The Auswine Forum

Spied this in the bottlo in Penola.
I was curious about it and thought I'd throw it out there to the AUSwine brains trust.

Scotty, about $120 is what they are bringing in the secondary market Have had a few over the years and they are pretty good wines.
Made at the old Tolley, Scott and Tolley (TST facility in Nuri) along with those fabulous Tollana TR 16's and 222's reds. Incidentally I had my first winery job through the late Pat Tocaciu at TST.
As I said in an earlier post the Royal Oak cellars do have some gems from time to time, picked up '88 Seppelts Great Western Shiraz for about $12, '90 Lawson for $20 odd. However, when I was there last year, it looks like the prices up gone up considerably, particularly when you think what was the TRADE price that the owner paid on release (less than 10% of current price, in some instances, particularly with very old stock).

Still the odd bargain may pop up. Hopefully will be down in October, so will have a look.
Cheers
Craig

phillisc wrote:Scotty, about $120 is what they are bringing in the secondary market Have had a few over the years and they are pretty good wines.
Made at the old Tolley, Scott and Tolley (TST facility in Nuri) along with those fabulous Tollana TR 16's and 222's reds. Incidentally I had my first winery job through the late Pat Tocaciu at TST.
As I said in an earlier post the Royal Oak cellars do have some gems from time to time, picked up '88 Seppelts Great Western Shiraz for about $12, '90 Lawson for $20 odd. However, when I was there last year, it looks like the prices up gone up considerably, particularly when you think what was the TRADE price that the owner paid on release ( less than 10% of current price).

Still the odd bargain may pop up. Hopefully will be down in October, so will have a look.
Cheers
Craig

Thanks Craig.
I thought the prices were pushing it a bit. The back vintage stuff was a real throw together. Just chucked the cartons on the shelf and
peeled the tops off. I saw an almost full case of 94 Jamiesons Run that looked like it'd been parked there for a bit.
I held one up and the ullage looked a tiny bit iffy. I spoke to the chap running the place about returns and he said no such thing
take the punt.

Local auction market for Tollana Vintage Port is a lot less than $120 when they come up - expected bid ranges are $22-32, last sales listed from 2011-2015 went for as little as $5 up to $23. No idea of the condition of the $5 bottle, I suspect it could not have been good - the others at the upper prices sold in 2011 were all listed as being in good condition.

Buying full retail you certainly hope you are getting guaranteed provenance and a full refund/credit policy if the bottle is faulty, otherwise it isn't really worth it for that sizeable difference.

Cheers,
Ian

Bought a few of those (and some others) about 15 years back at auction for the bare minimum price (between $2 and $6). Got them home and about half were "foul grape". But the others ended up being the basis for a really good port barrel. Some had totally lost all colour (sort of sauterne or old riesling colour), but still tasted really good (if not totally port-like).
At $120, with unknown provenance, I'd want a guarantee that I could bring it back and get store credit. (LOL - snap, Ian!)

Ian, must have been looking at the wrong port or indeed the wrong site. Supports my claim of a 80-90% mark up at least...sorry that I got the price wrong. If its still there in October I'll offer him $25 for it ( probably still over priced).

Scotty, the interesting thing when I went down into the pub cellar a couple of decades ago, there was a heap of Wynns, Pennies, Lindemans, Mildara, Orlando even Hungerford Hill ( before it was Mildara or something else??) and a range of other labels. The publican got them for no money at all, has sat on them for decades, and has drip fed excess stock through the bottlo. I can't recall if Heywards has a reserve wine list, should be able to buy them in the pub, if they are corked/shot, then like most restaurants you get a second bottle or a refund.

The returns policy would work for a local...Penola, God bless the place and a part of the world I love is no different to Clare, Victor Harbor or any other small regional community in SA...insular, conservative, nudge nudge wink wink etc. etc. If you're a townie bad luck old chap.

As an aside, I suspect there are a good many hotels in wine areas across the state/country that would have large stockpiles, that are perhaps pushing use buy dates, then attempting to make inflated profits to unsuspecting punters selling old curios. No different to auction houses really.

From memory the Commercial Hotel in Mount Gambier had a similar treasure trove and on a trip to Melbourne in the 80s can remember getting a couple of mixed cases at bargain prices. Not so now, particularly with an Uncle D's around the corner.

Sorry for the confusion
Cheers
Craig

phillisc wrote:From memory the Commercial Hotel in Mount Gambier had a similar treasure trove and on a trip to Melbourne in the 80s can remember getting a couple of mixed cases at bargain prices.

My sister found a similar bottle shop in Tooradin when they moved locally a couple of decades back. Bottles of nice reds, dating back to the 70's, with the original prices still on them. I think she cleaned them out - no-one else in the area wanted all those "old bottles". Black Label Wolf Blass, various Penfolds and Wynns all got snapped up.
I still dream!

Scotty vino wrote:

TOLLEY.jpg

Spied this in the bottlo in Penola.
I was curious about it and thought I'd throw it out there to the AUSwine brains trust.

Scotty, definitely looks like a cardboard box on the shelves in the bottle shop at Haywards Royal Oak hotel

Have bought a few bottles there myself over the years, Craig has summed up the provenance. Bit of a lucky dip with no rhyme or reason nowadays, with the random box of aged wine appearing from time to time, with plenty of dust of course

mjs wrote:

Scotty vino wrote:

TOLLEY.jpg

Spied this in the bottlo in Penola.
I was curious about it and thought I'd throw it out there to the AUSwine brains trust.

Scotty, definitely looks like a cardboard box on the shelves in the bottle shop at Haywards Royal Oak hotel

Have bought a few bottles there myself over the years, Craig has summed up the provenance. Bit of a lucky dip with no rhyme or reason nowadays, with the random box of aged wine appearing from time to time, with plenty of dust of course

Fellow running the bottlo said he couldn't remember anything coming back. There's your guarantee right there!