It is not always to get hold of 500 litre Ruby and Tawny Port barrels, but we have managed to buy some decent sized lots. In fact writing now in October 2025, we have available 70 of the 500 Litre Ruby Port barrels (50 years old) and 75 of the 500 litre Tawny Port barrels (30 years old). Given their age they are of course well worn, but we can tidy them up as required and they are perfectly good for filling. We generally always have 225 litre Ruby and Tawny Port barrels available, but the larger barrels are much harder to come by. First come first served as they say!
We also have had the chance to acquire recently 250 Muscatel barrels (225 litre) and 360 Cognac barrels (270 litres) and our warehouse is now bursting at the seams!
Our cooperage will check all the barrels before they leave our facilities and make any repairs that might be necessary (as we do with all of our used barrels). Our business is around half and half, refurbishing used barrels and making new ones – both sides of the business are difficult to manage: with new barrels we have to buy the oak at least 12 months in advance so that it can season properly and of course we are never quite sure how much wood to buy (and American or European oak?). Then for the used Port barrels we never know what barrels are going to come on the market and how many buyers there will be for us to resell them to. So you can see our business is one of a lot of calculated risk.
These 500 litre Port barrels are not something that are readily available and they represent some unique heritage from the Port wine business, so please enquire if you are interested.
