Always wanted to own a port company?

[RonnieRoots]

I don't know what the current situation is for growers, but I do know that some years ago, they were selling their low end stuff at loss. Competition in the lower end is stiff (meaning that consumer prices remain low) but costs of labour, land, transport etc. are going up. And labour is a very important factor here, given the labour intensivity of the Douro. If you compare the look and feel of northern Portugal now and as close by as 5 years ago, the difference is incredible. The standard of living (while in many parts still poor) is going up at an insane rate. And costs rise accordingly. But a 5 euro bottle of port is still a 5 euro bottle of port. Costwise impossible. It is no co-incidence that there has been such a shift towards the special categories the last years. That's where the real money can be made. Not cheap rubies, not vintage port, but ruby reserve and LBV.

Given all this, it is also no co-incidence that companies like Castelinho and Ventozelo are in need of a cash injection and come up for sale. These companies had a pretty strong reliance on the bottom range, and struggled to get a position in the special categories market (or rather, struggled to get their quality up to par).

[morteno]

A great example is Bronco Winery here in the states. They sell a line of dry wines call Charles Shaw (also known as "Two Buck Chuck") as it sells for only $2 a bottle

This reminds me of the episode of Oz Clarke and James May's "Big Wine Adventure" (season 2) where they head off to California and in this episode visit the quoted winery and meet with Two Buck Chuck himself. Chuck is disgusting - on several levels. It's hilarious . Great series by the way.

[ajfeather]

Hard times for smaller players in Douro article in Bloomberg of all places http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

[JacobH]

Surely this cannot be true?

Foreign Competition

Winemakers in countries such as the U.S. and Australia are vying for a larger share of the market for table and port-like wines. U.S. dessert wine sales increased 61 percent in the five years to 2007, according to the California-based Sweet and Fortified Wine Association. New Zealand more than tripled its area of vineyards in a decade.

I wonder if the 61% increase represents in absolute terms.

[DRT]

Surely this cannot be true?

Given the exremely high price of real Port in the US I can see how this could easily be true. I am sure some of these port-like wines are very gluggable, especially in a market that has a strong tendancy towards drinking young wines. What would be interesting to know is whether or not the 61% increase in the consumption of imposters is balanced by a corresponding reduction in Port sales or is it part of an overall increase in demand for fortified wines.

[Andy Velebil]

It has become very popular here in the States for wine producers to produce a "dessert" wine. Usually they are just late harvest Zinfandels that have 17ish % ABV. Think of a super jammy and ripe zin and you got the idea. Not really my cup of tea, but some people love these things There are also wineries making fortified zins and cabernet sauvignon that are in the 18-20% ABV range. Basically they are like drinking high octate zins and cabs and have no bearing to real Ports. But they sell a lot as people are already at the winery or on a mailing list so its easy to get them buy a bottle or two with their other wine purchases.

The sad thing is these imposters are most often more money than the real deal. I was at a Paso Robles winery last week that had two "ports", one a basic ruby and one an aged tawny (IIRC, around 8 years of age). While the basic one was not that great, the aged tawy was actually sorta decent....until I inquired about the price. It was $60 for a .375ml That translates into $120 for a full bottle. I can get a great 1970 or 77 VP for that price, or a 40 year old tawny that would blow the doors off this imposter. But people buy them, especially after tasting wine at a winery tasting room and getting a bit tipsy. Good selling strategy if you ask me...but I won't buy any.

[Glenn E.]

Yeah, I've noticed that Ficklin (CA) and a few Aussie companies have basic rubies available in my corner grocery store... but they're more expensive than Graham's Six Grapes and not nearly as good. Makes no sense to me.

The Aussies do manage to produce some very good dessert wines, but I haven't found a port from down under that I like.