Port for sale by retailer

[griff]

Noval LBV down to £9/bottle at Tesco.

[griff]

Noval LBV down to £9/bottle at Tesco.

Just to update it is the 2005 and is the generic variant. Ready to drink. A little floral on the nose and milk chocolate on the fruit filled palate. Acidity not discernable. By contrast the Quinta do Noval LBV 2005 is made of much sterner stuff. Closed and tannic and built to cellar for a while.

[RAYC]

Noval LBV down to £9/bottle at Tesco.

Just to update it is the 2005 and is the generic variant. Ready to drink. A little floral on the nose and milk chocolate on the fruit filled palate. Acidity not discernable. By contrast the Quinta do Noval LBV 2005 is made of much sterner stuff. Closed and tannic and built to cellar for a while.

Worth noting that this might not be universal - Tesco Henley seem to be treating the regular Noval LBV and the single vineyard LBV as interchangeable, since the different bottlings seem to appear under the same shelf label from week to week!

[griff]

Noval LBV down to £9/bottle at Tesco.

Just to update it is the 2005 and is the generic variant. Ready to drink. A little floral on the nose and milk chocolate on the fruit filled palate. Acidity not discernable. By contrast the Quinta do Noval LBV 2005 is made of much sterner stuff. Closed and tannic and built to cellar for a while.

Worth noting that this might not be universal - Tesco Henley seem to be treating the regular Noval LBV and the single vineyard LBV as interchangeable, since the different bottlings seem to appear under the same shelf label from week to week!

A port lucky dip? I may have to pay them another visit...

[Alex Bridgeman]

Sainsbury's are running their "Buy 6 and get 25% off" offer again.

Their excellent Sainsbury's Taste the Difference 2003 Vintage Port is £25 per bottle before the 25% discount, must be good value at £18.75 per bottle.

But I'll admit that I walked out with little port and lots of Champagne, including 6 of the Sainsbury's Own Label Blanc de Blanc NV for the ridiculous price of £11.25 a bottle and 6 Lanson Black Label for £15 per bottle. Someone will be happy at home tonight!

[DRT]

Sainsbury's are running their "Buy 6 and get 25% off" offer again.

Their excellent Sainsbury's Taste the Difference 2003 Vintage Port is £25 per bottle before the 25% discount, must be good value at £18.75 per bottle.

I bought 6 of these today, but suspect that a better deal will be coming soon if Sainsbury repeat what they did with this VP in the run-up to Christmas 2011. If my memory is correct I think these were around £13 each throughout December!

[jdaw1]

But I'll admit that I walked out with little port and lots of Champagne, including 6 of the Sainsbury's Own Label Blanc de Blanc NV for the ridiculous price of £11.25 a bottle and 6 Lanson Black Label for £15 per bottle. Someone will be happy at home tonight!

Expert comment on this, by email or in the Other Wines section, would be most welcome. Thank you.

[RAYC]

Some attractive pricing on Vesuvio 96 at C&B

Perhaps not as good as DRT / THRA's purchase price at auction some years ago, but at £112ib for a 6-pack (£25ish per bottle all-in) with 13-14 years of storage in Octavian, it was tempting enough for me!

[Alex Bridgeman]

But I'll admit that I walked out with little port and lots of Champagne, including 6 of the Sainsbury's Own Label Blanc de Blanc NV for the ridiculous price of £11.25 a bottle and 6 Lanson Black Label for £15 per bottle. Someone will be happy at home tonight!

Expert comment on this, by email or in the Other Wines section, would be most welcome. Thank you.

What would you like to know?

[DRT]

But I'll admit that I walked out with little port and lots of Champagne, including 6 of the Sainsbury's Own Label Blanc de Blanc NV for the ridiculous price of £11.25 a bottle and 6 Lanson Black Label for £15 per bottle. Someone will be happy at home tonight!

Expert comment on this, by email or in the Other Wines section, would be most welcome. Thank you.

What would you like to know?

Perhaps JDAW wants to know if buying your wife 12 bottles of Champagne on your birthday has a positive effect on your general wellbeing?

[jdaw1]

What would you like to know?

TN? General quality report? Worth buying some dozen?

[Zelandakh]

Well the Times said today that the discounting of wines will be stopped. Hopeful that 25% off VP is not included in that

[jdaw1]

I haven’t heard many reports of hooliganism fueled by Vintage Port.

[DRT]

I haven’t heard many reports of hooliganism fueled by Vintage Port.

Although I do remember one of our younger members drinking pints of it in a hotel in Covent Garden and becoming quite rowdy.

[mpij]

I haven’t heard many reports of hooliganism fueled by Vintage Port.

Press reports of Bullingdon Club dinners may be a good place to start looking.

[Alex Bridgeman]

What would you like to know?

TN? General quality report? Worth buying some dozen?

I am expecting the heavy discounting of Champagne by UK supermarkets to lead to a drop in quality of NV Champagne, similar to the poor quality levels seen in the late '80s and early '90s, but so far I have not seen this happen.

Lanson Black label is a modest weighted NV wine and makes for a very decent house Champagne. It is also very capable of aging in bottle for 2-3 years, putting on a little weight and losing some of its lemony tones.

Sainsbury Blanc de Blanc NV is a surprisingly weighty wine with some lovely honey notes underneath the lemon and grapefruit. I've not managed to age this yet, but I would expect it to mature in bottle for 5 years and be much better with additional age.

Worth buying some - absolutely (in my opinion). These are remarkable prices, just as absurd as selling top notch 2003 vintage port for under £13 a bottle. I bought 2 dozen assorted Champagne, predominantly the two mentioned above but also a little Blanc de Noir (which I prefer, although EAB prefers Blanc de Blanc), Moet & Chandon NV (EAB's favourite marque) and a couple of others.

[griff]

I think the Sainsbury's BdB and BdN are both made by Duval Leroy. A decent purchase indeed for mid-week fizz.

[mpij]

Asda has Dows Crusted bottled 2004 reduced to £12 and also 2001 Quinta do bomfim reducwd to £20.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I think the Sainsbury's BdB and BdN are both made by Duval Leroy. A decent purchase indeed for mid-week fizz.

I can confirm that, and the Sainsbury's Own Label NV is Duval Leroy.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Tesco have put on promotion Noval 2006 Unfiltered LBV, now £10.99, and Dow's Master Blend, now £6.65.

And if you buy 6 or more bottles you get an additional 5% discount.

[griff]

30 year old Offley for £36.99 at Aldi. Bottled 2012 and a small taste suggests rather good value indeed.

2008 Quinta do Crasto VP at Great Western Wines for £25 looks a good price as well.

[RAYC]

Tesco have put on promotion Noval 2006 Unfiltered LBV, now £10.99, and Dow's Master Blend, now £6.65.

And if you buy 6 or more bottles you get an additional 5% discount.

Is that the Dow's Master Blend LBV or the Dow's Master Blend Ruby Reserve (I think both exist)

[Alex Bridgeman]

Tesco have put on promotion Noval 2006 Unfiltered LBV, now £10.99, and Dow's Master Blend, now £6.65.

And if you buy 6 or more bottles you get an additional 5% discount.

Is that the Dow's Master Blend LBV or the Dow's Master Blend Ruby Reserve (I think both exist)

It is the Master Blend Ruby Reserve - you are right, there are two wines made under the Master Blend label.

[griff]

Speaking of the Dows Master blend it is now £5.24 at Sainsburys. The 2003 VP is now £15. Good prices for Grahams LBV and Malvedos as well. Not the depths seen last year but not far off.

[PhilW]

Sainsbury's this morning have their 25% off on 6 bottles or more for wine/champagne/fortified. They also have the Graham Malvedos 99 on offer at 22.37 (instead of usual 26.37), which after 25% works out at 16.78 per bottle; note 6 per customer limit (per visit, I assume).

[griff]

Sainsbury's this morning have their 25% off on 6 bottles or more for wine/champagne/fortified. They also have the Graham Malvedos 99 on offer at 22.37 (instead of usual 26.37), which after 25% works out at 16.78 per bottle; note 6 per customer limit (per visit, I assume).

Yes. Although it was 1998 here.

[David T.]

There are some almost unbelievably good port prices to be had at the moment, which I'd like to share: Examples:

- There is an American Express promotion for the West End that gives you £25 rebate to the Amex bill if you spend £50 or more. John Lewis has 20% of the price of Taylor's Vargellas SQVP 1991 and Warre's 2001 LBV. Crossing my fingers that the promotion worked, they will have cost me £11.75 for the Vargellas and £8 for the LBV. Caveats are that it you only get the rebate once, you need an Amex card, and it is this week only.
- I have bought 2 bottles of Taylors 1985 VP from Tesco's for ~£35 each. This is a combination of Tesco's having different prices for the same bottles in different stores (list price is £81, but it can be found at £40.50), and stacking various promotions (e.g. another Amex linkin through a curious app called FourSquare gives a £10 rebate at the moment - again one-off).
- A similar story, the Tesco's own brand VP normally costs £22, but I visited 2 branches yesterday, the first had a shelf price of £11.75, the second had a shelf price of £23. Again combining with Amex tie-ins and clubcard promotions means you can pick up the first 2 bottles for an average price of £5 or so each.

[DRT]

Sainsbury's this morning have their 25% off on 6 bottles or more for wine/champagne/fortified. They also have the Graham Malvedos 99 on offer at 22.37 (instead of usual 26.37), which after 25% works out at 16.78 per bottle; note 6 per customer limit (per visit, I assume).

I just bought 6 x Sainsbury TTD 2003 VP for £90 (£5 off per bottle then 25% discount for 6) plus 6 of the Malvedos 1999 for £100.66.

I noted Phil's advice and visited two stores to buy six bottles in each store. In the second store I read the shelf ticket which says "Maximum of six cases per customer".

[Andy Velebil]

In the second store I read the shelf ticket which says "Maximum of six cases per customer".

So you now own a large stock?

[RAYC]

Sainsbury's this morning have their 25% off on 6 bottles or more for wine/champagne/fortified. They also have the Graham Malvedos 99 on offer at 22.37 (instead of usual 26.37), which after 25% works out at 16.78 per bottle; note 6 per customer limit (per visit, I assume).

I just bought 6 x Sainsbury TTD 2003 VP for £90 (£5 off per bottle then 25% discount for 6) plus 6 of the Malvedos 1999 for £100.66.

I noted Phil's advice and visited two stores to buy six bottles in each store. In the second store I read the shelf ticket which says "Maximum of six cases per customer".

This is correct - but by cases they mean "cases of 6" (i.e. max of 36 bottles per customer).

[DRT]

Sainsbury's this morning have their 25% off on 6 bottles or more for wine/champagne/fortified. They also have the Graham Malvedos 99 on offer at 22.37 (instead of usual 26.37), which after 25% works out at 16.78 per bottle; note 6 per customer limit (per visit, I assume).

I just bought 6 x Sainsbury TTD 2003 VP for £90 (£5 off per bottle then 25% discount for 6) plus 6 of the Malvedos 1999 for £100.66.

I noted Phil's advice and visited two stores to buy six bottles in each store. In the second store I read the shelf ticket which says "Maximum of six cases per customer".

This is correct - but by cases they mean "cases of 6" (i.e. max of 36 bottles per customer).

I know. But Phil's note suggests six bottles, not six cases, which is why I visited two stores to buy twelve bottles.

[PhilW]

Sainsbury's this morning have their 25% off on 6 bottles or more for wine/champagne/fortified. They also have the Graham Malvedos 99 on offer at 22.37 (instead of usual 26.37), which after 25% works out at 16.78 per bottle; note 6 per customer limit (per visit, I assume).

I just bought 6 x Sainsbury TTD 2003 VP for £90 (£5 off per bottle then 25% discount for 6) plus 6 of the Malvedos 1999 for £100.66.

I noted Phil's advice and visited two stores to buy six bottles in each store. In the second store I read the shelf ticket which says "Maximum of six cases per customer".

This is correct - but by cases they mean "cases of 6" (i.e. max of 36 bottles per customer).

I know. But Phil's note suggests six bottles, not six cases, which is why I visited two stores to buy twelve bottles.

The general wine/champagne/fortified at 25% offer has a restriction of 6 cases per customer (on general signage).
The Malvedos at 22.37 instead of 26.37 has a restriction of 6 bottles per customer (on shelf price tag).
I believe the TTD at £5 off is also limited to 6 per customer on shelf tag, thought I can't remember for sure. So you could have bought both in the same store, but not 12 bottles of one etc.

[jdaw1]

I ordered STTD 2003 × 36, online, to be delivered. And this evening there was delivered STTD 2003 × 13, plus a ruby × 3 as a ‘substitute’. I accepted delivery of only the thirteen.

[RAYC]

I ordered STTD 2003 × 36, online, to be delivered. And this evening there was delivered STTD 2003 × 13, plus a ruby × 3 as a ‘substitute’. I accepted delivery of only the thirteen.

I was intending to do the same, but hesitated.

Why?

Have a look at the product description....STTD 2000 (here)

Was this evening's delivery part of that order? On the balance of probabilities, i think it is likely to be the 03, but would like confirmation if you have acted as guinea pig!

[jdaw1]

Just checked: all thirteen labelled ‟2003”.

[RAYC]

Thank you.

Really a rather unsatisfactory order system, which didn't credit £5 off per bottle in basket (applied on checkout) or the 25% discount at checkout (i'm trusting that this will be adjusted later).

Anyone know whether 2004 M&C Grand Vintage is also worth a look at under £30? (KillerB...i can see you browsing!)

[griff]

Thank you.

Really a rather unsatisfactory order system, which didn't credit £5 off per bottle in basket (applied on checkout) or the 25% discount at checkout (i'm trusting that this will be adjusted later).

Anyone know whether 2004 M&C Grand Vintage is also worth a look at under £30? (KillerB...i can see you browsing!)

YES. Great NV. Shame it isn't available in my area. Other bubbly worth looking at is the 2002 Bolly and the 2002 Moet.

[griff]

Oh and agreed regarding the order system

[PhilW]

Sainsbury's this morning have their 25% off on 6 bottles or more for wine/champagne/fortified. They also have the Graham Malvedos 99 on offer at 22.37 (instead of usual 26.37), which after 25% works out at 16.78 per bottle; note 6 per customer limit (per visit, I assume).

Yes. Although it was 1998 here.

Local Sainsbury has now run out of '99 and is selling 2001 at the same price.

[jdaw1]

The Halifax Wine Company, by email, advertised Quinta Nova LBV Port (unfiltered) 2007, ‟A seamless concoction of rich berry fruit and satisfying complex overtones. Smooth, substantial and pleasing”, at £16.95.

[DRT]

Tesco now have a "buy 6 get 25% off" deal. Dow Bomfim 1999 and 2001 also have £4 off the usual price so are available at £16.50 each if you buy 6.

The Croft LBV 2004 seems to be available again at £4 per half, or £3 if you take 6 or more.

[RAYC]

Vintage Port’s almost unique ability to age steadily for 30 years and very often longer meant the serious buyer had to look ahead to cater for his offspring’s drinking, much as, hopefully, his forebears had thought to do decades earlier for the current generation.

Before bottling had to be completed in Portugal, the Port wine was shipped from Porto / Vila Nova de Gaia to the UK in a wooden cask called a ‘Pipe’ and customers would order by the Pipe, or perhaps share one, and instruct their Wine Merchant to bottle a complete cask which would then be delivered and binned in their cool, dark cellars ”“ filling capacious bins with rows of neatly laid out bottles which were then left to slumber quietly until mature. Today, as all Port is bottled in Portugal, we can’t offer you to buy ‘by the Pipe’ itself. A Pipe’s capacity varies somewhat as, of course, some wine was ‘lost’ perhaps due to spillage or surreptitious consumption (what’s called ‘shrinkage’ today) but it is agreed that a Pipe is the equivalent of 56 dozen bottles ”“ a volume of wine probably a little too much for today’s circumstances but we are able to offer a Berrys’ Half-Pipe made up of the following:

Berrys’ Half-Pipe - £11,500 in bond (saving you £740).

4 dozen bottles 2011 Taylor
4 dozen bottles 2011 Fonseca
4 dozen bottles 2011 Graham
4 dozen bottles 2011 Warre
4 dozen bottles 2011 Dow
4 dozen bottles 2011 Cockburn
4 dozen bottles 2011 Croft

[DRT]

Berrys’ Half-Pipe - £11,500 in bond (saving you £740).

Given that BBR's prices are around £360 higher for this batch of cases than you would pay some other retailers this "saving" represents about 3% discount, which doesn't feel particularly enticing for such a large volume of bottles.

[jdaw1]

Even so, I would welcome being bought a half pipe of 2011s.

[DRT]

Even so, I would welcome being bought a half pipe of 2011s.

I will remember that when next considering what to buy you for your birthday.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Even so, I would welcome being bought a half pipe of 2011s.

Would you like it in a single bottle?

[djewesbury]

Even so, I would welcome being bought a half pipe of 2011s.

Would you like it in a single bottle?

Best not, what would he drink with his dinner?

[jdaw1]

Sizes much bigger than a double magnum are inconvenient for home use.

[SCP]

Spotted in a Sainsbury's, although not available online. STTD 2003, £14.99 reduced from £25.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Spotted in a Sainsbury's, although not available online. STTD 2003, £14.99 reduced from £25.

Well worth buying at that price...unless you already have several dozen!