Whether you have a solitary bottle of vintage port or a cellar full of the stuff, you might be curious to know how much it's worth as you imbibe it contentedly over the Christmas. According to Mr David Power, a lecturer with the Wine Development Board, port is one of the traditional drinks in Ireland, especially associated with Christmas. Port and brandy was regarded as a great "pick-me-up", while port and lemonade was a popular drink in the 1920s, "particularly with the ladies", he says.
Vintage ports are the best of all ports and take a minimum of 10 years to mature, he says. "Sometimes old ports might not be in good condition. They may not be stored correctly. They should be on their side, of course, keeping the cork moist and in a coolish place; a cellar is ideal. They're best in the dark. And not in the roof of a house: it's a very bad place because it gets hot in the summer."
According to Ms Carolyn Holmes, wine specialist at Christie's in London, vintage port does not greatly appreciate in value. "The only time it does start to appreciate is when it starts to become ready to drink. So you're finding now that the vintages like '66 and '63 are shooting up in value, '55 especially, because these are all very mature, especially from the top shippers. Those are the prices that have gone up. Everything else tends to trundle along in a similar line for years and years."
But even these are not appreciating in value at a great rate, she says. She regards 1960 port as "a good vintage but it actually doesn't achieve much at auction. It's rather overlooked by the wine trade". Other vintages she comments on include 1970, 1975 ("reasonable"), 1977 ("excellent"), 1980 ("OK"), 1983 ("inbetween, moderately good") and 1985 ("is very good but those are probably for earlier drinking"). And 1945 and 1948 are "fetching fairly amazing prices". But whether they're still drinkable depends on how they've been stored. For example, 1966 Fonseca is fetching £50£60 sterling per bottle at Christie's, says Ms Holmes. But, according to Mr Peter Dunne, a director of Mitchell & Son in Dublin, it's highly unlikely '66 Fonseca is even available in Ireland. "Vintage port in Ireland is less available than in London. There's an enormous range in England" where there is a much bigger market.
A case (12 bottles per case) of '77 Fonseca should fetch about £800 sterling at Christie's, plus a 10 per cent premium. In Ireland, the same wine costs £136 per bottle (£1,632 per case), says Mr Dunne, who describes it as "very much a blue chip port" and one highly sought after. A case of '83 Fonseca is estimated at £200£300 sterling plus premium by Christie's. The same port costs about £700, says Mr Dunne. While it costs more in Ireland, he notes duty here is about twice what it is in England, while VAT is 17.5 per cent in the UK compared to the Republic's 21 per cent. In fact, traffic is coming the other way, he says, with people from Northern Ireland and Britain using sterling credit cards to buy vintage port in the Republic, taking advantage of sterling's strong exchange rate against the euro.
For Mr Peter Dunne, telephone 01 676 0766. For information about courses by the Wine Development Board, telephone 01 280 4666. Joe Armstrong is at jmarms@irish-times.ie
