Port Vintages, Second Edition

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jdaw1
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Port Vintages, Second Edition

Post by jdaw1 »

Ground has been broken.

As attentive readers of these pages might already know, the book Port Vintages was self-published in 2018. There have been requests, here and elsewhere, for more copies to be available, ideally in the form of a second edition incorporating the additional information that has come to light since 2018.

Today, ground has been broken on that second edition. The original master file has been duplicated, and edits to it made. (So far, correction of a subtle punctuation error, and the additional of a quotation from the Addams Family — but at least it’s a start!)

As yet, I do not have a publisher. If I must self-publish again (sigh), my sales team will be all of you. For the moment, that means encouraging potential purchasers to subscribe to the mailing list available at www.PortVintages.com.

Other threads: The Book, ‘Port Vintages’, is for sale (Sep 2018); Port Vintages: Addendum (Sep 2019).

Thread renamed from “Ground has been broken” to “Port Vintages, Second Edition” by jdaw1, 22:30 Mon 20 Dec 2021.
MigSU
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by MigSU »

Yes!

I'm in, and I'll try to find other buyers as well. Good stuff, Julian, here's to a successful 2nd edition.
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JacobH
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by JacobH »

Wonderful news! Good luck with the second edition!
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Christopher
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by Christopher »

Great to here
I have a whole load of Port mates who missed out the first time and I think I will need 10 to 15 please
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

If you do have to self-publish again, please consider going down the Crowdfunding route. It worked really well for Ryan Opaz and Simon Wolfe and their book Foot Trodden about the wines of Portugal.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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jdaw1
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by jdaw1 »

Alex Bridgeman wrote: 00:35 Mon 13 Dec 2021If you do have to self-publish again, please consider going down the Crowdfunding route. It worked really well for Ryan Opaz and Simon Wolfe and their book Foot Trodden about the wines of Portugal.
Why? What does it offer that isn’t done by a post-writing pre-printing pre-order website (as was done before)?
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Fair question.

Nothing as far as I can see, other than the fact that consumers are used to pledging to buy things which don’t yet exist on Crowdfunding. You also get a very clear idea of how many copies you’ve sold before you go to print (as you do with the pre-order system you ran before).

Perhaps the main advantage of the crowdfunding route is eased administration.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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SCP-DFF
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by SCP-DFF »

Alex Bridgeman wrote: 09:35 Mon 13 Dec 2021 Fair question.

Nothing as far as I can see, other than the fact that consumers are used to pledging to buy things which don’t yet exist on Crowdfunding. You also get a very clear idea of how many copies you’ve sold before you go to print (as you do with the pre-order system you ran before).

Perhaps the main advantage of the crowdfunding route is eased administration.
Eased admin is my vote! (As you know, I did all the admin for the first round.)

Let it be known that I am not the main admin for the second round.

I think a second edition will work well and be successful!
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Doggett
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by Doggett »

Crowd funding would also allow some special packages such as £xxxx for a stay at the Yeatman with the author… and his very good wife and tastings at x and x, and a lower level one of a tasting at the B&F for the launch party etc etc

Apart from the legal action for buying the first and only edition to be of the Book 😂 I would most definitely want to purchase the second edition and very happy to spread the word. Fingers crossed that land is firm and there are no subsidence issues!
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JacobH
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by JacobH »

I have a sneaking suspicion that crowd funding is more hassle than it is worth, unless you either: a) cannot proceed with the project without a decent amount of capital; or b) hit the publicity jackpot and raise many times the amount of capital you need as, I think, happened with Foottrodden. But that is a pure guess. That said, if Julian is offering to commission a set of Azulejo tiles to sell to early subscribers, as happened with Foottrodden, that would be a huge benefit!
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MigSU
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by MigSU »

I like Doggett's idea of dinner with the author 😂
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JacobH
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by JacobH »

MigSU wrote: 13:47 Mon 13 Dec 2021 I like Doggett's idea of dinner with the author 😂
PS. That too, obviously. Although I have suspicion that arranging a dinner with the author shouldn’t be too difficult without the assistance of Kickstarter!
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by nac »

jdaw1 wrote: 19:54 Sat 11 Dec 2021 Ground has been broken.
Assume you'd like us to continue sending you additional information?
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jdaw1
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by jdaw1 »

nac wrote: 14:46 Mon 13 Dec 2021
jdaw1 wrote: 19:54 Sat 11 Dec 2021Ground has been broken.
Assume you'd like us to continue sending you additional information?
Yes please.
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by Glenn E. »

MigSU wrote: 13:47 Mon 13 Dec 2021 I like Doggett's idea of dinner with the author 😂
I have had dinner with the author, in Paris, and just re-discovered the pictures to prove it. :lol:

Count me in for a copy of the 2nd edition!
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nac
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by nac »

Will a new edition have chapters on some of the smaller/newer producers, eg Churchill? Think this would be good for completeness and to reflect how important some of them now are.

BTW, I will definitely want a copy and suspect I’d be able to shift a few through 67 Pall Mall.
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by M.Charlton »

jdaw1 wrote: 19:54 Sat 11 Dec 2021 Ground has been broken.

As attentive readers of these pages might already know, the book Port Vintages was self-published in 2018. There have been requests, here and elsewhere, for more copies to be available, ideally in the form of a second edition incorporating the additional information that has come to light since 2018.

Today, ground has been broken on that second edition. The original master file has been duplicated, and edits to it made. (So far, correction of a subtle punctuation error, and the additional of a quotation from the Addams Family — but at least it’s a start!)

As yet, I do not have a publisher. If I must self-publish again (sigh), my sales team will be all of you. For the moment, that means encouraging potential purchasers to subscribe to the mailing list available at www.PortVintages.com.

Other threads: The Book, ‘Port Vintages’, is for sale (Sep 2018); Port Vintages: Addendum (Sep 2019).
Have you considered a print-on-demand approach, or is the plan to keep the number of second edition copies limited to those who preorder?
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jdaw1
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by jdaw1 »

M.Charlton wrote: 00:30 Tue 14 Dec 2021Have you considered a print-on-demand approach, or is the plan to keep the number of second edition copies limited to those who preorder?
I did. Easy for paperback. Not for this giant.
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jdaw1
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by jdaw1 »

nac wrote: 23:15 Mon 13 Dec 2021Will a new edition have chapters on some of the smaller/newer producers, eg Churchill? Think this would be good for completeness and to reflect how important some of them now are.

BTW, I will definitely want a copy and suspect I’d be able to shift a few through 67 Pall Mall.
There is an Other Shippers chapter, to hold the names for which there is not enough history or not enough data to justify a lone chapter.
The Book wrote:This chapter contains a little of the evidence of declarations by other shippers. Only some of the shippers are here; for those shippers, some vintages might be absent; and typically for each vintage much evidence is not shown. In choosing what to include, mostly I have typically favoured sources that are interesting or unlikely to be found by reading the obvious literature.
It does not include Churchill; perhaps it should.
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jdaw1
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by jdaw1 »

nac wrote: 23:15 Mon 13 Dec 2021BTW, I will definitely want a copy and suspect I’d be able to shift a few through 67 Pall Mall.
Thank you.
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by PhilW »

Still hoping for a pdf or kindle version here!

Suggestions:
- Churchill could be a worthy addition as a separate chapter, though perhaps only if you are extending the latest-vintage-included cutoff, otherwise their vintages would almost/all be too recent to be included.
- The WineSoc/BBR chapter could be split to give each its own; most of the current chapter is WineSoc, and BBR could merit its own with a lot more info IMO.
- Release a pdf/kindle version, please.
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by winesecretary »

I think extending the cutoff to the 2000 vintage declaration (i.e. to the effective end of the pre-internet age) might be worthwhile.
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JacobH
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by JacobH »

I appreciate that Julian took the view that his methodical, evidence-driven approach was disproportionate to (e.g.) confirming that a Graham’s 1994 existed which makes perfect sense. However, I do agree it would be helpful to have a list of other major shippers’ declarations somewhere, even if there is no need to cite sources in the same level of detail. I can’t imagine some of the brands that have sprung up post-1986 are going away any time soon.

As an aside, I also worry that whilst identifying which shippers declared, say, a 1991 might be quite straight-forward, due to the explosion of new producers over the last 15 to 20 years, finding out who declared some of the more recent vintages will be extremely difficult if not impossible in the future. For example, the :tpf: thread tells me that Quinta Santa Izabel declared a 2019. I confess to not knowing this shipper. I think it might be a reference to Quinta Maria Izabel (which I also don’t know). Their website only listed the 2015 declaration. VintagePort.se lists the 2012 and 2015. I can’t see any trace of a 2019 by either them of Quinta Santa Izabel. Whilst some smaller companies look like they will keep going indefinitely, I think it is very likely that there will be dozens of small producers who will only make a few vintages before vanishing leaving effectively no records.

I can see this being important in the future. For example: I am sure people will be interested in who Quinta das Liceiras were since their 1993 is a unique Port which sells for an incredible premium. I also think that people will be interesting in some of the quintas which pass between shippers. For example, Quinta da Côrte is now being made independently having previously been made by Delaforce. Or those brands which have been revived after a long period of dormancy. Van Zeller might be one example. But, of course, producing a complete list of what has been produced post-1986 would be an enormous challenge. I just mention this because I think that whilst most of the sources Julian consulted to discover what was made in the 19C will be around in 100 years; digital rot may obliterate many 21C records.
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jdaw1
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by jdaw1 »

PhilW wrote: 10:27 Tue 14 Dec 2021The WineSoc/BBR chapter could be split to give each its own; most of the current chapter is WineSoc, and BBR could merit its own with a lot more info IMO.
Agreed. This was an error.
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Re: Ground has been broken

Post by jdaw1 »

winesecretary wrote: 11:02 Tue 14 Dec 2021I think extending the cutoff to the 2000 vintage declaration (i.e. to the effective end of the pre-internet age) might be worthwhile.
JacobH wrote: 11:17 Tue 14 Dec 2021(e.g.) confirming that a Graham’s 1994 existed which makes perfect sense.
I think that the decision was taken whilst adding a source for a ’94. Many modern stores listed it, and I was selecting between them. Pointless. Even digital rot won’t obliterate archive.org. So instead each chapter has a Later vintages area, in which I quote what is interesting (usually Wine Society at-release offerings) and nothing more. They are listed without evidence. This still seems correct. Later vintages will be extended, but not fundamentally changed.
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