Please help me!!!

[JAYKAY32]

Hi There, i was wondering if any of you guys out there in port land
may be able to help me. I have recently inherited 3 bottles of 1966
vintage port which was bought for me when i was born and has been
laid down ever since. The problem i have is that the bottles are not labled
and all i can find to identify this port is that on the wax seal on the top of
the bottle it is stamped 1966 vintage port and Adams. Can anyone shed any light as to whom adams are and to the possible value of these three
bottles any help would be most appreciated

[DRT]

JayKay32,

I'm guessing you're not a Space Cowboy who's married to a Cosmic Girl? - there, that's that out of the way

Welcome to TPF. I haven't come across "Adams" but would suspect it is the name of a UK wine merchant who will have bottled the wine you have in 1968 - 2 years after the year the wine was made. Until 1970 it was common for Port to be shipped to the UK in casks to be bottles by wine merchants who would sometimes use their own name rather than that of the shipper.

1966 was a very good year for Vintage Port so the bottles you have should contain some very nice wine. Unfortunately, the only way to find out who produced the wine is to open one and see if there is any branding on the cork. There is no guarantee that there will be and, even if there is, after 41 years it could be difficult to read.

If you like Vintage Port my advice would be to open one of these at Christmas and enjoy it. Feel free to ask more questions about decanting etc and we will help you out. Once you have opened one of these bottles it may be possible to give advice on what to do with the other two.

Once again, welcome to TPF.

Derek

[JAYKAY32]

Hi Derek thank you so much for your advice as i really do not know
what to do with these three bottles. Firstly i have to admit that i do not have a clue when it comes to good wines so it is good to talk to someone
who does!! the problem i have is that i think maybe if i open one of these it would be wasted on me as i do not have a clue what to look for and i think that maybe some one who would appreciate them would benifit more!!!

I spoke to someone at christies who told me that they thought that Adams was a fairly small but well respected wine shipper but that is all i know. If i did want to sell these bottles on where would i start?

and i would just like to say that the jamiriquoi reference was not wasted on me as they are one of my fave bands!!!

Thanks for the kind welcome JAYKAY32

[KillerB]

Without seeing the bottle I suspect that we will all struggle. I can find no reference to an Adams bottling of Vintage Port. By removing the seal you may get another clue but no guarantee and, as Derek says, even popping the cork may not help. Taking along your local Port expert may help when you come around to tasting but even the best can still cock it up magnificently.

Although we are not being very helpful here, please let us know what the outcome is as we would be very interested.

Oh - a picture might help, we have people that recognise bottle shapes. No, honestly, they can.

And welcome from me as well. Please stick around.

[JAYKAY32]

Ok i will try to get a picture on here for you to have a look at, maybe that
would help. I dont suppose that any of you guys would know of any port experts in the Sussex area?? I will certianly keep you up to date with any developments!

Cheers JAYKAY32 (Extreme novice but learning but the second!!)

[KillerB]

Don't sell them on - enjoy them for yourself!

Bottles of unknown provenance and unknown shipper will not get you a great price at acution. If they were bought for you for your birth then you will get more out of them than the pure financial reward. You may not be a current appreciater of wine but having something from your birth year is special and it may prompt something for you.

Uncle Tom is a big auction specialist and Al B does a bit as well. They could probably give an estimate based on your information but I would not expect a huge amount without knowing more.

Sussex - now, that's asking

[JAYKAY32]

Thanks for your response KillerB

i must admit i do like the idea of having something from the year
of my birth and i'm not too worried about financial gain what i am worried
about is knowing nothing about port and not enjoying the experiance of drinking a decent vintage port!!! and i think that by passing them on someone else may benifit far more than myself!!!

[jdaw1]

My father lives in Sussex, and I would be happy to accept delivery to him (or I can collect in late January 2008). Please post a photo of bottles and of seal, and what you want for them in £ (or PM that), and maybe I can lighten you of this problem.

[KillerB]

You need an off-line.

This is where you meet up with some of us. We bring along something nice, you bring along your 1966 VP and we have a flipping good time together.

This way, we get to appreciate your lovely 1966 Port, you get to appreciate whatever it is that we've brought along and you get to know us. We may even have a chance of identifying your bottles.

Al B is not far away and I can toddle down. We have the odd one in that London every once in a while when the odd (sometimes very odd, no names) Dutchman will turn up.

There's always the Christmas do!

Uh oh, Julian is on the prowl.

[JAYKAY32]

jdaw1 you have a PM

[JAYKAY32]

KillerB

I must admit i like the sound of that! i have been browsing some of the other post on the forum and my interest in port is certianly growing

Cheers JAYKAY32

[jdaw1]

An offline is a good idea. If the port is great (very possible for a 1966), you haven’t sold it cheaply. If it’s rubbish (all too possible with an unknown name of unknown provenance dated nine centuries after the last French invasion), your purchaser isn’t upset.

The latter possibility is why pricing will not make you feel rich.

Or you could give them to me, and when I find out what they are—it probably being written on the side of the cork—I’ll pay you a fair price (which might be close to nothing, but for Fonseca 1966 would be £100 a bottle).

[Conky]

JAYKAY32

Hi, and welcome to the Forum. Hope you stick around.

Jdaw1's 'Offer' highlights the problem you have. Without opening one, 'Adams' just isn't ringing anyones bells. You may have 3 very good bottles, maybe not. You would assume, whatever 1 is, the other two will be, but not necessarily.

You may rightly think, why should I trust a complete stranger to try the bottles, and give me a fair price on what they were! Now, I know Jdaw1, and I would know he will be true to his word, but you dont. And of course the same logic is reversed for any purchase.

I would also recommend the 'Pop one' theory, and the cork would give any potential purchaser a great 'guide' as to the remaining two. I would also hope, by then, you would also consider that you actually liked what you found, and it may be the start of your Port Collection!

Alan

[DRT]

Jaykay,

I think KillerB's suggestion of an Offline is the best one so far. I'm in London a lot and we could probably organise a night in our favourite wine bar in Covent Garden without too mch effort. However, before you turn up with one of your 1966's and take the plunge of meeting 3 or 4 nutters who talk about bottle shapes, cork reconstruction, labels, types of corkscrew, consistency of sediment etc it would be worth spending a few weeks here to learn more about Port and maybe even try some of the cheaper styles at home and let us know what you think.

Maybe we could set a date in January when Jdaw1 is over here?

Derek

[jdaw1]

Maybe we could set a date in January when Jdaw1 is over here?

The last few days of January are excellent for me. I’m in Cambridge on Sunday 27th January, available Monday 28th to Wednesday 30th, but in Sussex from Thursday 31st. That Monday to Wednesday would be just tickety-boo for me.

[Ghandih]

Welcome JK,

Agree with the above opinions that your best option is to arrange a tasting with this excellent crowd. I've been to one tasting and it was fab. I don't know a whole lot about ports, but they're an extremely knowledgeable and friendly bunch (I mean the TPF crowd, not ports), so I learnt loads.

You bring along your bottle; other bring some to drink with it; you all stare, sniff and sup, and I've got a feeling (based, I must insist, on nothing whatsoever) that you will end the evening very smug about your port, and chuffed to have opened it in the presence of such an appreciative audience.

If you can arrange a venue that coincides with jdaw1 availability, he has some port tongs, which are a cunning means of opening an old bottle that may be your best chance of reading the side of the cork and discovering the original source.

I'd be interested in an end-Jan event, too, subject to availability...


Ghandih
(still about, just busy as Ewa [and she's well busy])

[DRT]

JK,

In the spirit of the title of your first post I am trying to help here.

Derek