I’m not keen on this. Not keen at all.
Taylors, the legendary port house, have released a port called Scion and it has got me worried. Earlier this year two pipes of port were discovered by David Guimaraens, the company’s head winemaker, in a private cellar which date from the 1850s, and a third that was apparently owned by the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. It is this third barrel that has been bottled and will be on the shelves of Harrods and Nickolls & Perks in December.
Now that is all fine, I’m sure that Churchill would hate to see booze being left undrunk but what bothers me is the price of £2500 per bottle, not because I can’t afford it, but for a much more worrying reason.
If we look at the whisky market for a moment, every so often a distillery will release some old, rare whisky and put a price tag of many thousands of pounds on it. They argue that it is because of the rarity and cost a lot to produce, that they only get 50 bottles or that it has a hand blown crystal bottle that has been polished with the breath of twelve Mongolian virgins. The real reason is that they charge this amount because they can, and it makes them a pot load of cash. There is a market for uber expensive whisky, predominantly in the far east, and whisky makers know that this collectors market is very lucrative.
We can also see that Bordeaux too has taken off in the far east, and wines that were once attainable to the average punter are now strictly off limits due to their huge prices, but vintage port has always remained affordable. The nature of vintage port is that only the best three vintages every decade are released to the market place so there is a natural scarcity of the regions best wines. Yet prices haven’t skyrocketed. Even the poorest port fan can save up enough money to buy a half case of the best that Taylors or Grahams can offer every few years.
There are expensive older vintages of port, and old Tawnies, that have always pottered along selling in wine merchants all over the world, certainly commanding high prices, but never being marketed by the port house, and therefore these wines have remained within the realms and clutches of port buffs.
Sarah Ahmed's The Wine Detective
Comments
This is an old tawny Port that comes from 1855. We first became aware of it about 4 years ago and purchased it at the end of 2009. We have verified the history of this old Port and we cannot see prove that Churchill purchased any of this port - a family myth. Scion comes from the Aged Tawny Port that we loaded from cask in January 2010 and brought to Gaia - it has spend 155 years quietly aging in a cellar in the Douro.
Sarah makes a point that this Aged Tawny will destroy the price of Vintage Port - these are different markets. The price of Scion has been set high because we only have 1,400 decanters (in a special wooden box) to offer. When it is sold that is it. The market may well push the price higher if demand outstrips supply. This is what has happened in the Bordeaux market where wines are freely traded and many Far Eastern consumers are willing to pay higher prices than Europeans.
Sarah is right to point out that Vintage Port is good value and the Taylor's 2007 Vintage Port can currently be purchased for about fifty pounds a bottle. For the quality this is a bargain and one to take advantage of. After all if Far Eastern consumer develop a taste for Vintage Port to any degree then today's prices may look cheap.
Adrian Bridge, CEO Taylor's Port
Although I appreciate that the Tawny market and the Vintage market are two different things, and that Vintage Port is incredible value for money, I think my main worry, not as a retailer or blogger, but as a port enthusiast, is that if the far eastern consumer develops a taste for port in general, they are going to buy the most expensive they can, as they have with Bordeaux and Single Malt whiskies.
Once this Scion is gone, the next highest priced port is Vintage, which as you pointed out, is currently incredible value for money.
If the very affluent Far Eastern market starts buying Vintage Port, my concern is that all port houses, not just Taylor's, will do what Whisky and Bordeaux producers have done and raise their prices beyond the reach of anyone but the richest consumer. I can't blame the houses do, after all, that is business and any good business will always get the most they can for their product.
Ten years ago, however, Lafite Rothschild was an attainable product even for less well off wine enthusiast, but is now too expensive for anyone but the rich.
From a personal perspective, I dread seeing Vintage Port going the same way and becoming unattainable, as it is one of the worlds finest wines, and can be sampled by pretty much anyone at the moment, even if they have to save up to buy it.
It is your last sentence worries me, as you say you know that "if the Far Eastern consumer develops a taste for Vintage Port to any degree then today's prices may look cheap". This indicates that, as CEO of one of the great Port producers, you know it might happen. I hope that should this happen, you keep Taylors Vintage Port attainable (not cheap, but just attainable) to the established markets that have been buying port for centuries, rather than following the Scotch and Bordeaux markets and focusing solely on the new, cash rich markets.
Thank you for taking the time to post a comment on this and taking time out of your day.
Peter Wood
Wine Retailer, Blogger and Port buff!