Seeking info on old mystery bottle of maybe Madeira

WINE TALK
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Hi everyone,

I took a flier on an old bottle of what was advertised as 1900 Madeira. I had been in touch with the seller in Europe (Rue Pinard) who provided a little information about it, but I received the bottle yesterday and there seem to be some inconsistencies.

There is very faint raised writing on the bottle that I’m not able to read by eye. I did make a rubbing of it and discerned most of it, I think. As far as I can tell, it says:
VINHO
MENAGEM
[??]OCIEDADE
COMERCIAL
[?] ABEL PEREIRA da Fonseca
PORTUGAL

The seller told me that the bottle was from “Briarcliff Lodge, a luxury resort in Briarcliff Manor, New York, which operated from 1902 until the 1930s”. Not sure where this info came from. I looked up “Wine Cellars Ltd”, found out it’s a company founded in 1986 that used to be in Briarcliff Manor. I don’t see any information on the bottle that it was ever at this Briarcliff Lodge. I supposed it’s possible that the bottle was at this lodge, hung around locally for 50+ years and then was acquired by Wine Cellars?

The seller also told me The bottle also has a “BAK (Braheem Kassab) logo on the top of the seal, indicating it was once part of his collection and was recorked.” I Googled the BAK seal, was only able to find a single picture online, but it looks different than the seal on my bottle.

Not sure where/when the small labels where added, or whether the info on them is true at all. After all, isn’t Fonseca a Port producer, not a Madeira producer?

Finally, there was a small Christie’s auction sticker on it, which I scraped that off bc it was placed right over the faint writing.

I’m not looking for a refund or anything, this is just for fun. I’ve enjoyed a few aged Madeiras in the past, but none quite this old. I’m going to pop this open on a special occasion in the (possibly distant) future. I’m very curious what it is that I ended up with. I haven’t been able to find anything like it on CellarTracker, so I’d love any information you all may be able to provide. I’ve contacted Wine Cellars Ltd and Christie’s as well. I’ll post here if they provide any useful info.

Thanks everyone!
Noah

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Oops. Forgot to add photos.

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And here is a reference image of the BAK wax seal that I found. Clearly different than what I have.

BAK
BAK900×900 356 KB

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Post this q here!

https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewforum.php?f=2

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Based on some research, it seems that this is a Lisbon wine from post 1930. Check out this page:

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Wow- great detective work! A little disappointing though. Perhaps I will contact the seller after all. Thanks for the info!!

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A wise woman once said: every fake wine has a fake story of provenance.

That being said, it could be an interesting wine. Just not a 1900 Madeira.

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I would also note, it is a bit of a red flag that a wine imported into the US would end up back in Europe. Not impossible, of course, but just less probable.

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You should definitely contact seller.
actually my MIL lives in the assisted living home on site of old Briarcliff Lodge .
Unsure where Wine Cellars Ltd comes in other than having a Briarcliff address. Maybe I missed part of post. I’ve hundreds (maybe 1000+ ) bottles brought in by WC.
I’d agree with Tim I’d have questions about a European wine that spend (apparent) decades in states and then returned to Europe.,

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I agree the Europe to US back to Europe is weird. Even though the seller is based in Europe, they have a branch in Florida and I thought this is where the wine was coming from. But then I placed the order and got an email that said it was coming in from Europe…

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Hi Noah,

I wonder if the issue may lay more with Christie’s. I have a feeling you purchased one of these bottles originally sold by Christie’s. Believed Padre Vale 1900 | Christie's

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More likely this lot: Believed Padre Vale 1900 | Christie's

Note the inconsistency in the bottles.

As a sidenote, I have a pre-1900 Padre Vale in my cellar, I just looked at it, the bottle is more bordeaux shaped, not burgundy. Of course, it could also be fake, that is a huge risk with older bottles like this. Though it was sourced in Portugal.

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Oh fascinating- you may be right. The Christies site mentions that a few of the wax BAK capsules were broken- maybe this one was a broken one that was re-waxed?

But I thought Christie’s has one of the world’s best wine teams verifying priceless old bottles. I was suspicious of this one after looking at it for less than a minute. The only tools I used were a piece of paper and pencil for the rubbing and the knowledge of WBers. You’d think Christie’s could do a better job than just lil ole me.

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Christies is one of the better auction houses when it comes to authentication, but the are far from infallible. The key word in their description is “believed”.

Also, interesting note, the BAK got me wondering what that is and why. My bottle does not have a BAK mark. Apparently it was a buyer named Braheem Kassab who recorked or restamped many of his wines. And he purchased up a lot of Padre Vale when he was in Madeira beginning in 1930. So any wax capsule is from a re-capsuled or recorked bottle originating from his collection, not the original capsule. Christies sold a lot of wines from his collection. So not having the BAK is not necessarily an issue.

I would say that the issue with your bottle is that it has an embossed label that is materially different than the claimed contents. Good on you for inspecting it.

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I would definitely contact the seller. The fact is that either they sold it unknowingly or they did the same inspection you did and knew it was inaccurate. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I would ask for a credit covering some (most?) of the cost of the bottle.