Pointless Statistics

[Chris Doty]

24 bottles of South African fortified

What were you on, and can you get me some?!

[Justin K]

Thanks Alex for the template; I have never had the time to analyse my stocks but this is the year. The big change for me over last year is that most of my claret and some of my older ports have gone to new homes where I hope they will be very happy!

At the end of 2020, I had a cellar which was composed of:
72.46% Port (64.20% last year)
2.58% Bordeaux (11.43%)
3.10% Italy (3.70%)
7.06% Spirits (5.55%)
14.80%(15.12) Others including Lebanon, Australia, USA, Spain, Germany, France and Portugal.

1920's, 30's & 40's 1.20% (0.79%)
1950's 1.44% (6.07%)
1960's 9.33% (13.19%)
1970's 9.09% (16.09%)
1980's 11.72% (13.19%)
1990's 11.24% (12.93%)
2000's 33.73% (23.22%)
2010's 22.25% (14.51%)

Dow 14.59% (15.04%);
M&S 11.00% (2.11%)
Fonseca 10.29% (11.35%);
Taylor 10.05% (13.46%);
Sainsbury's 10.05% (0.26%)
Cockburn's 7.18% (13.72%)
Sandeman's 6.70% (7.65%)
Graham 5.74% (3.17%);
Delaforce 5.50% (6.07%)
Warre 4.31% (5.54%);
Maynards 2.87% (3.43%)
Vesuvio 2.87% (3.17%);

No other shipper reaches 2.0%.

I have 84 (88) different ports from 44 (43) different vintages.

The oldest Port added to the cellar this year was from 1927 (1963) and the youngest from 2011 (2011).

Using the 21 year rule, 65.79% (62.27%) of my Port is ready for drinking, and using the 30 year rule it is 35.65% (49.34%).

The average age of the Port in my cellar is 27years and 241 days (33 years, 230 days).

85.98% (83.76%) of the undrawn Port corks I own are in 75cl bottles, 13.54% (15.45%) in smaller format and 0.48% (0.79%) in magnum or larger format.

73.40% (73.30%) of the containers hold Vintage Port, 22.80% (21.47%) hold Single Quinta Vintage Port, 3.80% (5.50%) hold others in cluding Tawnies, Colheitas, Crusted and LBV's.

10.05% (1.06%) of my port is from the 2011 vintage with another 4.31% (10.55%) from 1970; 21.77% (16.09%) is from 2000.

I don't have enough half bottles!!!!

[jdaw1]

1920's, 30's & 40's 1.20% (0.79%)
1950's 1.44% (6.07%)
1960's 9.33% (13.19%)
1970's 9.09% (16.09%)
1980's 11.72% (13.19%)
1990's 11.24% (12.93%)
2000's 33.73% (23.22%)
2010's 22.25% (14.51%)

Dow 14.59% (15.04%);
M&S 11.00% (2.11%)
Fonseca 10.29% (11.35%);
Taylor 10.05% (13.46%);
Sainsbury's 10.05% (0.26%)
Cockburn's 7.18% (13.72%)
Sandeman's 6.70% (7.65%)
Graham 5.74% (3.17%);
Delaforce 5.50% (6.07%)
Warre 4.31% (5.54%);
Maynards 2.87% (3.43%)
Vesuvio 2.87% (3.17%)

Hence the number of bottles of Port you have is either a multiple of 418, or is ≥4984.

[winesecretary]

The above post illustrating the terrifying mathematical ability of a number of portforumites [I do not consider myself to be one of that subgroup, although unlike most lawyers I am not scared of numbers] and which is one of the reasons that I slightly fuzz my stats. The great thing about this thread is that everyone slices and dices slightly differently: it reflects the heterogeneity of the human race's perception of reality [port-collecting sub-set, anyway].

[Justin K]

Julian never ask a lady her age, a farmer his/her acreage and a port nerd his/her bottle total! Having said that I salute you, 418 is dead on, I reckon the Magnum total gives it away.

[jdaw1]

Julian never ask a lady her age, a farmer his/her acreage and a port nerd his/her bottle total! Having said that I salute you, 418 is dead on, I reckon the Magnum total gives it away.

Using only the quoted data, two decimal places of percentages was enough to narrow it down for ‘small’ bottle quantities.

And I didn’t ask.

[CPR 1]

Ok then here goes I missed last year, but here are my pointless stats as at 31st Dec 2020

For the first time ever I own less port at the end of the year than I did at the start! Despite that I have added 31 new ports to the cellar this year.

I have drunk from my cellar 31 different vintages in 2020, with 1977 being drunk the most often at 11% followed by a tie between 1994 and 1970 9% each. 1940 was the oldest and 2018 the youngest vintage I have drunk from my cellar in the last year.

Of the Port I drunk in 2020 12% by volume of was shipped by Graham, 11% was by Warre and 9% by Taylor. I have drunk more Tawny/Colheita than in previous years at 8%

As at the end of 2020 the shippers in my cellar are:

Fonseca 13% (10% 2018)
Taylor 13% (10%)
Graham 12% (11%)
Warre 10% (10%)
Dow 9% (9%)
Vesuvio 6%

With the vintages being led by 1977 13% (11%), 2011 9% (10%) and 1994 7% (9%)

I find that 43% of the Port in the cellar by volume is > 30 years old and 58% of the Port > 21 years old (60%)

By volume 8% is in 1/2 bottles, and 8% is in magnum or larger

3% is LBV, 14% is SQVP and 82% is VP (including Noval and Vesuvio)

I do own some other wines, mainly Bordeaux and a little Burgundy but don't keep track of them. An informed guess says Port makes up 85% of my cellar.

[jdaw1]

mathematical

Not really maths, merely repeated basic repeated arithmetic as done by a simple spreadsheet.

[JacobH]

Whilst I have never previously kept a record of the Port I own (not least because it is scattered over a few different places), a bit of sorting today allowed me to do some basic statistics.

It looks like my top shippers are Niepoort, Graham, Taylor and Croft. Croft’s place rather surprised me: it turns out I keeping buying the Quinta da Roêda SQVP and forgetting that I own it! Also, it seems like whilst I used to have a lot of Quevedo, I have drunk most of it.

Another pointless statistic which hasn’t been covered yet is Ports which one doesn’t own. Whilst this may appear excessively pointless—due to its near-unlimited nature—I did think when looking through my notes that there were a few shippers which I don’t currently own any Ports from but which I feel I would like to have available should I feel in the mood to open one. The ones that I particularly noticed for me were Ferreira; Gould Campbell; Offley; and Quarles Harris; and I am going to start looking out for a few odd bottles of each so I have some.

Does anyone else have any “gaps” which they are attempting to fill?

[winesecretary]

@ JacobH - the port one doesn't own: good question! To which each of us will have a unique answer. Because, depending on which way you slice and dice it, we all have gaps. For example I:

- have a specific list of ports (6) of which I own none but think I ought to own a reasonable amount (say a half case to a case of each);
- am generally underweight 1966 and 1977; and
- considering what I drink, as opposed to what I own, am underweight Warre, Dow, and Niepoort (in that order).

But of the 160 different ports I possess none are Ferreira because, despite a fair bit of sampling over the past three decades, I have never had the fortune to have a bottle which really excited me.

[JacobH]

@ JacobH - the port one doesn't own: good question! To which each of us will have a unique answer. Because, depending on which way you slice and dice it, we all have gaps. For example I:

- have a specific list of ports (6) of which I own none but think I ought to own a reasonable amount (say a half case to a case of each);
- am generally underweight 1966 and 1977; and
- considering what I drink, as opposed to what I own, am underweight Warre, Dow, and Niepoort (in that order).

But of the 160 different ports I possess none are Ferreira because, despite a fair bit of sampling over the past three decades, I have never had the fortune to have a bottle which really excited me.

Thinking about Ports which I don’t own but would like to, made me think about about why I buy certain Ports more generally. Especially in light of your comment about Ferreira.

As a starting point, I fully accept that if I just wanted to drink good quality and good value Ports, I could quite happily sell almost everything I own and replace it with a very small number of different Ports. Probably an LBV for everyday drinking (e.g. the Graham 2015); one maturing VP from the 1980s (undecided); one mature VP (Graham 1970); a 20 year-old-tawny (Kranemann); and a white (Quinta de Pedra Alta). That would keep me happy for at least 5 years before I would need to renew. I don’t even think that then I would need to try lots of different Ports on renewal: I’ve got a good sense of what I like and which critics whose judgement I trust.

So clearly, when I am buying Port, it isn’t just because I want it to be objectively good or good value. I must buy some thinking that they may only be moderately good. Or even mediocre.

That said, I don’t think I actively “collect” Port in the sense of JKristiansen having one of each of the Graham Single Tawnies or the people who try to have a complete run of Vesuvios. Nor do I even feel a need to have a decent “library” of every vintage. It’s much more vague that I like to have a selection of different Ports. Some familiar, some not. Some likely to be good, some not. Some unusual, some very commercial. And I suppose Ferreira fits into that.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I was browsing my cellar list this evening, very proud of the fact that I own 13 bottles fewer today than I did on 31st December. Despte Zak's attempts to make me fall off the wagon with illusions of cheap Dow 1994, I have managed to not buy any Port at all this year - so far.

I was also quite surprised to find that the single Port I own most of is now Sainsbury Taste the Difference 2003. I'm not complaining, you understand, just expressing mild surprise. But it is an absolutely delicious Port so my main problem is no worse than to have to overcome the feeling of contentment this discovery brought about.

Like Jacob, I enjoy drinking a variety of Port. I can't drink Croft 1945 every night, and I'm not sure I would want to despite the fact that it is an amazing wine. I really enjoy the contrast - Croft 1945 one night, Fonseca 2017 the next, Lamelas 10 year old white the night after, Graham 2015 LBV and so on. The variety really brings out my enjoyment of the contrast in styles, in years, in the wine-maker's interpretation of what nature gives them.

I have lots of gaps in my cellar, but I'm generally happy with them. I have and will continue to build verticals of Vesuvio and AXA-owned Noval but generally try to buy as little as my obsessive-compulsive Port disorder will allow.

[uncle tom]

very proud of the fact that I own 13 bottles fewer today than I did on 31st December

I am six bottles up - for January I am on course for 11 drunk, none sold, and 17 bought (all LBV)

[JacobH]

Another pointless statistic which hasn’t been covered yet is Ports which one doesn’t own. Whilst this may appear excessively pointless—due to its near-unlimited nature—I did think when looking through my notes that there were a few shippers which I don’t currently own any Ports from but which I feel I would like to have available should I feel in the mood to open one. The ones that I particularly noticed for me were Ferreira; Gould Campbell; Offley; and Quarles Harris; and I am going to start looking out for a few odd bottles of each so I have some.

A bit more sorting at one of the other locations turned up a rather large number of odd bottles which I didn’t know I had. Half bottle of 1992 Churchill’s LBV for example, and what I think is a bottle of Quinta da Romaneira LBV from the 1980s...

In happier news, though, I found that I owned a single bottle of 1963 Offley so I can cross that one off the collecting list, too! Just need to buy some Ferreira now...

[uncle tom]

In happier news, though, I found that I owned a single bottle of 1963 Offley so I can cross that one off the collecting list, too! Just need to buy some Ferreira now...

Whilst you were dormant on this forum we acquired and divvied up a large stash of magnums of O63. The labels came separately, original and never affixed. If your bottle lacks a label, I have a few spares..

[JacobH]

Since it looks like this, a label would be very much appreciated the next time we meet in person! Thank you very much!

[uncle tom]

PM me your address and I'll pop one in the post..

[JacobH]

Thank you very much. Will do!

[JacobH]

Thanks very much to Tom- a huge improvement in appearance!

[Alex Bridgeman]

The end of the year prompts yet more pointless statistics. The joy of being in self-isolation / lockdown / with family drives me to hide away with my spreadsheets...

At the end of 2021, I had a cellar which was composed of:
86.8% Port (87.9% last year; 82% in December 2008 when I first spent my time pointlessly)
3.5% Bordeaux (3.6%)
1.8% South African (1.9%)
1.3% Portugal (0.7%)
1.2% Australian (0.7%)
1.2% Italy (less than 0.5% last year)
1.0% Champagne (1.2%)
0.9% Spain (1.0%)
0.7% England (0.5%)
0.6% Lebanon (less than 0.5% last year)
1.0% Other (2.5%), each less than 0.5% individually (including Hungary, US, NZ, Chile and other regions in France).

The oldest Port added to the cellar last year was from 1851 (1854) and the youngest from 2019 (2018). The most purchased Port vintage last year was 2018, then 1994 (2018, then 1966).

Using the 21 year rule, 66% (67%) of my Port is ready for drinking, and using the 30 year rule it is 49% (44%).

The average age of the Port in my cellar is 37 years and 97 days (36 years, 167 days).

89% (88%) of the undrawn Port corks I own are in 75cl bottles, 8% (8%) in smaller format and 3% (4%) in magnum or larger format.

65% (65%) of the containers hold Vintage Port (which includes Quinta do Noval but excludes Quinta do Vesuvio), 25% (26%) hold Single Quinta Vintage Port (including Quinta do Vesuvio), 4% (4%) hold LBV, 1% (1%) hold Crusted and 5% (4%) hold other stuff.

The shippers making up the largest share of my Port cellar are Quinta do Vesuvio 13% (14%), Graham 10% (9%) and Fonseca 7% (7%).

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

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

I have 728 (671) different Ports in my cellar.

109 corks came out of my cellar in 2021. The shippers most often withdrawn were Churchill 15 (11) and Morrison's 10YO Tawny 10 (8); 7 bottles of each of Fonseca, Graham, Quevedo, Quinta das Lamelas and Taylor were also taken out of the cellar last year. The vintages which came out most often were 1963 x9, 1977 x4 and 1985 x4. (2020: 1963 x 11, 1920 x 7, 1977 x 6). 40 non-vintage wines were also drunk.

[winesecretary]

As at 31/12/2021 my cellar comprised the following (with end 2020 figures in brackets):

Unfortified 39.6% (44.7%);
Fortified 60.3% (54.6%); and
Spirits 0.1% (0.6%)

29.5% (34.4%) of my cellar is Burgundy (i.e. 74.5% (69.8%) of unfortified wine) 2.9% (2.1%) is Bordeaux. 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 54.6% (49.5%) - I have been drinking some but buying more;
Madeira 5.0% (3.6%) - I have not been buying much but drinking less;
Sherry 0.6% (1.0%) - quite a lot comes in and goes out during the year though as it is mainly bought to drink; and
Other fortified 0.2% (0.2%)

Of my fortified wine, port thus makes up 90.4% (91.7%).

Considering solely the port:

8.9% (10.9%) is SQVP;
86.1% (85.7%) is VP (including Vesuvio); and
6.0% (4.4%) is other types of port.

6.2% (5.9%) (by volume) of my port is in halves, and 93.6 (93.9%) in bottles.

Using the 21 year rule, 54.06% (58.6%) of my port is ready for drinking. Using the 30 year rule this percentage falls to 25.49% (22.1%).

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

2010s 26.5% (20.8%);
2000s 29.2% (30.0%);
1990s 21.7% (23.5%);
1980s 13.3% (12.4%);
1970s 8.1% (7.7%);
1960s 1.3% (0.8%); and
1950s 0.0% (0.4%).

By shipper the percentages are as follows.

Niepoort 12.7% (12.2%);
Taylor 11.5% (9.8%);
Fonseca 10.3% (9.3%);
Warre 9.9% (9.3%);
M&S 7.9% (9.5%);
Graham 6.8% (7.1%);
Vesuvio 5.5% (5.0%);
Dow 5.0% (6.7%);
Croft 3.8% (3.8%);
Churchill 3.1% (4.0%);
Gould Campbell 2.7% (3.3%);
Sainsbury's 2.4% (3.6%); and
Offley 2.4% (>2%)

No other shipper reaches 2.0%.

I have 161 (160) different ports from 37 (44) different vintages.

2021 was my best ever year of port in quality terms, with almost all of the very best (G20, T20, W22, T45 (twice), McK48, G55, McK55, Mz55 (twice), W55, W60) generously poured from the cellars of others of this group. Santé!

[Justin K]

At the end of 2021, I had a cellar which was composed of:
72.47% Port (72.46% last year)
3.42% Bordeaux (2.58%)
2.80% Italy (3.10)
14.93% Spirits (7.06%)
6.38%(15.12) Others including Lebanon, Australia, USA, Spain, Germany, France and Portugal.

1920's, 30's & 40's 1.10% (1.20%)
1950's 1.32% (1.44%)
1960's 8.37% (9.33%)
1970's 9.69% (9.09%)
1980's 11.89% (11.72%)
1990's 9.91% (11.24%)
2000's 32.38% (33.73%)
2010's 25.34% (22.25%)

Dow 13.73% (14.59%)
M&S 10.09% (11.00%)
Fonseca .23% (10.29%)
Taylor 12.02% (10.05%)
Sainsbury's 9.01% (10.05%)
Cockburn's 6.44% (7.18%)
Sandeman's 5.79% (6.70%)
Graham 7.51% (5.74%)
Delaforce 4.94% (5.50%)
Warre 3.65% (4.31%)
Maynards/Fletchers 2.58% (2.87%)
Vesuvio 2.58% (2.87%)
Churchill's 3.00% (0.00%)
Noval 2.15% (1.90%)

No other shipper reaches 2.0%.

I have 115 (84) different ports from 45 (44) different vintages.

The oldest Port added to the cellar this year was from 1961 (1927) and the youngest from 2017 (2011).

Using the 21 year rule, 63.22% (65.79%) of my Port is ready for drinking, and using the 30 year rule it is 35.46% (35.65%).

The average age of the Port in my cellar is 27years and 193 days (27 years, 241 days).

86.70% (85.98%) of the undrawn Port corks I own are in 75cl bottles, 12.87% (13.54%) in smaller format and 0.43% (0.48%) in magnum or larger format.

66.74% (73.40%) of the containers hold Vintage Port, 23.39% (22.80%) hold Single Quinta Vintage Port, 9.87% (3.80%) hold others in cluding Tawnies, Colheitas, Crusted and LBV's.

19.82% (21.77%) is from 2000; 10.57% (11.48%) of my Port is from the 2012 vintage with another 9.03% (10.05%) from 2011; 7.27%(6.70%) from 1985; 5.29% (6.70%) from 1994; 4.41% (3.35%) from 1977: 3.74% (4.31%) from 1970.

After another 12 months I still don't have enough half bottles (help is required)!!!!

Julian give your brain a rest!

[jdaw1]

You have made some calculation errors. Despite which, I believe I know how many.

[PhilW]

You have made some calculation errors. Despite which, I believe I know how many.

Ditto. I do love the pointless stats though, so let's not put people off posting them (but perhaps advise them to use fewer decimal places if they want to retain their privacy from simple reversing).

_{edit: less changed to fewer per pedantic correction (grumble programmer maths < 2 is "less than two" grumble)}

[jdaw1]

Fewer.

[PhilW]

Fewer.

I do far too much programming and maths; "x < 2" means "x less than 2" whether the value is integer (nominally countable) or not in pretty much every programming language; I suspect it's too ingrained.

[Justin K]

Fonseca should be 9.23%. Now does it add up?

[Alex Bridgeman]

I love the fact that the lists of most owned shippers includes M&S and Sainsbury. It shows that we know a bargain when we spot one.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Stunningly, after 2 years of retirement, I am up to date with transcribing my tasting notes so am in the position to spend some time pointlessly looking at what I drank last year.

In 2021 I tasted or drank (or tasted and drank) Port from 417 different containers (mostly bottles, but sometimes casks). 107 of these were Ports I had not tasted before, 13 of the 107 being 2019 Vintage Ports.

The oldest wines were from 1827, 1870 and 1892. The most frequently tasted vintages were 1994 (33), 1980 (17) and jointly 1963 and 2015 (15).

The shippers most frequently drunk were Quevedo (57), Graham (35) and Warre (32).

The best wine I tasted in 2021 was a bottle of Niepoort Garrafeira 1931. The distribution of points I awarded was as follows:
99 - 1 wine
98 - 2 wines
97 - 5
96 - 9
95 - 14
94 - 22
93 - 28
92 - 36
91 - 42
90 - 45
89 - 52
88 - 56
87 - 35
86 - 16
85 - 14
84 - 6
83 - 4
82 - 4
81 - 2
80 - 2
Less than 80 - 2

There were also 19 wines which were not scored either because they were faulty or because the circumstances made scoring difficult.

I accept that my distribution of scores is skewed towards the top end of the 100 point range, but in my defence I do admit to liking to drink good wine rather than average wine. I also wonder whether anyone would make and release an 80 point wine these days when there is such a lot of better wine to buy and drink.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Soon...

[Doggett]

Soon...

Just imagined the guy that does the movie trailers doing a promo for the Pointless Stats thread… “coming to a Forum near you…”

[flash_uk]

Soon...

I've never computed pointless stats. If I did, I would need to get up to date with tasting notes...

[Alex Bridgeman]

Most of my pointless statistics are based on what’s in my “cellar” and how it’s changed.

But I am up to date with my tasting notes so will post something on that too.

[JacobH]

I’ve re-run the script on my records following the last post in July 2020. In that time, I appear to have tried a further 130 new types of Port which doesn’t seem bad going!

The total recorded is therefore 796 different Ports & 843 tasting notes, although I am a bit behind with updating records.

My top 10 shippers are now (with their July 2020 places in brackets)

1. Graham [↑ from 2]
2. Taylor [↓ from 1]
3. Churchill [↑ from 6]
4. Croft [↓ from 3]
5. Fonseca [↓ from 4]
6. Dow [↓ from 5]
7. Quevedo [new entry]
8. Sandeman [↓ from 7]
9. Warre [↓ from 8]
10. Quinta do Noval [↓ from 9]

I think the big change from 2020 is the impact of the Port Club, with the big jump into the top 3 for Churchill. I’m surprised that Quevedo has appeared for the first time, too. I am expecting Croft to continue to fall over the next few years since I no longer drink Croft LBV almost every night. With Graham’s excellent recent LBVs, it wouldn’t surprise me if it holds its place over Taylor for a while.

My vintages remain heavily influenced by daily-drinking of LBVs and the like with a big jump into 5th place for 2015.

1. 2005 [same]
2. 2004 [↑ from 3]
3. 2001 [↓ from 2]
4. 2003 [same]
5. 2015 [new]
6. 1996 [↓ from 5]
7. 2000 [↓ from 6]
8. 1985 [same]
9. 2008 [new]
10. 2007 [new]

As before, I’ve assuming that a “glass” averages at about ⅕ of a 75cl / 50cl bottle.

[uncle tom]

The centenarian bottle I am pulling for the Xmas bash next week will reduce the average of the VP in my cellar by 3 days, 20hrs and 20 minutes..

[MigSU]

That's a brilliantly pointless statistic!

[Mike J. W.]

The centenarian bottle I am pulling for the Xmas bash next week will reduce the average of the VP in my cellar by 3 days, 20hrs and 20 minutes..

To make this the ultimate pointless statistic, seconds need to be in there.

[Glenn E.]

The centenarian bottle I am pulling for the Xmas bash next week will reduce the average of the VP in my cellar by 3 days, 20hrs and 20 minutes..

To make this the ultimate pointless statistic, seconds need to be in there.

Insufficient significant digits.

Which hasn't stopped him from posting hours and minutes, and for that matter even days, but still...

[JacobH]

Seeing as it would be rather difficult to identify the harvest date for most vintage ports, I presume Tom has decided on an official birthday for all of his Port like horses which implies a need for a birthday party!

[Justin K]

The centenarian bottle I am pulling for the Xmas bash next week will reduce the average of the VP in my cellar by 3 days, 20hrs and 20 minutes..

Julian is that enough information for you to calculate how many bottles in Tom's cellar?

[Glenn E.]

Seeing as it would be rather difficult to identify the harvest date for most vintage ports, I presume Tom has decided on an official birthday for all of his Port like horses which implies a need for a birthday party!

Is it the Port birthday, the calendar birthday, or the international birthday?

(Look up Korean age if you don't understand the question.)

[Alex Bridgeman]

I thought this year I would do something slightly different for my pointless statistics – a comparison to 10 years ago and not to last year. A chance to see how things have changed over the last decade rather than the last year.

On 31 December 2022, my cellar will comprise of the following (with 2012 figures in brackets)
Port 86% (91%)
Bordeaux 3% (3%)
South Africa 2% (0.5%)
Champagne 1% (2%)
California 1% (less than 0.5%)
Australia 1% (1%)
Italy 1% (less than 0.5%)
Portugal 1% (less than 0.5%)
Spain 1% (0.5%)
England 1% (less than 0.5%)
Lebanon 0.5% (less than 0.5%)
Rhone less than 0.5% (0.5%)
and small numbers of bottles from Hungary, Greece, Chile and other French regions. I am proud to conclude that I am developing a wider taste in wines as I get more mature.

Of the Port, 65% (61%) is 21 years of age or older and therefore ready for drinking. 87% (89%) of the Port containers are bottles, 9% (8%) are 50cl or smaller, 3% (3%) are magnums or larger.

The average age of the Port is 36 years and 249 days (compared with 34 years and 185 days when I first did the calculation at the end of 2016). Apparently, my Port gains 1 year of average age every 2 years and 277 days.

62% (68%) of the containers hold Vintage Port, 25% (25%) Single Quinta Vintage Port, 4% (6%) LBV, 1% (1%) is crusted, 2% (<0.5%) is white and 4% (<0.5%) is tawny or Colheita.

The top 5 shippers in my cellar are Vesuvio 13% (15%), Taylor 9% (less than 5%), Graham 8% (8%), Warre 7% (8%) and Quinta do Noval 7% (less than 5%).

The top 5 vintages are 1994 7% (7%), 2011 7% (-), 1963 6% (10%), 2000 5% (less than 5%) and 1997 4% (6%). There are 787 (409) different Ports in the cellar waiting to be consumed.

[MigSU]

Brilliant statistics. Fun!

[Alex Bridgeman]

Some pointless tasting statistics about my imbibing in 2022.

In 2022 I tasted (or drank) from 763 different containers of Port or pretend-Port. Some containers were small (5cl) and some were large (18,000 litres). Most were between these extremes. My previous record number of tasting notes was 532 in 2017 so my retirement is paying dividends!

The oldest wine I tasted in 2022 was the 1872 Bom Retiro. There were 8 other 19th century wines included in my tasting.

The average age of the vintage dated wines tasted was 40 years, which is the perfect age for a Vintage Port to show well. The average age of the VPs was 44.

- 459 of the Ports were Ruby (24 ruby or ruby reserve, 31 LBV, 6 crusted, 60 SQVP, 338 VP).
- 196 of the Ports were Tawny (15 tawny or tawny reserve, 40 10YO, 25 20YO, 9 30YO, 13 40YO, 12 50YO, 3 +80YO, 79 colheita).
- 90 of the Ports were White (21 white or white reserve, 24 10YO, 5 20YO, 5 30YO, 6 40YO, 5 50YO, 24 colheita)
- 8 of the Ports were Garrafeira
- 3 of the Ports were Pink
- 7 of the Ports were not strictly Port (3 South Africa, 2 Douro Moscatel, 1 Quinado, 1 Cyprus Port)

The best wine I tasted was the Quinta do Noval Nacional 1931 drunk in February, which I gave 100 points and promptly burst into tears. The worst the Quinta de Vale da Figueira Dry White NV - just don't drink it unless you use it in a cocktail, in which case it's rather nice.

216 of the 763 Ports were new to me and were wines I've not tasted before. Of this 216, 84 were Vintage Ports I've not tasted before. The most satisfying of these was Smith Woodhouse 1992 (a bucket list wine) and the most interesting Dow 1947.

I'm still looking for a bottle of Smith Woodhouse 1963. If anyone knows where I might be able to get one, please let me know...

[MigSU]

Wait, I didn't give you any Val da Figueira whites, did I? I think I still have a couple of those dry whites (along with some extra dry whites) laying about. I've opened a few, and they are indeed tasty as cocktail fodder.

[CPR 1]

Having missed 2021, I will again contribute an update to Pointless Statistics

Unlike my last update in early 2021 I find my cellar seems to have grown again. This is partly a result that surprisingly consumption reduced by 10% compared to 2021!

I again managed to sample 31 vintages from the cellar, which ranged between 1927 and 2017. Bottles shipped by Graham made up 18% of this followed by Fonseca and Taylor. 1970 and 77 vintages were the most consumed, with 1994 a distant 3rd (while some of the G 2015 LBV never made it to the cellar!).

As at the end of 2022 the shippers in my cellar are:

Fonseca 14% (13% 2020)
Graham 14% (12%)
Taylor 12% (13%)
Warre 9% (10%)
Dow 9% (9%)
Vesuvio 5% (6%)

With the vintages being still led by 1977 12% (13%), 2011 8% (9%) and 1994 6% (7%)

I find that 44% of the Port in the cellar by volume is > 30 years old and 63% of the Port > 21 years old

Overall I am surprised at the stability of my stats

[uncle tom]

Nearly twenty years ago now, I has this little idea..
..that it would be fun to create a port cellar that could yield a centenarian bottle of VP every year in perpetuity

- There's been a bit of mission creep since then..

With the 1924's now turning 100 I now have over 100 bottles (107 to be precise) of VP that are 100 or more years old.

In 2023 I actually managed to drink more VP than I bought, but compensated on the LBV front, bringing my total number of bottles of LBV to 871

[Alex Bridgeman]

Tom, thank you for the prompt, your post reminded me that I haven't posted my pointless statistics for 2023 yet!

For ease, I've kept the comparison of the end 2023 statistics against 2012's numbers.

On 31 December 2023, my cellar comprised of the following (with 2012 figures in brackets)
Port 86% (91%)
Bordeaux 3% (3%)
South Africa 2% (0.5%)
Champagne 1% (2%)
California 1% (less than 0.5%)
Australia 1% (1%)
Italy 1% (less than 0.5%)
Portugal 1% (less than 0.5%)
Spain 1% (0.5%)
England 1% (less than 0.5%)
Lebanon less than 0.5% (less than 0.5%)
Rhone less than 0.5% (0.5%)
and small numbers of bottles from Hungary, Greece, Chile and other French regions. The only change since the end of last year is the reduction in the proportion of my cellar coming from Lebanon - moving from 0.5% to "less than 0.5%". I'll drop it from next year's statistics unless I acquire more.

Of the Port, 67% (61%) is 21 years of age or older and therefore ready for drinking. 88% (89%) of the Port containers are bottles, 9% (8%) are 50cl or smaller, 3% (3%) are magnums or larger.

The average age of the Port is 39 years and 292 days (compared with 34 years and 185 days when I first did the calculation at the end of 2016).

60% (68%) of the containers hold Vintage Port, 25% (25%) Single Quinta Vintage Port, 6% (<0.5%) is tawny or Colheita, 4% (6%) LBV, 1% (1%) is crusted, 2% (<0.5%) is white and 2% (0%) is other things (like advent calendars and tasting kits).

The top 5 shippers in my cellar are Vesuvio 13% (15%), Taylor 8% (less than 5%), Graham 8% (8%), Quinta do Noval 8% (less than 5%) and Warre 7% (8%).

The top 5 vintages are 2011 7% (none in 2012, obviously), 1994 7% (7%), 1963 5% (10%), 2000 5% (less than 5%) and 1997 4% (6%). There are 800 (409) different Ports in the cellar waiting to be consumed.

[uncle tom]

The average age of the Port is 39 years and 292 days (compared with 34 years and 185 days

Average age of VP in my cellar is currently 36 years, 10 months, 7 days, 13 hours and 32 minutes

I have 389 bottles of VP that are older than I am and 1080 bottles that are over 50 years old

[PhilW]

At the of the start of 2024, my cellar comprises the following (2021 values in brackets for comparison):

Port by type:
87% Vintage/SQVP (82%)
3% LBV (6%)
2% Crusted (3%)
8% Tawny/colheita/white (9%)

Vintage port by shipper:
The producers with highest representation for VP in my cellar are Warre, Fonseca and Churchill (previously Warre, Fonseca, Graham)

Vintage port by years:
The years with highest representation for VP in my cellar are 1970, 1977, and 1985, (previously 1970, then 1977 and 1985 equal).

The most notable changes in the detail of the last couple of years are:
- a notable reduction in LBV (drinking the cellar defenders).
- a notable increase in Churchill - and indeed also a notable increase in '82s, can't think why...
- a flatter general spread across producers and years (peaks excepted) than previously.
- Dow continues to be anomalously under-represented, due to me drinking it every time I try to rectify the issue.