1977 Graham's Vintage Port for Sale

[sazzlesport]

Hello,

I have 10x bottles of Graham's 1977 (bottled in 1979) Vintage Port (75cl)

All 10 bottles were stored professionally, until I had them delivered on 16th March 2021 to my home. Since then, they have been stored in the dark and cold in my garage.

Is there anyone in the Oxfordshire area (UK) who would be interested in one/some/all of these bottles? I am looking for around £100/bottle but am open to offers.

Please see photos below!

Many thanks,
Sarah

[Alex Bridgeman]

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for posting here and giving us the opportunity to buy the Ports.

You might find someone interested, but my feeling is that you are being too optimistic with your target price. Right now, you can buy a case (of 12 bottles) of Graham 1977 from Goedhuis & Co for less than £78 per bottle - and that comes with all the consumer protection of the Sale of Goods Act if the bottles turn out to be damaged in any way.

It could be that your best option is to approach your local auction house (Mallam’s) and see if they would list these at their next sale.

Best of luck.

[jdaw1]

The post starting this thread is commendable. Said what they are, where they are, their history, and pictures. Good work by Sarah.

[idj123]

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for posting here and giving us the opportunity to buy the Ports.

You might find someone interested, but my feeling is that you are being too optimistic with your target price. Right now, you can buy a case (of 12 bottles) of Graham 1977 from Goedhuis & Co for less than £78 per bottle - and that comes with all the consumer protection of the Sale of Goods Act if the bottles turn out to be damaged in any way.

It could be that your best option is to approach your local auction house (Mallam’s) and see if they would list these at their next sale.

Best of luck.

G77 is a lovely Port but Alex is right, £100 a bottle is unfortunately not realistic. It regularly appears at auction for about £60 a bottle all in and so for a private sale you might be looking at nearer £50 a bottle.

[sazzlesport]

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for posting here and giving us the opportunity to buy the Ports.

You might find someone interested, but my feeling is that you are being too optimistic with your target price. Right now, you can buy a case (of 12 bottles) of Graham 1977 from Goedhuis & Co for less than £78 per bottle - and that comes with all the consumer protection of the Sale of Goods Act if the bottles turn out to be damaged in any way.

It could be that your best option is to approach your local auction house (Mallam’s) and see if they would list these at their next sale.

Best of luck.

Thank you for your advice, this is the first time I've offered port anywhere so wasn't really sure what price was reasonable. A quick Google search gave single bottles at ~£100 but maybe I was looking in the wrong place! I am open to offers so please anyone get in touch if you'd like them. I will also look at Mallam's, thank you for suggesting them. Sarah

[sazzlesport]

The post starting this thread is commendable. Said what they are, where they are, their history, and pictures. Good work by Sarah.

Thank you for the positive feedback! First time selling, so good to know I've provided the right info

[sazzlesport]

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for posting here and giving us the opportunity to buy the Ports.

You might find someone interested, but my feeling is that you are being too optimistic with your target price. Right now, you can buy a case (of 12 bottles) of Graham 1977 from Goedhuis & Co for less than £78 per bottle - and that comes with all the consumer protection of the Sale of Goods Act if the bottles turn out to be damaged in any way.

It could be that your best option is to approach your local auction house (Mallam’s) and see if they would list these at their next sale.

Best of luck.

G77 is a lovely Port but Alex is right, £100 a bottle is unfortunately not realistic. It regularly appears at auction for about £60 a bottle all in and so for a private sale you might be looking at nearer £50 a bottle.

Thank you, this is good to know. I was wondering what it'd go for at auction. Need to work out what I should do with them. I was hoping for a bit more... My partner is very keen I keep them but I read somewhere that now is the best time to drink them and we won't get through 10 bottles anytime soon. I'm guessing the window is pretty long for these? Any advice is very welcome! I'm very new to this

[Alex Bridgeman]

Hi Sarah,

The best advice I can give is KEEP THEM.

Graham 1977 is a delicious Port. At or close to its best and will remain so for the next 20 years or so (if stored properly*).

Once it’s past its peak it will slowly change into a more caramel and almost equally delicious drink over the next 30-50 years.

If you have children, you could leave them what you don’t manage to drink in your lifetime and they would drink what’s left with great enjoyment.

You really don’t need to worry about drinking these through too quickly.

In the hope I’ve persuaded you not to sell your bottles, please allow me to say a few words about how to enjoy the contents of your bottles. Vintage Port is bottled 2-3 years after the harvest. It then slumbers in the bottle without contact with air for decades, slowly maturing into something quite special. When you decide to open one, ideally stand it up for a day before you open it. The maturation process develops a sediment which will fall to the bottom of the bottle when you stand it. The Port should be decanted before you drink it - which just means carefully and slowly pour the contents into a clean jug until you see the sediment starting to leave the bottle. The remaining Port can be poured into a glass, sludge and all, be allowed to settle and then you can sip carefully the too layer from the glass - that way you waste nothing!

Decanting serves two purposes. Firstly it separates the wine from the sediment but more importantly it allows the Port to “open up”. When Port has been locked away from the air in a bottle for over 40 years it takes time for the air to mix with the wine and allow the mature wine to fully develop its full beauty of smell and flavour. Ideally, with this particular wine, I would decant 4-6 hours before I intend to drink it. Once open, these bottle matured wines are quite sensitive to air and are best drunk over 2-3 days. If you think you’d like to drink over a longer time it’s worth pouring some wine from your jug into an empty and clean half bottle so the bottle is very full (to minimise the amount of air in contact with the wine), corking the half bottle and keeping it in the fridge. Vintage Port treated like this will stay in good condition for 1-2 weeks.

Savour and enjoy the wine when you drink it. It will change in the most delicious ways in the glass over the course of the evening. I particularly like Vintage Port of this age with hard cheese, Spenwood or Cheddar being two examples. I find Stilton overpowers the subtleties of a fine mature Vintage Port.

Ideally serve at 14-16C. Or do what I sometimes do and keep the jug in the fridge and allow the Port to warm up in the glass. I usually need to refill my glass with more cold Port by the time the contents have reached my centrally heated room temperature.

* Proper storage - in order of importance, I suggest the storage needs to be:
- in a dark place (direct sunlight kills a wine very quickly, making it pale in colour and tasting like sugar-water).
- at a near-constant temperature, which varies as little as possible across the day.
- at a cool temperature: 12C is ideal, but warmer is fine.

I really hope you decide to keep the bottles. If you do, please come back to the forum and let us know what you think or any questions you’d like to ask or help you need. You have some delicious bottles - I really hope you keep them and enjoy them.

[MigSU]

Come to sell some vintage Port; leave with an introductory course on vintage Port.

[Alex Bridgeman]

And hopefully Sarah and her partner discover they love our favourite wine as much as we all do!

[PhilW]

I'm guessing the window is pretty long for these? Any advice is very welcome! I'm very new to this

If you're considering keeping them, then definitely do - provided you can store them well.
Am in full agreement with Alex's detailed advice, and would just highlight that storage is absolutely the key to keeping your port in good condition.
Dark, cool, and as constant a temperature as possible, and then as Alex says you'll be happy for another 20 years (and/or drink them in the next 5 having discovered how delicious they are, and then have to buy more, and... welcome to TPF!).

[sazzlesport]

Hi Sarah,

The best advice I can give is KEEP THEM.

Graham 1977 is a delicious Port. At or close to its best and will remain so for the next 20 years or so (if stored properly*).

Once it’s past its peak it will slowly change into a more caramel and almost equally delicious drink over the next 30-50 years.

If you have children, you could leave them what you don’t manage to drink in your lifetime and they would drink what’s left with great enjoyment.

You really don’t need to worry about drinking these through too quickly.

In the hope I’ve persuaded you not to sell your bottles, please allow me to say a few words about how to enjoy the contents of your bottles. Vintage Port is bottled 2-3 years after the harvest. It then slumbers in the bottle without contact with air for decades, slowly maturing into something quite special. When you decide to open one, ideally stand it up for a day before you open it. The maturation process develops a sediment which will fall to the bottom of the bottle when you stand it. The Port should be decanted before you drink it - which just means carefully and slowly pour the contents into a clean jug until you see the sediment starting to leave the bottle. The remaining Port can be poured into a glass, sludge and all, be allowed to settle and then you can sip carefully the too layer from the glass - that way you waste nothing!

Decanting serves two purposes. Firstly it separates the wine from the sediment but more importantly it allows the Port to “open up”. When Port has been locked away from the air in a bottle for over 40 years it takes time for the air to mix with the wine and allow the mature wine to fully develop its full beauty of smell and flavour. Ideally, with this particular wine, I would decant 4-6 hours before I intend to drink it. Once open, these bottle matured wines are quite sensitive to air and are best drunk over 2-3 days. If you think you’d like to drink over a longer time it’s worth pouring some wine from your jug into an empty and clean half bottle so the bottle is very full (to minimise the amount of air in contact with the wine), corking the half bottle and keeping it in the fridge. Vintage Port treated like this will stay in good condition for 1-2 weeks.

Savour and enjoy the wine when you drink it. It will change in the most delicious ways in the glass over the course of the evening. I particularly like Vintage Port of this age with hard cheese, Spenwood or Cheddar being two examples. I find Stilton overpowers the subtleties of a fine mature Vintage Port.

Ideally serve at 14-16C. Or do what I sometimes do and keep the jug in the fridge and allow the Port to warm up in the glass. I usually need to refill my glass with more cold Port by the time the contents have reached my centrally heated room temperature.

* Proper storage - in order of importance, I suggest the storage needs to be:
- in a dark place (direct sunlight kills a wine very quickly, making it pale in colour and tasting like sugar-water).
- at a near-constant temperature, which varies as little as possible across the day.
- at a cool temperature: 12C is ideal, but warmer is fine.

I really hope you decide to keep the bottles. If you do, please come back to the forum and let us know what you think or any questions you’d like to ask or help you need. You have some delicious bottles - I really hope you keep them and enjoy them.

Wow!! Thank you very much for the detailed advice. I think you have persuaded me (for now anyway!). My partner is also now over the moon that I'm keeping them. After reading your advice he now really wants to open a bottle this evening and enjoy it with some cheese.

To be honest, I am not much of a Port/Red Wine drinker... prefer white but perhaps my preference will change after time (and after drinking 10 bottles of Graham's!!).

The bottles were a Christening gift and we had 2 bottles a few weeks ago as a taster(!) which were actually quite tasty so I will be happy knowing that we have another 10 to get through and perhaps pass on to friends and family too

I will save your post above so I can refer back to all the advice you've given when we open the next bottle.

Cheers! Sarah

[sazzlesport]

Come to sell some vintage Port; leave with an introductory course on vintage Port.

Indeed, I feel truly informed now

[Alex Bridgeman]

Hi Sarah,

If you are a white wine drinker, perhaps now is the time to mention that there are some very, very tasty White Ports to be had. (But sadly not the ones you find in the supermarkets at the moment.) Laithwaite wine shops carry the Andresen 10 Year Old White Port, which I can recommend.

Enjoy the Graham’s, they are lovely wines.

[JacobH]

I enjoyed several bottles of the Cockburn Fine White last summer which is available in most supermarkets for about £10-£12 a bottle. It's off-dry and young but makes a very pleasing afternoon drink slightly chilled or you can have it with tonic water for a less potent version of a G&T. The Graham's No 5 White might be available from Waitrose again which is also nice but a bit more expensive. I'd steer clear of other supermarket whites though, particularly the Taylor's Chip Dry.