ThePortForum.com

Hi guys

saying hello to this forum and a, hopefully, quick n easy question,

looking for vintage ports of various years for presents, single bottles required, I am just after any reputable web sites,

had some years ago bought from an auction site and got bit but not too badly thankfully, just want somewhere online that I can trust will be selling good honest vintage port

wine-searcher.com is a good beginning. What part of the world are you located in so we can possibly give you more accurate information. K and L, Zachys, winelibrary come to mind here in North America.

differentdave wrote:wine-searcher.com is a good beginning. What part of the world are you located in so we can possibly give you more accurate information. K and L, Zachys, winelibrary come to mind here in North America.

Oh yeah that might help I just seen a few posts mentioning prices in £ and presumed this was a UK forum doh!

I'm from Chippenham, Wiltshire in the UK

I have come accross wine searcher but are the shops they linked to legit as in reliable

Thanks for the reply by the way

Wine Searcher is very good, particularly if you pay for the Pro version. Unfortunately, a few of the merchants that list their wines there list wines that they do not have simply to attract you to their store. If you click on the name of the merchant you will see details about how often they update their stock list (often is good) and some other info that will help you separate the good from the bad.

We should have a Wiltshire correspondent (our Somerset stringer actually, but he manages) who will pop up here soon, once he's supped sufficiently.
Owen?

thanks for the replies guys

Owen must still be supping

You have to evaluate the selling shop on wine-searcher. How does their site look, how is their inventory? Is it within driving distance, etc... Are they high-end wine shop or just a ‘Package Store’ as they say in my parts...

I was pondering this one, having toured the wine shops of Bath and Bristol none of them impressed me with the range and price of their vintage port. Avery might be worth a look in Bristol, but I have found that the shop inventory has nothing to do with what is listed online.

Then I noticed the question relates to online shops and single bottles for presents. In which case any of the big London merchants (Berrys, Justerini's, Corney and Barrow, l'Assemblage, etc) all seem pretty reliable, they have reputations to maintain. Even if you do get a problem they never seem to quibble about giving you your money back. Some of the brokers (FRW for example) may take longer to deliver the wine because it is not their stock, sometimes telling you some weeks later that it is not available, they are also less help when it comes to single bottles.

There is also an online shop doing vintage port gifts (I think the owner is a member of the forum) which box them up nicely and charge handsomely for the service which might suit you just as well if these bottles are for gifts rather than your own consumption. I have never used them but I think others here have without any issues.

LGTrotter wrote:I was pondering this one, having toured the wine shops of Bath and Bristol none of them impressed me with the range and price of their vintage port. Avery might be worth a look in Bristol, but I have found that the shop inventory has nothing to do with what is listed online.

Then I noticed the question relates to online shops and single bottles for presents. In which case any of the big London merchants (Berrys, Justerini's, Corney and Barrow, l'Assemblage, etc) all seem pretty reliable, they have reputations to maintain. Even if you do get a problem they never seem to quibble about giving you your money back. Some of the brokers (FRW for example) may take longer to deliver the wine because it is not their stock, sometimes telling you some weeks later that it is not available, they are also less help when it comes to single bottles.

There is also an online shop doing vintage port gifts (I think the owner is a member of the forum) which box them up nicely and charge handsomely for the service which might suit you just as well if these bottles are for gifts rather than your own consumption. I have never used them but I think others here have without any issues.

thanks for taken the time to reply, I haven't ordered from berrys before but must of registered at some point, as they often send me bumf that a 1000 trees were felled to print on !!! I might give them a go, I have website etc I use for my Reds but they don't really cater for Ports, hence coming on to here

I'd recommend Fourwalls Wine in W.Sussex-good range of VPs at competitive prices and run by friendly guys who know their Ports (and happy to deliver anywhere).

MaDMaX** wrote:
Hi guys

saying hello to this forum and a, hopefully, quick n easy question,

looking for vintage ports of various years for presents, single bottles required, I am just after any reputable web sites,

had some years ago bought from an auction site and got bit but not too badly thankfully, just want somewhere online that I can trust will be selling good honest vintage port

Hi Max, welcome to

The best place to go to may depend on the type of ports you are looking for (how old, specific years, specific houses?), how many you are after, and how quickly you need them (I'm assuming for Xmas, since you mention presents).

I realise you asked for "good websites", but if you are only after a couple of bottles, you may be best off looking for a reputable merchant near you, to avoid delivery costs; you have said you are based in Wiltshire, so I would see whether Ancient and Modern wines might be able to help.

If it must be online, or if you are after specific bottles from particular vintages and/or shippers then using wine-searcher is probably your best first step. This may provide many options, or just a couple depending on what you are looking for; others have mentioned some of the reputable large London suppliers.

Since these are presents, you might also want to consider the "packaged" option mentioned by LGTrotter above, provided by suppliers such as Vintage Wine and Port who keep a good range of bottles and supply them in presentation cases.

Hope that helps.

Second vote for Four Walls. Always reliable and no fuss.

thanks again guys, yeah looked at four walls, interestingly they have some wines!! im after so may give them a go and just to clarify, the Port is just a xmas drink, between two people, , and im happy walking or driving down the road i.e to bath or devices etc, if I can get something that's not going to cost a fortune to post!

but definitely fancy something vintage, and if its as good as I hope then some maybe work its way into someone's birthday box!