Ever seen a Montelena Estate cab with a gold capsule?

I found some magnums of the wonderful 1980 Montelena Estate Cabernet with perfect fills and clean labels, but oddly, gold-yellow capsules that are somewhat corroded.

Has anyone seen gold-yellow capsules on a Montelena before? In my experience, the capsules are a burgundy-red in color, and in a 750ml format at least, even the 1980 has red capsules. But this was a long time ago and the bottles are 1.5 liters, so perhaps that’s why?

Seems unlikely that an off vintage of Montelena would be counterfeit and the corrosion does indicate some age.

(Mostly) curious.

Here’s a pic.
1980 Chateau Montelena 1.5L - CO (1).JPG

Those look like they’re in really great shape. Some years ago I was a guest at some gigantic 40 person uber Montelena vertical, and I don’t think I tasted a single one that was over the hill.

Did you try contacting the winery?

I did call the winery yesterday and the one person I was able to get on the phone couldn’t say definitively one way or the other.

Here’s another bottle with a gold capsule, but a bit bigger than your bottles: :slight_smile:

A photo at Chateau Montelena

Would anyone fake a 80 Monty mag?

I have made the same general inquiry and have been reminded the most counterfeited bill in America is the $20. If a criminal’s all-in costs were $20-25 and the mags were three figures…

Another pic:
C1A10098-1337-4B20-A9DB-EFE5F883D51C.jpeg

Yeah, but once the plates are made, you can crank out thousands. Not so with the mags

True. I guess the truth lay close to realizing small criminal profits are enough for some.

If those are lead capsules then the bottles are definitely from 1980. IIRC tin and plastic capsules didn’t take over the market until the mid to late '80s.

Next time I go to offsite (it could be a while), I will check my '80 mag and report back.