Searching for “aged” wines

I am relatively new to the wine game but unfortunately I discovered my love for wine at a late age. I am now looking to backfill my cellar. What are the go to online sites to buy wine with some age. I am particularly interested in those sites that truly guarantee provenance, that provide a good customer experience and are not outrageously expensive.
I have been thinking of ordering from Benchmark but have not pulled the trigger because of mixed reviews.

Give us a hint of what “aged” means to you - what vintage. Are you thinking domestic or imported?

What do you mean by “guarantee provenance?” I have a feeling that you are describing a null set.

Benchmark has a “provenance guarantee” on some wines. I’d like to know exactly what they mean by that and if anyone has had experience returning something under that guarantee. That would be a really strong selling point IMO.

Looking for California Cabernets and French Bordeaux primarily.

It’s not cab, but the aged Syrah Cabot deal from Berserkerday is still up. I haven’t tried them yet (still waiting for delivery) but have heard good reviews overall.

I would like to know that if I am going to spend $100 plus for an “aged” wine and it turns out to be “ corked” that the seller will return my money.

None of the stores I deal with (and none of which I am aware) will issue a refund for an aged bottle that is corked, and I wouldn’t expect them to. They have no recourse against the producer or the importer (and really no way to determine whether the wine was actually corked). You just take your chances.

Corked and provenance don’t have anything to do with one another. A wine was corked when it went into the bottle. I’m more concerned with the chain of custody once it left the winery. This is what provenance is.

I’m fairly certain that Chambers St stands behind all of their bottles. That said, I agree with your comment and fully expect to assume all risk of flaws when purchasing an older bottle.

Agreed.

When I order wine direct or from a wine store they will generally guarantee their product if it is “bad” ( not talking about a wine that I don’t just care for).
I guess that doesn’t holds for those sites that sell aged wine?

Interesting. I’d be both surprised and impressed if they would refund a 20+ year old bottle of bdx because it was corked. I should have stated above that my answer was based on an assumption: I have never asked a retailer for a refund on an aged but flawed bottle. It wouldn’t occur to me given that they (a) didn’t make the flawed wine and (b) have zero recourse against those who did.

And I agree with Nathan also on the distinction between provenance (where the bottle has been all its life) and the presence or absence of cork taint

Generally, but with a few notable exceptions, buying wine more than a few years after the release (that is, on the secondary market) is caveat emptor.

The distinction, I think, is between wines purchased for resale from private cellars and those purchased from the producer (or its middlemen). In the latter case, the retailer can go back to the producer for satisfaction. “You made a flawed wine.” In the former, from whom is the retailer to seek satisfaction?

Sadly the standard, for reasons mentioned already, is that you take the risk when you buy the wine.You can always ask the retailer in question for a refund, but it is up to them. Surprisingly I have gotten refund from a few retailers from whom I’m a regular customer a couple of times.

Now for the good news: Cabernet based wines (what you’re looking for) are very robust and not prone to failure. Plus they have been purchased and stored in the US for decades so generally storage is not an issue.

My advice would be:

  • keep researching your sources, and go with ones with solid reputations. This board is a good place for that info.
  • learn the signs of high risk bottles and stay away from those risk factors. It’s not that hard - very low fills, pushed or depressed corks, or signs of seepage. I stay away from bottles with those problems. When you buy older bottles, they generally come with descriptions of issues, and/or verifying pictures. If your source has neither, ask for the info. If they don’t have it, stay away.
  • there are always more bottles. So don’t worry about being in a hurry (one piece of advice I wish I would follow).

You haven’t mentioned how aged you are looking for. But, for example, I have bought hundreds of bottles of aged CA/Bordeaux in the last decade. Mostly 5-20 years old but some 40+. I’ve had stunningly low failure rate - less than 2%. So don’t worry too much about it!

Btw, Michael how aged is aged for you?

25-30 years. Thinking for Cabs more like 10-20 years.

Chambers Street guarantees their old wines, period. I’ve returned corked and dead bottles and there was no problem.

There have been several discussions of this here where people who haven’t dealt with Chambers were disbelieving. But it’s true.

(It reminds me of when Germany forbid Lands End from advertising its unconditional guarantee because the German government couldn’t believe that any company would actually back their products that way.)

Honestly, if you want a “guarantee” on an old wine, pay the upcharge and buy one at a restaurant.