I’ve moved tens of thousands of bottles over the last 45 years, so I would be remarkable if I never broke one. I don’t recollect ever having a bottle slip out of my hands, but last year as I was pulling a wooden crate out of a tight space in the corner of the cellar, and a 750ml bottle of 1971 Rieussec rolled out, fell, and broke. About 2oz. was left in the bottom of the bottle. I strained the wine and drank it. It was wonderful. I wish I could have shared the rest.
Another notable break was when a plumber dropped a wrench on a 1963 Port. I had moved all the wine away from the work area, so I don’t know how he managed to do that. Maybe he drank half the wine and broke the bottle with the remainder as a coverup.
I used to have a storage locker in an offsite storage that was the top locker of 3. The bottom of the locker was 2 meters off the ground so you needed a ladder. I moved a box that looked like the bottles were vertical but they were horizontal, while I was up a ladder because the locker was so high off the ground. Two bottles rolled out of the box. I managed to catch one as it fell but the other crashed to it’s impending doom and created a large mess of glass and wine. The bottle I lost was a fairly young Coonawarra Cabernet that wasn’t a particularly expensive bottle. The bottle I managed to catch was a rare 1962 Fonseca Guimaraens Port. So I caught the right one!
1944 Château d’Yquem - bought at auction and shipped in a pretty big box wrapped in a paper towel. So technically, I didn’t break it. But still broke my heart.
I moved into a new house last year and had work done in the kitchen. I have all of my magnums in a bulk storage area of a La Cache cabinet. My contractor was doing some work in the kitchen and thought the cabinet had to be pulled out slightly, which I was unaware of and not at the house at the time.
When the contractor adjusted the cabinet, a 1.5L of 2019 Aubert Eastside slipped out of the bulk area and smashed.
I called Aubert. They were not able to replace it with a 2019 Eastside but they did offer me a 2019 Powder House mag.
I was at the Consumer Electronics Expo, CES, in Las Vegas and was attending a reception in a suite at the Bellagio. The host was a friend and she let me take the leftover wine with me. I could only carry 4 or so bottles but was having difficulty balancing them but they were free so I had to grab as many as I could carry. Made it safely to the ground floor but after walking a bit, I lost control of the bottles and they fell and made a huge mess. After that crash, there was silence and everyone was looking at me. This is an area where there are hundreds of people and tons of noise normally. Multiple members of security came over immediately and started asking me questions but did not do anything about the broken glass.
We had been tasting at Piedrassasi in Lompoc and my son in law was putting the bottles we had just bought in the cooler in the trunk of his car.
I was watching him and one bottle that was $65 just exploded as he was gently setting it down.
We went back inside the tasting room and explained what happened and they gave us a replacement bottle without hesitation.
Piedrasassi uses a unique shaped bottle we think that could have been part of the problem.
Ha! My wife just dropped and broke a 2006 Leoville Barton as we walked into the Club. Was dropping off a bottle of wine for the Sommelier, as he sources me nice wines from time to time. Was picking up a case. The bottle exploded all over the lobby, like a 6 foot splatter, including up the front desk!
I had a bottle of 2019 Lytton Springs cleanly snap at the neck while I was rearranging bottles. Manage to only spill half a glass. Poured the rest into a decanter though a mesh filter to get any glass shards out and had with dinner 5 hours later.
Hopefully, I don’t jinx myself, but considering how many bottles of wine I have handled it is amazing that I have not dropped a single bottle. The only broken bottle issue I have had was a blow-out on a 2000 Haut Brion using a Coravin. This was before they sent out the sleeves, which I never ended up using and have not had an issue with since. I poured the wine that remained in the bottle through a coffee filter and drank it.
*Edited to add that a few times near the end of parties when it looked like we might run out of Champagne, I have taken bottles from the cellar and placed them in the freezer to bring them down a few degrees. Of course I forgot about these bottles and you don’t need to be a physicist to know how that ended. The biggest loss was a magnum of '02 Dom Ruinart. Technically, still not a drop, but not my finest moments either.
I broke an Imperial of 1985 Lafite. Amazing how quickly 6 liters of wine can go everywhere. Was able to save half a glass strained through the OWC. Nice wine but way too young (this was in 1988).
It seems like bad karma can follow this thread= I’ve been lucky that the only bottle I’ve dropped that broke was a 20 yr. old tawny port (under $50). I’ve been lucky as I have dropped a few bottles that simply did not break!
Yeah, well I had this one coming. Put in a mag of 2018 Saxum Rocket Block in the top of cellar cooler. Told myself that it will probably roll of and drop to the concrete floor the next time I open the door. Nah, I tell myself. “I know what I’m doing.” Well, everybody knows whats coming. A week later, in a hurry, yank open the cellar door and out come the missile. Blam! Basement does smell nice.
First one ever just happened a couple of days ago. I was rearranging and set a couple of bottles on the ground, wasn’t paying attention and knocked it over with the cellar door.
Thankfully it wasn’t $$$ but it sucks to age a wine decade and then lose out. I do have a couple more and have vowed to pop one soon as it smelled and tasted great ( I dipped my finger in the pool a couple of times )
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