ThePortForum.com

A well known UK wine merchant, loved and supported by a number of people on this board as both a source of port and a good place to store excess bottles, has asked whether we would - in principle only - be interested in an informal, Group, guided tour of their establishment and in particular their on-site and off-site storage facilities. This would essentially be an opportunity to see how our ports are looked after when they are tucked away in the dark for a few years and the facilities where the port is kept. It would also be a chance to see how our ports are clearly marked and labelled with our names, just in case anything were to go wrong!

At this stage, the enquiry was only to see whether there would be any interest. If there is anyone interested, then something may eventually come out of this thought and casual conversation.

And if enough of us were interested, it could also be an excuse for an offline...

If you are interested, then please say so in this thread. By saying you're interested, you are not commiting to anything; just helping the potential organiser decide whether it would be worth him putting his time into making this idea happen.

And now I can post a reply to say that I would love to go and have a nosey round someone else's cellar on a grand scale (even if some of the cellar stock is my own)...

Forgive the thread drift Alex, but when in Bond you never get to see where or how they are stored. You just tell them when you are ready to pick them up and they appear, so to speak?

Do you get to see and inspect the bottles before they go into bond? I ask as recently I opened a brand new case of wine and discovered a faulty cork where some leakage occurred. I would be really upset to only find out many years later the bottle leaked when I finally decided to remove them from bond.

Oh, and if by some random stroke of luck I happen to be in the UK at the time, it would be fun to see.

The rules around product stored in bond are quite strict, access has to be limited in order for HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) to be able to ensure that no goods are smuggled out of bond and revenue lost as a result.

However, there are no laws or regulations which prevent product in bond from being examined. Normally this would be by the warehouse company, but it is possible to do this yourself under supervision by an appropriate warehouse employee. I have done exactly that when I was worried about some Niepoort 1997 I had in bond. It is unusual to be able to do it yourself, and may require some knowledge of HMRC rules in order to persuade the warehouse company that they can allow you to do it - but provided the key requirement of security over the bonded product is maintained, then everything will be OK.

But your comment applies equally to wines not in bond. I have cases of wine and port in storage I have never seen, and one day may find out that my case of 12 is now a case of 12 half bottles of oxidised tawny. Not much I can do unless I bought en primeur and can go back to the producer.

I would be interested in visiting this mysterious facility (again).

Andy, I have done exactly the same as AHB describes above. Bonded warehouses are secure and heavily regulated but they are not off limits to anyone provided they are suitable supervised. One additional rule that AHB missed is that not only are you not allowed to smuggle goods out of Bond but you are also not allowed to go into the warehouse and drink it all without paying the appropriate duty and tax and filling in a few forms

I would be interested. I don't have many bottles in bond with these guys, but it would still be worth a visit.

In principle, very interested.

Alex and DRT,

Thanks for the info, most interesting.

AHB wrote: But your comment applies equally to wines not in bond. I have cases of wine and port in storage I have never seen, and one day may find out that my case of 12 is now a case of 12 half bottles of oxidised tawny. Not much I can do unless I bought en primeur and can go back to the producer.

I am in the same situation.

My cousin use to manage Sparks restaurant in NYC during the early 80's. They had a case of '27 Taylor that completely leaked out (his words). A case of empty bottles. Sounds little a too weird to be true, but don't see why he would just say this...

Did your cousin ever notice one of his staff looking very happy every Friday for 12 weeks...

Very interested, but depending on the date of course.

Interesting stuff about the bond-system.

Axel

Yes please.