Hello. I am new to wine and inherited a large collection from an Uncle. I know he stored these carefully, but wonder if these bottles of La Tache are too far gone. I am no expert on wine and have limited storage room. If they are not worth keeping, I could use the space for different bottles. Thank you for your thoughts. I am trying to add pictures, but cannot figure out how to do that. They are both 1991 and the fill is to the neck. I will add pictures as soon as I can. Thank again.
They may be quite good, if stored well during those years. Neck fills are hard to visualize, as Burgundy bottles tend not to have the same shoulders as Bordeaux bottles do.
Please accept my condolences for your uncle. Too bad that he did not drink them.
Don’t throw them away. They are worth $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Sorry for your loss,
open a bottle, make sure you use appropriate glassware, the wine may take a little while to wake up in your glass, but if it isnt faulty (corked etc) it will be a great wine.
on the flipside those bottles are quite valuable.
$4k per bottle at most recent auction offered side price.
Thank you for the condolences and the information. I made the assumption they must be bad, but I guess that might not be true. He also has some 1989 Chateau Haut Brions and 1990 Haut Brions. Stored well. Those have nice fills but the labels are dirty. We adopted his pets after he passed, and they need some serious vet care. I was thinking that if I had to, selling some of the bottles may help with that. I want them to be well cared for. I really appreciate everyones’ thoughts.
The important questions is what exactly do you think “stored well” means Rebecca?
Interesting that the only names mentioned are Haut Brion and La Tache, particularly only “La Tache” and no other wording from the label.
The top says Monopole 1991 and under La Tache it says Appelation La Tache Controlee. I can put more detail in, but I was just asking a question about wine being bad. It could be about any bottle . I guess I should have asked at what point is. a fill level indicative of a bad bottle?. I guess I should have been more specific. My Uncle had a very nice wine cooler. He kept the temp. in the fifties. We have them stored in a wine cooler at our house and also keep the temp in the fifties. If that is wrong, then I guess they were not stored well. We have about 100 other bottles, but many are lower end wines and I am not as worried about messing those up. I’m sorry if it something came across offensive or questionable to you Mr. George. I didn’t mean for it to be like that.
These are very valuable bottles. They are some of the top names in wine, and if stored well (and as you describe would count as being stored well) would last for many more decades.
How valuable? On the order of $1000 a bottle for the Haut Brions and many thousands per bottle for the La Tache. Even if imperfect, they are still valuable. Really.
I strongly recommend that you work with a reputable wine shop that does wine auctions and they will evaluate the wine and give you a solid estimate of the value. If you tell us what city/region of the USA you are in, folks here can give you some recommendations. My guess is you’ve already gotten some private messages offering assistance, but you probably want to ignore those and go work with a serious high end retailer.
If your bottles are fakes, the retailers will help figure that out too.
Your uncle was a savvy collector, sell them if you need but keep a couple to celebrate important occasions, the wines you listed are special occasion bottles and would be a good way to remember and pay tribute to your uncles memory.
Thank you so much for the information. It is so helpful. I am in Atlanta GA.
Thanks for the additional information!
Rebecca, though you have no reason to know this, one of the reasons people are skeptical of these wines is that, in recent years, counterfeiting of very high end wines has become widespread. The wine you speak of, La Tache, and in fact all the wines of Domaine de Romanee Conti, are amongst the most common targets for forgery. I’d suggest you speak to a reputable auction house as these are high dollar wines and can be authenticated there. You will pay a commission on the sale, but they can also get you top dollar. The '89 and '90 Haut Brion are no slouches, if not in the same league as the LT.
You can also take Rich’s advice and use a local retailer, but make sure it is someone very trustworthy. Maybe get multiple opinions.
Thank you Michael. I had no idea wines were counterfeited. Unbelievable what people won’t do!
Get rid of the animals and keep the wine!!
I thought you could sell them to the owner of VICE magazine. 
“The first sip of the grand cru burgundy changed his life. ‘I had it, and I thought, This is a real problem,’ he says. So he endeavored to not only drink it, but drink it all. ‘I’ve bought the majority of 2008 Romanée-Conti in America,’ he says. ‘2008 Romanée-Conti used to sell at auction for $4,000 a bottle. Now it’s probably $40,000 a bottle because there isn’t any left. I have maybe the last six bottles in the world.’ (A cursory scan of internet wine purveyors reveals several bottles available for under $15,000.)”
Rebecca,
If you consign those wines with an auction house you will easily be able to negotiate a zero seller’s fee and pay no commission.
I hate to be a jerk, but a person who is, “new to wine” doesn’t usually refer to a bottle as, “La Tache.” That’s how someone who is familiar with wine would likely refer to them. Same for, “Haut Brion.” Usually, true newbies refer to the entire name and really, truly don’t know what they have. Same with referring to the, “fill into the neck.” This is spoken like someone who knows wine. I just think this smells odd. I’m sure I’ll get flamed here, but I would be skeptical as heck.
Agree with you. Skeptical also.
Right there with you both - hence, the reason for my post upthread asking why only “La Tache” and “Haut Brion” were mentioned.
Now I suppose the next post from the OP will be about how she already did some research and was getting familiar with terminology.