Two cases of Graham's 1970 vintage port

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Caspersozza
Cruz Ruby
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Joined: 14:08 Sun 21 Nov 2021

Two cases of Graham's 1970 vintage port

Post by Caspersozza »

Twenty or so years ago, while visiting my uncle – who had just become aware of my love of wine – I was asked to blind taste the port he was serving. I had heard that he’d bought a whole pipe in the 70s, so I had a good steer (though he didn’t know that) and, after some savouring, told him it tasted like Taylor’s or Graham’s, and was most probably from 1970 or 1975.

The correct answer turned out to be Graham’s 1970 and, after mumbling something about “a misspent youth”, he was utterly delighted. Not one of his three wine buff sons drinks port, and he had finally found someone who really appreciated his treasure.

Since that fateful day he has kindly passed bottles of this glorious stuff my way at every opportunity, a couple of dozen by now, all of which I’ve drunk. Most had no labels, but every single one was utterly delicious and regularly engendered a stunned silence of appreciation when served to friends who know what they’re drinking or just had a great palate.

1970 was the first vintage produced after Graham’s was bought by the Symington family, who made a special effort to excel that year. They now consider it one of the best ports they ever produced and serve it at Asian wine events as an example of how well port ages.

In an act of touching generosity, my uncle has now passed on a handful of cases to me, too many for me to consume, and I am looking to sell two of them, separately or together.

They are currently stored at Octavian, where they have been for the last 9 years – prior to that in my uncle’s cellar - in appropriate wine cases, but not the original cases. All duty has been paid on them.

Octavian have just provided me with photographs of both cases, and case 1 has all labels largely intact, while case two has no labels. I'm not sure why this is but, having had mostly no-label bottles from this lot, I can unhesitatingly vouch for the quality of their contents.

Berry Brothers currently have just one case of Graham’s 1970 duty paid going for £1950.00. I would ideally like to sell these for £1500.00 each.

If anyone is interested in one or both of them, or has any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Case 1
Case 1
Case-1.jpeg (460.56 KiB) Viewed 3315 times
Case 2
Case 2
Case-2.jpeg (448.75 KiB) Viewed 3315 times
Glenn E.
Graham’s 1977
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Re: Two cases of Graham's 1970 vintage port

Post by Glenn E. »

Berry Brothers is not known for low pricing so does not make for a good starting point. In fact, full cases of 1970 Graham can be found elsewhere in England for around the £1500 that you are asking. (MWH in Berkshire, Wilkinson's in London.)

I last paid $950 (USD, not GBP) for a case at auction about 5 years ago. The price has surely increased since then, but by how much? £1500 is roughly double what I paid, which seems too rich. That said, your duties over there always throw off my price comparisons.

As a retail price that seems stiff but might perhaps be appropriate. But for a private transaction I do think you're asking too much, and might have better luck using an auction house.
Glenn Elliott
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DRT
Fonseca 1966
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Re: Two cases of Graham's 1970 vintage port

Post by DRT »

This is a very nice story and very generous of your uncle to gift you such wonderful cases of Port, but I agree with Glenn that your expectations are too high. Asking for current retail price for a private sale is somewhat ambitious. You might fare better offering them at auction.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Andy Velebil
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Re: Two cases of Graham's 1970 vintage port

Post by Andy Velebil »

DRT wrote:This is a very nice story and very generous of your uncle to gift you such wonderful cases of Port, but I agree with Glenn that your expectations are too high. Asking for current retail price for a private sale is somewhat ambitious. You might fare better offering them at auction.
Agree.

A retailer charges more as there are guarantees they offer. A private seller, not the case.
drinker
Cheap Ruby
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Re: Two cases of Graham's 1970 vintage port

Post by drinker »

I’ll bite, I’m definitely interested. I’ll go £1000 a case but no wiggle on that. PM if interested please - after auction fees I would say that’s a sensible offer and you’ll be hard pressed to do better.

Regards
Caspersozza
Cruz Ruby
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Re: Two cases of Graham's 1970 vintage port

Post by Caspersozza »

Thanks so much for the offer, Drinker. It is the second I've had this week, and I really should have come on here earlier with an update. The two cases are now gone, as of two weeks ago. Both were bought by someone on this forum (who PMed me) for £1100 each, a price that is slightly nearer to auction than retail, but very fair, and one I'm very happy with. I hope they are now enjoying this port as much as I do. The remaining few cases I plan to keep for personal use.

Thank you to everyone here who offered advice. I hope you've all had a great Christmas, despite the strange times we live in, and have been spoiling yourselves on the drinking front. Here's wishing one and all a healthy, happy and successful 2022!
drinker
Cheap Ruby
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Re: Two cases of Graham's 1970 vintage port

Post by drinker »

Yeah I think that’s basically right on the money and a fair deal both sides. Thanks for letting me know :) and likewise.
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