My friend found a stash of old bottles in his father’s basement and asked me to take a look at them. Mostly 60’s and 70’s Bordeaux, Chianti, Beaujolais with some seepage and bad corrosion damaging many of the bottles. One that stood out as promising was a 1979 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Cascina Francia. Very little damage to the bottle and good fill as well. Another bottle missing most of the label appears to be the same except 1971(probably not the Cascina Francia?).
Storage conditions were mediocre at best so there are probably no gems here but I told my friend I would investigate what value these might have at auction. Any ideas? Vastola?
You are correct that the 1971 would not be from the Cascina Francia vineyard since Conterno didn’t buy that vineyard until 1974. Off the top of my head, I would say in good condition the 79 CF is worth $250, the 71 worth $300. There may be a moral question here if these bottles have been stored under the same conditions as a batch of bottles that have leaked. Just because these didn’t leak doesn’t mean they’re any good.
If you suspect these have not been stored correctly I would recommend that you make sure any reputable auction house makes note of such to any prospective bidders. Actually I would say don’t sell them at all, but if they absolutely positively need to be sold he should expect pennies on the dollar as a real valuation.
Right now there is this on winebid. Why anyone wants it would be beyond my meager comprehension. In my estimation $5 is too much to spend on thsi, so as usual, buyer beware.
He is not much of a wine drinker and says they have more sentimental value than anything. I tried to get him excited but he is now immune to me waffling on about the virtues of old wine. I agree that it’s probably not fair to represent these as pristine bottles, I guess that is what “removed from subterranean storage” means, eh?
Many thanks Ken.
[Edit: Mike, that is similar to some of the worse-off bottles. Scary stuff.]
If a “stash” is 0-50 bottles this is going to be best served as a retail consignment. If there is any conditions the house will taste through them and then (in a contract most likely) have the right to back out or proceed.
IMHO - this might be best served as a personal experiment.
Don’t give up hope on them not being good. I’ve had a number of “shed wines” that were stored in a metal shed in a backyard for many years and some of those have been absolutely magnificent several decades later.
Sometimes we get too wrapped up in perfect wine storage and forget that active cooling is still a relatively new thing in the scheme of things. And something all old bottles didn’t see until many years, or decades, after being produced.
Interesting, Andy. I’ve often had the impression that some wines can withstand “bad” storage conditions much better than others. What kind of wines were these (the ones that were good, I mean)? Thanks!
They’ve run the gambit of Cali Cab’s, Pinot, Zin’s, and even a Cali Riesling (and I think we even had a Gamay once). Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had a few duds, but I think we’ve had more winners than losers. And these were wines that several people on this board also had at the some time.
Thanks! How hot does the “shed” get in summer? I think that’s the crucial bit.
I had some '02 Lapierre Morgon (a Bojo with very little or no sulfur, reputed to be very delicate, and this seems to prove it) go bad after about 2 summers in a spot that gets to the mid 70s in summer. Other wines in the same place hold on fine, for instance we drank an '05 Amon-Ra (AU Shiraz) that was in the same place much longer and was absolutely wonderful. Whether it was further along than it would have been I can’t say.
Mmmm…1978 Beaujolais anyone? There are only about 30 bottles, many of which probably have very limited value ('66 Ginestet, '76 Ch. Cardonne, '82 Mouton-Cadet) and then these 2 Baroli which caught my eye. I doubt they will go to auction and I’ll post notes if I happen to taste them.
If that’s a serious question…We were told it was a metal shed, in a backyard, in the summer, in northeastern Los Angeles County (Claremont to be exact), so say anywhere up to 105+ degrees.
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