% (2%) hold other stuff. I own 19 (16) bottles of Port which would be considered Colheita Port under current regulations.

The shippers making up the largest share of my Port cellar are Quinta do Vesuvio 14% (14%), Graham 9% (9%), Warre 7% (7%) and Fonseca 7% (7%).

Looking only at the Port ready for drinking (at 21 years) the picture changes slightly to be Warre 10% (10%), Fonseca 10% (9%), Graham 8% (8%) and Vesuvio 8% (8%).

8% (8%) of my port is from the 2011 vintage with another 7% (7%) from 1963; 5% (5%) is from 1994.

I have 615 (564) different Ports in my cellar.

The shippers which came out of my cellar most often in 2019 were Graham 9 (9), and Fonseca 7. The vintages which came out most often were 1963 x 7 (9) and 1985 x 4 (8) and 1970 x 4.

Pointless statistics on my tasting notes will follow at some point in the future when I have caught up with my tasting notes.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
winesecretary
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by winesecretary »

So: for those of us who classify Vesuvio as a VP, your VP% is 79%, which is much more in line with TPF average stats than the above 65% would otherwise suggest?
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uncle tom
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by uncle tom »

So: for those of us who classify Vesuvio as a VP
I long ago gave up trying to distinguish between VP and SQVP - there are several VPs that appear to have been made from a single quinta and some producers regard the quinta names as no more than brand names, and offer a blend of wines from different quintas (possibly not even including the one it's sold as) under the label.

It's easier to just call them all VP..
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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DRT
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by DRT »

Port accounts for 78% of my cellar: 69% Vintage, 8% LBV and 1% other Port.

I have one bottle of Colheita (a 1965 Quevedo), no Tawny and no White Port. I refer readers to my signature.

The remainder of my cellar is all dry reds: 21% Bordeaux and 1% from other regions.

My Port cellar is, 17% Warre, 16% Graham, 12% Cockburn, 10% Fonseca, 7% Dow, 6% Quevedo, 6% Taylor, 6% Vesuvio and 5% Sandeman.

The top three Port vintages in my cellar are 1985 (16%), 1970 (13%) and 1960 (11%).

88% of my Port corks are in 75cl bottles, 10% in halves or smaller and 2% in magnums or larger.

83% of my Port is 21 years or older with 60% being 30 years or older.

I have 73 different wines from 33 vintages in my cellar.

The average age of the Port in my cellar is 36.5 years.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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gerwin.degraaf
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by gerwin.degraaf »

My first attempt to supply some pointless statistics here :-)
(some of the calculations are partially manually, as my spreadsheet skills are quite basic (not to say horrible).

Of my port, 87.6% is Vintage, 6,3% is Colheita, 2,9% is LBV, 2,5% is Tawny and just under 1% is White.

My Vintage Ports are divided in 119 different wines from 30 vintages. The average age of my Vintage Ports is 24,5 years.

54,4% of my Vintage Port is at least 21 years old, 23,4% is at least 30 years old.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

winesecretary wrote: 23:43 Sat 11 Jan 2020 So: for those of us who classify Vesuvio as a VP, your VP% is 79%, which is much more in line with TPF average stats than the above 65% would otherwise suggest?
Yes, absolutely. That would be correct.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

AHB wrote: 15:50 Tue 07 Jan 2020
uncle tom wrote: 11:55 Tue 07 Jan 2020An odd little calculation:

If I started at my oldest bottle of VP and worked forward at 48 bottles p.a., the youngest vintages to be drunk would be 1969/70 in 2037/8 when they would be 68 years old. Thereafter they would get older and older.
Now that is the most wonderful Pointless Statistic. I need my spreadsheet...
I've just played with my spreadsheet while my other half watched something on TV I wasn't interested in. I clearly need to by more Port. My Port just gets younger and younger as I get older. I never seem to reach the point where my Port starts getting older.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
winesecretary
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by winesecretary »

Perhaps you need to buy a Quinta? Assuming you sold none whatsoever of the resulting production, while there would be a substantial reduction in the average age of your bottles (including current port stocks) in year 1, from year 2 onwards there would be an inexorable annual increase.
PhilW
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by PhilW »

winesecretary wrote: 23:14 Thu 23 Jan 2020 Perhaps you need to buy a Quinta? Assuming you sold none whatsoever of the resulting production, while there would be a substantial reduction in the average age of your bottles (including current port stocks) in year 1, from year 2 onwards there would be an inexorable annual increase.
Only provided he produces enough bottles; Alex would need to produce at more bottles each year than the product of the number of bottles drunk from his collection multiplied by their average age - so perhaps at least 200 cases, otherwise there would be further drop in year 2; plus a disaster if he doesn't declare in a year. Love the premise though - Alex should definitely buy a Quinta! :D :663333:
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nac
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by nac »

PhilW wrote: 10:13 Fri 24 Jan 2020 Alex should definitely buy a Quinta! :D :663333:
Good idea - with all the spare time he now has...
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jdaw1
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by jdaw1 »

I vote that Alex buys either Vargellas, or Malvedos, or Noval.

Any preferences between these three?
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DRT
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by DRT »

jdaw1 wrote: 12:50 Fri 24 Jan 2020 I vote that Alex buys either Vargellas, or Malvedos, or Noval.

Any preferences between these three?
I vote for Noval as it has a great view.

Well done, Alex. I think this is a great idea.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

If I only need to produce about 200 cases per year, I really only need something the size of the Nacional vineyard. That produces 180-250 cases in years when the wine is made.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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DRT
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by DRT »

I think the most important thing to consider is that the quinta house needs to have at least 10 bedrooms.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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uncle tom
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by uncle tom »

Fifteen years ago this month I started keeping proper records of the bottles of port I bought and drank.

So a quick tally..

Since then I've decanted 636 bottles of VP for consumption at home, comprising 236 different wines. The most times any VP has been drunk at home is eight, with three candidates. Of those, I have Dow 60 on death row, which will be it's ninth outing.

Curiously, I have four times taken Noval '63 to a tasting, and have enjoyed bottles of that wine many times more when supplied by others, but have never opened one at home. Also slightly surprising is that the ubiquitous Taylor '70 has had only two outings..
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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JacobH
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by JacobH »

I’d forgotten about this thread.

I have just been updating my Port Records Notebook. It now lists 708 notes for 666 ( :twisted:) Ports.

On the basis that a glass of Port is about a fifth of the viable contents of a Port bottle, the 10 shippers I have drunk the most of in terms of volume are:

1. Taylor
2. Croft
3. Graham
4. Fonseca
5. Dow
6. Churchill
7. Sandeman
8. Warre
9. Quinta do Noval
10. Delaforce

I am disappointed about how very, very predictable this is. I wish it something exotic would be number 2 or 3. The closest is Croft which is caused by the Croft LBV that used to be sold as a lost-leader by Tescos!

Vintages are very highly LBV weighted, too:

1. 2005
2. 2001
3. 2004
4. 2003
5. 1996
6. 2000
7. 2007
8. 1985
9. 1997
10. 1970
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JacobH
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by JacobH »

uncle tom wrote: 19:30 Mon 06 Jul 2020The most times any VP has been drunk at home is eight, with three candidates.
I am very envious as to your diversity. My “most drunk” wine is the Croft 2005 LBV of which I have opened 15 bottles since about 2008 (+ 10 halves of the 2004 LBV). :shock:
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winesecretary
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by winesecretary »

Am interested to see Churchill at 6 on your list. That I would not have predicted!
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JacobH
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by JacobH »

I think of Churchill as one of those Ports that is always around. We usually have some dry white in the fridge; I always have a glass at Bar Douro; and they seem to be present at any public tasting. I'm actually drinking some right now- a ruby in a 20cl bottle which has somehow completely matured so that it looks like a 40 year old tawny!

What strikes me about it is that by ownership, I think I would be Graham's, Niepoort and Fonseca but yet Niepoort doesn't even make the top 10! I must stop trying to mature / hoard it and start drinking it...
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winesecretary
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by winesecretary »

I too have fallen in love with the sheer vinosity of Dirk-era Niepoort ports, and so my next pointless statistics update at year end will undoubtedly show a dramatic uptick in its presence in my cellar.
winesecretary
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by winesecretary »

As at 31/12/2020 my cellar comprised the following (with end 2019 figures in brackets):

Unfortified 44.7% (57.6%);
Fortified 54.6% (41.4%); and
Spirits 0.6% (0.8%).

34.4% (45.5%) of my cellar is Burgundy (i.e. 69.8% (78.9%) of unfortified wine) 2.1% (>1%) is Bordeaux, 1.6% (3.3%) is Rhone, and 1% (>1%) champagne. Of my unfortified wine no other region or country reaches even 1% of the total.

Fortified wine, as a percentage of the whole cellar, breaks down as follows:

Port 49.5% (34.6%) - I have been drinking some but buying lots;
Madeira 3.6% (4.5%) - I have been drinking some, and buying little;
Sherry 1.0% (2.1%) - ditto; and
Other fortified 0.2% (0.1%)

Of my fortified wine, port thus makes up 91.7% (83.6%).

Considering solely the port:

10.9% (7.2%) is SQVP;
85.7% is VP (including Vesuvio); and
4.4% (1.7%) is other types of port.

5.9% (8.2%) (by volume) of my port is in halves, and 93.9% (91.8%) in bottles.

Using the 21 year rule, 58.6% (49.7%) of my port is ready for drinking. Using the 30 year rule this percentage falls to 22.1% (29.0%).

By decade, my vintage-dated port stocks break down as follows:

2010s 20.8% (25.3%);
2000s 30.0% (23.7%);
1990s 23.5% (20.7%);
1980s 12.4% (18.1%);
1970s 7.7% (8.9%);
1960s 0.8% (1.3%); and
1950s 0.4% (0.6%).

By shipper the percentages are as follows.

Niepoort 12.2% (2.3%);
Taylor 9.8% (16.1%);
M&S 9.5% (16.8%)
Warre 9.3% (11.0%);
Fonseca 9.3% (7.6%);
Graham 7.1% (10.2%);
Dow 6.7% (8.9%);
Vesuvio 5.0% (6.3%);
Churchill 4.0% (>2%)
Croft 3.8% (4.3%);
Sainsbury's 3.6% (>2%)
Gould Campbell 3.3% (2.1%); and

No other shipper reaches 2.0%.

I have 160 (88) different ports from 44 (27) different vintages.
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uncle tom
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by uncle tom »

My vintage port count has remained fairly steady over the past year, currently at 6063 bottles, but my LBV collection has grown significantly.

I currently have 631 different vintage ports, with an average age of 34 years, 1 month, 28 days, 1 hour and 42 minutes.

My vintage port collectively gains an extra bottle year every 1 hour, 26 minutes and 42 seconds.
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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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics 2020

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Lockdown has given me plenty of time to run through my cellar list and generate this year's pointless statistics.

At the end of 2020, I had a cellar which was composed of:
87.9% Port (90.1% last year; 82% in December 2008)
3.6% Bordeaux (3.1%)
1.2% Champagne (1.1%)
1.9% South African (0.9%)
0.7% Australian (0.8%)
0.7% Portugal (0.8%)
1.0% Spain (0.7%)
0.5% England (less than 0.5%)
2.5% Other (1.4%), each less than 0.5% individually (including Hungarian, US, NZ, Lebanese, Chilean and other regions in France).

The oldest Port added to the cellar this year was from 1854 (1934) and the youngest from 2018 (2017).

Using the 21 year rule, 67% (63%) of my Port is ready for drinking, and using the 30 year rule it is 44% (45%).

The average age of the Port in my cellar is 36 years and 167 days (35 years, 255 days).

88% (89%) of the undrawn Port corks I own are in 75cl bottles, 8% (7%) in smaller format and 4% (4%) in magnum or larger format.

65% (65%) of the containers hold Vintage Port (which includes Quinta do Noval but excludes Quinta do Vesuvio), 26% (27%) hold Single Quinta Vintage Port (including Quinta do Vesuvio), 4% (5%) hold LBV, 1% (1%) hold Crusted and 4% (2%) hold other stuff. I own 31 (19) bottles of Port which would be considered Colheita (or white Colheita) Port under current regulations.

The shippers making up the largest share of my Port cellar are Quinta do Vesuvio 14% (14%), Graham 9% (9%) and Fonseca 7% (7%).

Looking only at the Port ready for drinking (at 21 years) the picture changes slightly to be Vesuvio 11% (8%), Fonseca 9% (10%), Graham 8% (8%) and Warre 8% (10%),

7% (8%) of my port is from the 2011 vintage with another 7% (7%) from 1963; 6% (5%) is from 1994.

I have 671 (615) different Ports in my cellar.

The shippers which came out of my cellar most often in 2020 Graham 12 (9), Churchill 11 (1), Croft 10 (6). The vintages which came out most often were 1963 x11 (7), 1920 x7 (0) and 1977 x6 (3).

Pointless statistics on my tasting notes will follow at some point in the future when I have caught up with my tasting notes.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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JacobH
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by JacobH »

Do you own much non-Port fortified wines? I notice that after champagne most of your holdings, apart from England, are from fairly major fortified wine producers. I must say that I’m pretty bad at stocking up anything that is fortified but not Port: I don’t think I’ve got any unopened / un-coravined bottles at the moment!
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Pointless Statistics

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

JacobH wrote: 10:55 Mon 04 Jan 2021 Do you own much non-Port fortified wines? I notice that after champagne most of your holdings, apart from England, are from fairly major fortified wine producers. I must say that I’m pretty bad at stocking up anything that is fortified but not Port: I don’t think I’ve got any unopened / un-coravined bottles at the moment!
From time to time I have owned and drunk non-Port fortified wines from Australia, California, England, France, Greece, Italy, Madeira, South Africa and Spain. When I own a bottle of non-Port fortified at the end of the year they are included in the number of bottles from that country of origin.

As at the end of 2020 I had in the "cellar" 1 bottle from California, 9 bottles of Madeira, 24 bottles of South African fortified and 2 bottles of Spanish fortifieds.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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