Port from Australia?

[dagibbs]

So, is anyone headed for Australia? Want to bring me back a few bottles of Port?

You see, the clear favourite port at my party the other day was an Old Tawny Port from Wyndham Estate, an Australian producer. Unfortunately, it looks difficult to get. I knew that the LCBO would do private ordering, but the cost looks quite steep. You have to order a case (at minimum), and they estimate about $300 in shipping costs from Australia. I don't know how many bottles in a case -- but the cost of shipping the same, nominal, case from California is 6.96, so I'm guessing 6-12 bottles in a case, then there is the possible need of laboratory testing ($155), plus duties, markup, etc. This does not look particularly happy. (And, they're talking up to 6 months for shipping, so we're not talking having the stuff flown.)

I wonder if ordering it to Quebec, where the SAQ doesn't have the same monopoly that the LCBO has in Ontario might work better, allowing me to just order it myself.

Unfortunately, the Wyndham Estate web site doesn't seem to have any mention of port anywhere on it. Nor does it have any sign of a "search" function. (And, using google to search that specific site only returns two mentions of port, both in the guest-book, not on their informational pages.)

Comments

[luckytroll.livejournal.com]

Ill be going there in January/Feb - returning Feb 15. Remind me when the departure date gets closer, or when Im there, Ill pick some up if it can be found.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

I'll try to remember to remind you.

Is this vacation?

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Village Corner in Ann Arbor carries some Wyndham Estate wines, although not the one you're talking about. They might be able to special order some in for you though, and then you'd only have to bring it back from here. Even if you wanted a bunch, duty on wine is cheap - only 35 cents/bottle last I checked into it.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

http://www.villagecorner.com/

[horsetraveller.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you've already got yourself a volunteer. I'm going to New Zealand which may or may not carry what you're looking for.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I do get down to that part of the world pretty often, and I'd definitely be willing to consider getting it there, and bring it back accross the border. I don't know if port would be treated as wine at the border, or as something else. I can probably figure out what it is from some government web-site, though. (Well, if port is treated as wine, then the excise duty is $.62/liter, but if it is treated as Spirits, it gets more complicated, and is $11.96/l of alcohol, the port is 17.5% alcohol, so that would be about $2.10 for a liter, or about $1.60 for a bottle.) In either case, not unreasonable. I'd probably have to pay GST, too.

Would calling and asking them be a good way to start?

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

New Zealand? That sounds exciting. When are you off? For how long?

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure port would be treated as wine. I can't imagine they'd think of it as spirits. (And if they do, I expect the charge is based off of the volume without consideration of the actual alcohol content, so you'd have to calculate it based on bottle size. Or do they actually take into account the strength?)

First step would definitely be to call them and see if they can get it for you! If they can turn it around fast enough, perhaps an Ann Arbor person could even bring it to Fusion for you. (I'd volunteer, but I'll have enough to think about because of the ConSuite.)

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I think it is by actual alcohol contents -- the phrasing is different. For spirits they say, "$11.696 per litre of absolute ethyl alcohol", but for wine they say, "$0.62 per litre".

If they can turn it around fast enough, I can pick it up myself -- I'll be in town most of the week after Confusion, including making it to Tio's on Tuesday. I figure with their hours of operation I can pick it up either before, or even, after Tio's.

And, did you know that you live quite close to Planet Rock climbing gym?

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Interesting difference in the wording.

And yep, you could pick it up almost anytime. The wine staff only work 9-5, but if you've got an order waiting, the pierced and tatooed blue haired counter staff can certainly get it for you. It's a really crazy kind of place - lit looks like a divey party store, but it has the best wine selection in town.

And yes, I did know that about Planet Rock. It's in the same plaza as my grocery store of choice, in fact.

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

If we go to Boston, perhaps we can find it there. Australia has required the relabling of some wines (port is a wine, I think, for all gov't purposes). Port was certainly a contender for relabelling - maybe it's called something else on the website.

What year is the bottle you bought? If we buy in the US it would be good to get the same thing.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Are you thinking of Arisia? I haven't decided whether or not I want to go, myself.

From looking at the LCBO website, I think the Emu Port from Australia is still labelled as Port. And, a search for "tawny" on the Wyndham Estate site also doesn't bring anything up.

I don't remember a specific year on the bottle, it may not have one on it. I'll verify this evening when I get home.

Thanks for the offer to look in the US.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Called them -- neither of their suppliers for Wyndham Estates carry the port -- just table wines.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Bummer. And if they can't get it, it's probably not available in Michigan.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Tawny ports are blended, and thus don't have vintages (aka years) attached to them.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Hm... and yet, I think I have some tawny ports that do have a vintage attached to them.

I know some ports are blended for ruby ports, too.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Yes, ruby ports can be vintage or non-vintage, but IIRC, tawny has a very specific definition that would preclude a vintage. But we're talking about Port from Australia, which by definition isn't actually port (in the same way that the only sparkling wine that should be called Champagne is from the Champagne region of France). So I suppose they can do whatever they want, since they're not bound by Portuguese bottling requirements.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I know you can defnitely get aged tawny ports (I have at least one 10-year old tawny at home), but I don't know if they specify a year (vintage) as well or not. They actually might not.

(And, yes, I'm aware of the argument about whether port is a regional trade name like Champagne or not. con_girl has, I think, been involved in some of the trade and IP negotiations concerning this, or similar, matters.)

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Yes, tawny ports quite regularly have ages attached to them (10 yr, 20 yr, 30 yr) but not vintages. And the ages for those represents an average age - there will be both older and younger wines in blend that ends up in the bottle.)

[horsetraveller.livejournal.com]

Feb 1 to Feb 28. I will be sleeping March 1.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Yes, both of my 10-year Tawny ports have a "bottled in 2006" on them, but that is clearly very different from a vintage -- my vintage port has a clear "vintage 1987" on it.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

That's a good long time. I can well believe that you'll spend March 1st sleeping, to recover from the flights.

Is this vacation?

I hope you have a wonderful time.

[horsetraveller.livejournal.com]

Holiday, yes. I hope so too.