Bottles you never want to open

[mapmap]

Good morning gentlemen,

I was thinking lately, and i wondered if any of you have some sort of special bottles that you never want to open. Perhaps for sentimental reasons, or rarity, or anything else?

If so, would you mind saying which bottle(s), and why?

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As a collector-like of many things (i started when i was a kid with hockey cards - hey i'm Canadian!), I know I'm going to have trouble opening three bottles. The first two are because they are my oldest port bottles (70 VP's), and that I like to see the part of angel that has evaporated. It fascinates me. The third is a Dow's 2011, because I plan on giving it to my son when he's going to be somewhere around 18 years old. However, luckily, i did get my hands on 5 or 6 Dow's 2011, which means that i already opened one, and plan on opening a few mores in 4 next decades or so! Finally, if 2023 ever becomes a declared year, there will be a 4th bottle that will never be opened, as it will also be left for my son who's born 7 months ago!

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How about you?

[Mike J. W.]

My point of view is that no bottle I own is untouchable. It's more like finding the right special occasion and the right group of people to share that special bottle.

[jdaw1]

My point of view is that no bottle I own is untouchable.

Agreed. But when I hold bottles for others, those bottles I do not wholly own.

[Alex M]

There is no point having the best cellar in the graveyard…

[Alex Bridgeman]

Every bottle I own, I intend to drink - but some of them will be special enough for me to want to keep the empty bottle on my wall of fame.

I’m also realistic enough to accept that I am likely to be leaving some very nice bottles for my children, so tend not to open that many bottles from their birth years.

But I’d like to think that every bottle I own is a candidate to be opened.

[mapmap]

Good morning,

Even though i agree that, theoretically, no bottle* should remain untouched, I am surprised that we are so few who plan to never open some bottles. Afterall, i see many good reasons to not touch them :

-Legacy for your kids and relatives ;
-Keeping for friends ;
-A souvenir from a loved one who is deceased ;
-Museums and history ;
-Science ;
-Resell at higher price ;
-The thrill of seeing the aging process ;
-Knowing that there are only a handful of the said bottle still unopened worldwide ;
-Even not enjoying anymore a said bottle that you've tasted many times before.

I also see a middle position, between "never" opening a bottle, and all are untouchable, where you may be hesitating to open a very very special, and waiting a long time before finding the right event!

*In my opinion, i would never open the only last bottle of any given vintage.

Am I the only one who thinks like that?

[mcoulson]

There is no point having the best cellar in the graveyard…

Well said sir ....

[nac]

Whilst every bottle in my cellar is potentially there to be drunk by me (and likely some other members of this forum) there are some I've purchased with the expectation that my children are likely to drink them (for example, a double magnum of Taylor 2011).

There are also others that I'm expecting/hoping to drink with them in the future (Mouton from their birth years).

There are a few where I'm hoping I get to a sufficient age to drink them once they're ready (Salon 97 in magnum).

Everything else is pretty much fair game.

[Glenn E.]

Every bottle in my cellar was purchased to be consumed, but I admit that some are harder to open than others.

Naturally, the high-end expensive bottles require something a little more significant than "it's Tuesday and I'm thirsty", but for the right tasting any of those are fair game. Getting into high-end tastings is one of the reasons I bought them!

Some are predestined for a particular tasting. I have an almost-complete horizontal of 1964 VP (I'm missing the Dow) that will be opened next year at some point for my 60th birthday. So until then... hands off! Similarly I have a complete vertical of Graham's VPs from 1942 through present, and in some cases only have a single bottle of a particular vintage. So those are also hands off until the appropriate time.

But there are others that may never be opened for odd reasons. I still have the first VP that I purchased over the internet - a 1970 Martinez. It was also the oldest VP that I'd ever purchased at the time, so even though I look at it periodically I've never found the right occasion to open it. I still also have the 1977 Royal Oporto that was purchased with it, but for some reason that one doesn't retain the same sentimental value. And yet... it has somehow survived in my cellar.

Then there are a few "last" bottles that will some day be opened, but it will take the right occasion. I still have the last 750 ml bottle of 1952 Dalva Golden White ever sold (by Dalva...). After that bottle they switched to 500 ml. And I still have a "red 40" bottle of Romaneira 40 Year Old... the older bottlings that were distinctly better. My last bottle of 1977 Porto Rocha Colheita will be shared with my brother who was born that year... that's the Port that they accidentally bottled all that was left, and it was also the first Colheita that I ever tried and liked so I stocked up.

[mapmap]

The community seems to be split in half! One part living with the leitmotiv that no bottle is untouchable by them ; the other willing to leave a few to their children mainly! At the end, i bet that pretty much no bottle will be brought to the graveyard by anybody ; whether drank by themselves or by loved ones.

@SIR Nac : I am curious to know why you are leaving a double magnum of Taylor's 2011 to your children. Would you mind explaining? To be more precise, why a double magnum, exactly? Since i suppose that the 2011 and Taylor are both related to one of the best years and bottle created in the last 50 years!

@SIR Glenn : If I ever find your missing Dow's 64, it will be yours! To me, having a complete vertical or horizontal collection is worth much more than the thrill of drinking a bottle alone! In other words, it would be "worth" more in your hands than in mines! Sadly, don't get your hopes too high, as the odds of me finding such a rare bottle in Canada are more than low! Hence, another reason to add to my list of reasons why i wouldn't open a bottle of VP!

@SIR Glenn, part 2 : I liked reading your plans for some of your more sentimental bottles, especially since they are above the usual aspect of price that people consider sometimes too much. The meanings you put into some special bottles are, in a way, close to the way i perceive things! Thank you for your answer!!

[MigSU]

The double magnum will age much more slowly than a regular bottle (other things being equal). So it'll reach maturity much later.

[nac]

The double magnum will age much more slowly than a regular bottle (other things being equal). So it'll reach maturity much later.

Exactly.

Also true for the Salon in magnum vs bottles.

Generally the bigger the bottle the slower the contents age/develop.

[Andy Velebil]

Anything is fair game to open, in the right setting. That said, the bit of really old wines I have are being opened pretty sparsely at this point as they are impossible to replace or the cost now is so high not worth it. But I plan to open most of mine before I die, I hope. My spouse loves wine but isn't nerdy like us and doesn't want to manage a cellar. I have a nephew, that if he ends up liking wine/Port will be left to him.

[jdaw1]

@SIR Glenn : If I ever find your missing Dow's 64, it will be yours! To me, having a complete vertical or horizontal collection is worth much more than the thrill of drinking a bottle alone! In other words, it would be "worth" more in your hands than in mines! Sadly, don't get your hopes too high, as the odds of me finding such a rare bottle in Canada are more than low! Hence, another reason to add to my list of reasons why i wouldn't open a bottle of VP!

We have never met; I not know who are you. But because of this, I already like you.

[mapmap]

@SIR Glenn : If I ever find your missing Dow's 64, it will be yours! To me, having a complete vertical or horizontal collection is worth much more than the thrill of drinking a bottle alone! In other words, it would be "worth" more in your hands than in mines! Sadly, don't get your hopes too high, as the odds of me finding such a rare bottle in Canada are more than low! Hence, another reason to add to my list of reasons why i wouldn't open a bottle of VP!

We have never met; I not know who are you. But because of this, I already like you.

I'll take that as a compliment, thank you SIR! Also thank you for your hard work on your book, which i own since the first edition!

Maybe someday we'll meet, who knows! England is one of the very few countries I'd like to travel sooner than later. One of the two main reasons being vintage ports, obviously!

[uncle tom]

I hold to the principle that no bottle is too rare or too old to be drunk eventually, but I also maintain the principle that the last bottle from any vintage should be preserved until at least it's 200th year.

Thus I have only one bottle of 1923 vintage port - a magnum of Offley - which is now merely middle aged..