Newly acquired vintage collection - looking for advice

Hi all,
My husband and I have recently acquired a large (100+) bottles of vintage wines & champagnes. And although I am a huge red wine drinker/fan, we are relatively naive about truly fine wines. We have spent the past two days looking up most of the labels online at various sites (wine-searcher.com, etc), but we’re desperate for some human advice. Some of the bottles are coming up as quite rare and with very high values.

Our biggest issue is that we don’t know exactly how the wines were stored or what their pedigree is. I contacted HDH in Chicago this morning, sent them a few photos, and while they were very impressed with the selection, they said they could not help us if we didn’t know the bottle’s exact origin. Does everyone know the exact origin of a 1966 bottle of wine? Maybe they do…that’s one of the things we don’t know. Many of the bottles are from the 60’s, 70’s & early 80’s, some even in still sealed wooden crates. We have brought most of it to our basement where it is nice and cool, but we’re not even sure if the bottles should be on their side or upright?

I would LOVE & WELCOME any comments or private messages. I know this post may seem out of place, but this site seemed like a great place to get information from people who know and love wine. Thanks so much!
-Dina

Dina,

Several people here are in the auction biz and might be able to help. Obviously it would be better if you could state even the most recent storage (i.e. “Bought from a friend who stored them in a cool basement” etc). Failing that I imagine an experienced person could look at fill, label condition, capsule condition etc and determine something.

Part of the problem is that a wine that’s stored at 70F for decades might appear OK, but it’s probably shot. The same bottle stored at 55 may well be just fine. IN general, the high values for rare wines are for wines that have been stored well and from cellars that are a known quantity. If the bottles appear in good condition, though, you’ll probably still get a good fraction of that price… the buyer will want to pay less than the market high because of the uncertainty, but it’s likely they still have some value.

Thanks Rick!
I have to say, that I am thrilled to read “Failing that I imagine an experienced person could look at fill, label condition, capsule condition etc and determine something,” because I was so amazed that the 1st place I contacted had no interest in even seeing any of the bottles, and truly cared only on its origin.

We do know that the bottles have been in a storage locker (at an estimated 60-65 degrees) for at least two years. Most of the wines were upright in boxes, but some were on their sides in wood crates. There were also a ton of wine racks (with pricing labels) and wine accessories, so we think the previous owner was either in the wine business or a major collector.

Do we want to sell them? Yes. Are we looking for top dollar. No. But from what I can tell, there are some really amazing finds. My hope is to find someone locally (chicagoland) who is willing to view some of them and give us some insight.

i’ll give you $300.

store in a cool humid environment on their side–50-68 degrees, 56 being the “classic” temperature.
Don’t get taken–ybarselah is taking advantage of you; I’d pay at least $325 and possibly $330.
alan

Thank you Alan. I’m can appreciate a sense of humor, I swear. But What’s really interesting to me is that we have five bottles that match your profile picture…from the 60’s. So I was happy to see that just now! :slight_smile:

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When my wife was in medical school a friend of hers asked me about a case of 1982 first growth Bordeaux that his father won in a poker match many years ago when someone couldn’t pay a debt. True story. When I asked how the wines were stored they said in their box in his basement of 20+ years. The only problem is that the temp varied throughout the year, speculating even into the low 70s. I told him that there was chance they were fine, but they also could be advanced in their aging. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable selling them to people (before I had a store). In turn I told him if he wanted we could sacrifice a bottle at a dinner with some wine geeks. Others would bring bottles and we would all get to try, by doing so we would be able to gather if there was any value in the wines (at the time they were worth about $3K online).

My point is it might be worth putting together an offline in your town with people from here. Bring a a few bottles (2-3 decades represented) and share them. You would get a free dinner out of it, but at least you would get an honest perspective on their quality based on how they should be. You seem to be honest, but no one will pay a premium for wines not stored correctly (or at least not here). Though some would bive you some type of offer just to take a risk. If the wine is DOA, I am sure you wouldn’t give their money back so whatever the price is it no matter what the wine it has to fit the risk.

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Thanks Travis,
I sincerely appreciate your reply, and that seems like a really great idea. We are more than happy to open a few bottles, in fact we’ve opened two already and really enjoyed them…but again, I’m extremely easy to please when it comes to wine. Like I mentioned, given the truly unique variety in this collection, paired with the number of wine related accessories we found, we truly believe that the bottles have been taken care of over the years. The labels look great, bottles are clean (some a little dusty), but overall, nicely preserved.

Anyway, I understand it’s a gamble for any buyer, even under the best conditions with these really old wines. Thank you again!
-Dina

Hi Enzo!
I will absolutely post what we have (I have listed a few below), and there are lots more. I can appreciate the fact that I’m some new girl that’s just popped onto this forum where you probably all know one another, but I promise you, I’m truly looking for honest feedback…and really appreciate yours!

From what we can tell, the bottles were loved by someone at some time. I think the previous owner may have passed away. My husband purchased a storage locker that was filled with wine racks, wine crates, many vintage bottles and wine accessories. So we’re speculating that he was either in the business or a serious collector. Like I think I mentioned, they have been in a climate controlled dark storage locker for at least 2 years. That’s all we know for sure.

Forgot the list…

BOX #1:

Name:

Year:

Notes:

La Tache

1966 - Monopole

Bottle # 14337

La Tache

1966 - Monopole

Bottle # 14344

La Tache

1966 - Monopole

Bottle # 14347

La Tache

1969 - Monopole

Bottle # 06737

Nuits-Saint-Georges

1978

Les Perdrix

Faiveley

1969

Musigny

La conseillante pomeral

1988



La conseillante pomeral

1988



Joseph Drouhin

1990

Chassagne Montrachet

Chateau l’enclos

1990

Pomeral

Chateau de Beaucastel

1978



Chateau d’Yguem

1975

Sauternes

Um… those are amazing wines. In your shoes I’d definitely talk to a professional auctioneer and get advice and estimates. You can also signup for Wine Marker Journal (base account is free, there’s a paid level too) as they track auction pricing. http://www.winemarketjournal.com/

If stored correctly a few of those bottles alone could fund someone’s college education.

But a lot of times when auction houses ask about where it was stored, they are also asking about the history of the bottle and if it’s real or not. Someone comes out of the blue with just blue chip bottles, they are going to be very curious of their origins.

I was mildly shocked by some of the estimated values I found on line as well. And I honestly believe that there is a decent portion of this collection that is still ready to uncork & enjoy.

I totally get why someone would be skeptical about some random person calling up out of the blue with these rare vintage wines. But I did send photographs to this auction house in Chicago, and was really surprised they weren’t even interesting in having someone take a look at the bottles in person. There are a few other ones in our area that I’m going to reach out to in the next day or so. It is my preference to have a reputable house sell them, but I may put some up for sale on my own at low prices with what information I do have…and see if anyone wants to take a chance. We’ll see.

Don’t price very low. There’s no real reason to do that unless the condition of the bottles is poor. If you do have these as temps start to warm up get them into temp controlled storage.

Dina, you seem genuine by your posts, but I’m wondering why the original owners of the storage locker would leave such a valuable and lovingly cared for collection behind? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Unless a tragic accident took all family members all at once, why wouldn’t the wine collector tell someone about it? It’s your good fortune to find such a collection, but it does put up major red flags.

Joe,

that’s a reasonable thought, but there are single people who don’t have kids ya know… :slight_smile:

Look into Cellartracker.com to assemble your inventory it will make it much easier and lots of reports for sending the list to auction houses.