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Vintage Wine question

Dswankey

Dswankey

Lunatic Member
I was at an estate sale this morning and I found these 3 bottles of wine. There were many more too. They were located in a very nice house in a tony neighborhood down in a very clean organized basement.

From what I could tell the previous owner must of been a collector, lots of old, wine crates, literature, log books, the wines were in their own area of the basement neatly organized.

Any possibility these are still drinkable? If so should I go back and get the rest?

I was into wine many years ago primarily California reds, which is the extent of my knowledge.

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Depends how they were stored over the years.

Only way to check now is to open a bottle.
 
The 66' Haut-Brion should still be excellent. The '75 Margaux is probably toast and the '66 Latour may still be ok but probably past its prime.

Great deal.
 
Yep. Pop the corks and see. You might find a winner, and if so go back and get the rest of that vintage. To be honest I think you'll get a drinkability of under 50%. Many will have taint at that age, but go for it. Let us know the winners.
 
Alright, I'll go back, it's only a few minutes from here plus they were only $5 each. Here's hoping there still some left.
 
Concur with jmchrislip, the Haut Brion could be great, the other '66 too, the '75 will be vinegar. Snap up what you can, not much of these around.
 
Mid '60s Bordeaux are some of the tastiest if they haven't become vinegar. Had a glass of '63 (maybe '64) Ch. Haut-Brion in the late '90s that was superb.
 
OK, so not knowing anything about wine, why would one '66 be fine but the '75 likely be vinegar?
 
I know nothing about wine, but my sister in law has quite a collection she's been building over the years. Stored properly, in a proper wine cellar, blah blah blah.

Last Christmas she mentioned she'd gotten some sort of smart phone app that helped catalog them, but it also indicated optimal times to open the bottle, when they'd expired, etc.

She'd been going through her collection, opening bottles it had indicated had 'expired', and found it to be pretty spot on.

Just a thought, if you have a smart phone, it might be worth grabbing a wine app that can tell you these things, and punching in bottles when you get there.

Have fun,

bs
 
When opening these bottles, smell smell smell....do a visual of the cork, if stored poorly the cork should show traces of mold. If they do not smell like vinegar, then use cheese-cloth to filter when decanting these awesome wines. BTW, I worked at a restaurant with a 250,000 bottle inventory. We had bottles of Latour, but were 1947. Back in 97' when I worked there, and the bottle hit 50 years old it sky-rocketed in price to $2500 a bottle.
 
gadget73 said:
OK, so not knowing anything about wine, why would one '66 be fine but the '75 likely be vinegar?
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cubby01 said:
Yes, me too. Expiring minds want to know.
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Because contrary to popular belief, not all wines are made to be trophies, some are meant to be drunk within a few years of bottling.

Tannin content plays a big role as they act as additional preservatives, more tannins, longer shelf life.

An extreme example is Beaujolais nouveau, which is sold six weeks after harvest as cellaring the wine has little to no benefit to the taste due to low tannin content. (It's the "hooray we made wine--let's drink it" wine).
 
Hajidub said:
When opening these bottles, smell smell smell....do a visual of the cork, if stored poorly the cork should show traces of mold. If they do not smell like vinegar, then use cheese-cloth to filter when decanting these awesome wines. BTW, I worked at a restaurant with a 250,000 bottle inventory. We had bottles of Latour, but were 1947. Back in 97' when I worked there, and the bottle hit 50 years old it sky-rocketed in price to $2500 a bottle.
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Thanks for the tip, I plan on getting some ribeyes for this weekend, have some friends over and open one of these up. I'll also pick up spme other wine as back up just in case.

Once I open one of these how long should I let it breath before drinking.
 
You have either spent the best $5 per bottle in recent memory or you are the proud owner of passable vinegar. If the cellar in question maintained a relatively constant temperature year round and the bottles were laid down, it is possible that these wines will be drinkable. If they were subject to swings in temp, probably not.
First things first. the foil cap should be loose enough to spin around the bottle. If it is stuck to the bottle that is eveidence of leakage. Check the "fill" on the bottle, if it is down to the "shoulder" of the bottle while standing up, there has been some evaporation. Before decanting, you will need to stand them up for a few days to allow the sediment to sink to the bottom of the bottle. The corks are probably worse for the wear so you will need to gently pry them out of the bottle. More than likely they will fracture. If you are able to extract them in one piece, check the stain on the cork. If there was a good seal, the cork should be stained mostly on the bottom. If it runs up the length of the cork they might be ruined.
Smelling the cork will not give you too much info, however rolling it between your fingers will tell you if the cork is in good shape. As to the length of decanting, I would taste it in stages to see how it is evolving, starting at say 1/2 an hour. Some mature wines can fall apart with too much air time. Look at the rim of the wine in your glass, if there is an orange tint, that is called "bricking" and indicates that the wine is past it's prime.
Your nose & taste buds will tell you if the wine is shot. All in all a great story and a couple of $5 bets that could turn up some gems.
 
^ Great info and thanks for sharing, They were standing when I found them however I highly doubt he stored them that way. I'm going to spin the foil right now.
 
RT Fan said:
First things first. the foil cap should be loose enough to spin around the bottle. If it is stuck to the bottle that is evidence of leakage.
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They all spun relatively easy

RT Fan said:
Check the "fill" on the bottle, if it is down to the "shoulder" of the bottle while standing up, there has been some evaporation.
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Some pics of the "fill"

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Find some recipes requiring sour wine, open the bottles and get to it. If any of the bottles are good you can drink them while cooking.
 
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