The Auswine Forum

I received a 20 liter port barrel as a present and need to fill it up. I have reviewed a few of posts on this from the forum, but wondered if anyone had any updates on a good source for bulk port. cheers Gerry

Ordering from Morris and Seppelt is very straight forward. ithink straight off their web sites. Quick delivery too and you don't want to leave the barrel dry for too long. If you haven't already, I suggest you fill it with water while you wait for wine to arrive.

There are quite a few places to go. My two regulars are Stanton and Kileen in Rutherglen (for more savoury Portugese-style Tawny) and Liebich Wine in the Barossa (traditional aussie tawny). Another place I have purchased bulk port from is from Kies Family Wines in the Barossa. I tend to alternate between the first two (Stanton and Kileen are very helpful and can discuss your barrell with you and the ideal blend of Tawny / Muscat).

For all of the above you can order over the phone, by snail mail/order form or by email. The fortified wine arrives at your door 3 days later.

Hope this helps. Great to see another Port Barrell user floating around

[quote="bacchaebabe"]Ordering from Morris and Seppelt is very straight forward. ithink straight off their web sites. Quick delivery too and you don't want to leave the barrel dry for too long. If you haven't already, I suggest you fill it with water while you wait for wine to arrive.[/quote]

PS - dont leave your barrell full of water - this will wreck the barrell. If you have had it delivered and done nothing with it, leave the barrell alone. There should be instructions with the barrell, but you are supposed to fill it with water overnight (to expand the wood and close any leaks), empty the barrell and then fill it with fortified. In short, leave the barrell dry until your fortified arrives, fill it with the water, then the fortified and then wait!

It should never be less than half full for too long as the barrell will dry out. If you empty the barrell, dont fill it with water as it will rot and go mouldy (and get soaked). Better to buy some really cheap port to tide you over if you are desperate.

If you are still unsure, call one of the bulk port wineries - they are really helpful and friendly.

Cheers

RB

thanks for the advice, much appreciated. time to get an order in and get something in the barrell. cheers Gerry

Agree with the Liebich (5 year is great) and the Seppelts bulk port from the cellar door in the Barossa; just grabed another 10 litres last week as a top up for my own barrel which is a sweet, luscious drop if I don't say so myself

Bullers in Rutherglen is a good source as well.

I've always had friendly and professional advice from Stanton & Killeen, Campbells and Morris - quick deliveries too !
Cheers Mark

Andre gave us a wee tour of the winery at Stanton and Killeen last week, and pointed out a whole row of small port barrels they were seasoning for customers. I have no idea what they charge for that, but you'd be in pretty safe hands, I'd reckon.

Scarpantoni's at Mclaren Vale sell in flagons and it is mothers milk

rednut wrote:Scarpantoni's at Mclaren Vale sell in flagons and it is mothers milk

Not good if your lactose intolerant

I've recently (a year ago) started a port barrel myself, and have tasted fairly extensively around McLaren Vale, Barossa and Rutherglen looking for the best bulk port(s) to fill it with. Conclusions that I came to are that the best ports come from the Barossa, and my picks would be Seppelt, Liebich, & Kies. Seppelt sell a 7 year old, and a 3 year old. The 7 year old is more expensive, but would give your barrel a good head-start in it’s aging – it tastes more mature than the Liebich and Kies bulk ports, although they would also be very good options – all three taste quite different though.

Thanks once again to eveveryone for the feedback. The port barrell actually came from Seppelts, bought unware by me when we were there at the end of last year. I have started off and ordered from Seppelts first up. Now I also have an excuse to get to some of the other wineries and try some for future top up's.

cheers

Gerry

gpk wrote:The port barrell actually came from Seppelts, bought unware by me when we were there at the end of last year.

cheers

Gerry

You must have had a full on tasting if you weren't even aware you'd bought it!!

I am thinking of getting a barrel once my wine storage is built. What are the 20l barrel dimensions by the way? Would a shelf 600mm wide be wide enough for it to face forward with the tap and all?

Look forward to tasting the "Gerry's Blend" at some future offline.

Cheers

Michael

Michael McNally wrote:

gpk wrote:The port barrell actually came from Seppelts, bought unware by me when we were there at the end of last year.

cheers

Gerry

You must have had a full on tasting if you weren't even aware you'd bought it!!

I am thinking of getting a barrel once my wine storage is built. What are the 20l barrel dimensions by the way? Would a shelf 600mm wide be wide enough for it to face forward with the tap and all?

Look forward to tasting the "Gerry's Blend" at some future offline.

Cheers

Michael

A bit cryptic in my above message, bought by my lovely wife when we visited late last year. I was busy tasting the range of port and oblivious to her discussions with our tour guide on the day. A great present for a very memorable visit.

A 600 mm shelf will work easily for a 20L barrel. If you are putting in a couple of shelves watch the height, you will need approx 480 mm clearance for the barrel from Seppelts. It may be worth giving the keg factory a call for the dimensions if you are considering their range.

Thoroughly enjoyed my first “offline” so definitely up for sampling the new blend along with a couple of other gem’s from the cellar that need exploring at the next one!!

cheers

Gerry

Michael McNally wrote:I am thinking of getting a barrel once my wine storage is built. What are the 20l barrel dimensions by the way? Would a shelf 600mm wide be wide enough for it to face forward with the tap and all?

The Keg Factory 20L barrels are 43cm end-to-end, excluding the tap.

I used some 5l bulk buys to top up my barrell. Will the remaining 2l or so be ok sitting in those bottles until I need them? or do I need to do something further.

Anyone have any idea on this?

It will be ok in the bottles till you need it. I kept my excess from Seppelts in the 20 litre plastic container till I had made room in the keg

Thx rednut I figured it probably would but was worried that it might still be an issue given size of container.

We used to run around the cheap end of the vintage ports at Langtons. You could pick up some really interesting old 'no name' vintage ports. Some were OK, some were disgusting and some went into the barrel. Generally we figured that we were getting some fantastic additions to the barrel for less than $10/750ml. We also used to occasionally refortify it with a small amount of cognac - as some of these ports had lost a lot of alcohol to 'the angels'.

The barrel was unfortunately destroyed by an ex-friend of ours after a relationship break-up. We could have forgiven him drinking most of the barrel in a week, but we couldn't forgive him not telling us (and thus causing the barrel to crack)!