Big format bottles that are no more

[Alex Bridgeman]

I was working on my cellar list spreadsheet earlier this evening and came up with another pointless statistic — but one which I think deserves a thread of its own.

I've been keeping my cellar list spreadsheet for over 30 years. In that time, bottles have come onto the cellar list, stayed for a while, and then been drunk. But when drunk, they stay on the cellar list with the date they were acquired and the day they were emptied.

Over the lifetime of the cellar list, I have taken out of my cellar and opened 47 large format bottles of Port, (By "large format" I mean magnum or bigger.)

Just in case anyone is interested, they have been the following:
Berry Brothers Selection 1997, magnum (Feb 2022)
Croft 1966, magnum (Oct 2011)
Delaforce 1975, magnum (May 2010)
Dow 1975, Tappit Hen (Jun 2019)
Dow 1977, magnum (Feb 2023)
Dow 1977, Tappit Hen (Feb 2013)
Dow 1980, magnum (Aug 2024)
Ferreira 1947, magnum (Jun 2017, at the Port Forum 10th Anniversary Dinner)
Fonseca 1970, magnum (Dec 2023)
Fonseca 1977, magnum (Feb 2017)
Gould Campbell 1977, magnum (Nov 2022)
Gould Campbell 1977, magnum (Aug 2023)
Gould Campbell 1977, magnum (Dec 2024)
Gould Campbell 1977, magnum (Mar 2025)
Graham 1897, magnum (Oct 2017)
Graham 1897, magnum (Sep 2021)
Graham 1977, Tappit Hen (Feb 2013)
Graham 1977, Tappit Hen (Feb 2017)
Graham 1977, magnum (Oct 2022)
Graham 1963 Single Harvest Tawny, jeroboam (Nov 2023)
Quinta do Noval 1927, magnum (Jan 2013)
Quinta do Noval 1927, magnum (Jun 2017, at the Port Forum 10th Anniversary Dinner)
Noval LB, magnum (Oct 2020)
Offley 1963, magnum (Aug 2020)
Offley 1963, magnum (Nov 2020)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (Apr 2011)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (Sep 2012)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (Sep 2016)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (Nov 2016)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (Feb 2017)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (Jul 2018)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (Mar 2019)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (May 2020)
Smith Woodhouse 1977, magnum (Mar 2021)
Van Zeller 1933, magnum (Jul 2021)
Sandeman Vau 1997, double-magnum (Jul 2015)
Sandeman Vau 1997, double-magnum (Jun 2017, at the Port Forum 10th Anniversary Confraria Dinner table)
Quinta do Vesuvio 2006, magnum (Feb 2010)
Warre 1975, Tappit Hen (Sep 2022)
Warre 1977, Tappit Hen (Feb 2013)
Warre 1977, Tappit Hen (Oct 2013)


There is also the Dow Magnumonicon mixed tasting pack that we opened and shared in January 2013. That was a shared Port Forum purchase, but it did pass through my cellar and contained magnums of Dow 1963, 1970, 1977, 1980, 1985 and 1994.

I should add, for context, that before about 2009 I owned very few (if any) formats larger than bottle sized.

[jdaw1]

I had covid in Sep 2021. This was not good.

[Christopher]

Some very nice bottles and good to drink them.
Nice post

[mosesbotbol]

How was the '47 Ferreira?

[Alex Bridgeman]

How was the '47 Ferreira?

Quite evolved and tertiary - definitely drying out.