The Abandoned Chicagoland Cellar Photos!

WINE TALK
21

Paul . . . here you go buddy: How should I sell 10K+ worth of wine from my personal collection? - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

22

I must have missed a thread or post somewhere else. What’s the story/background here?

I have chosen to remain very vague about where they came from; as I don’t want to draw attention to the liquor store. I had gone to this store several times in the past, and found some great deals. The last time I was there I bought the “last” three bottles of '93 Jean-Claude Boisset Corton they had on their shelf for $10/btl. When I returned a few days ago, I was delighted to find 3 more bottles had taken the place of the old ones. This was what initially sparked my interest about the possibility of good, old wines being stored in a storage/stock room. I politely asked the manager if I could take a look around the basement for the “old wine no one wanted”. The owners were somehow under the impression that any wine “goes bad” if it’s more than 30 years old.

As we started walking down the back room steps I was awestruck at the sheer size of the basement; as it was twice the size of the store’s ground level footprint. The manager then takes me over to a locked 8x12 cinderblock room. As he opens the door, I see nothing but a sea of black. He tells me there’s no light in the room, and hands me a pocket flashlight. As I start to make sense of my surroundings, I knew I had found the “holy grail”.

“Where did these come from?”, I asked. “It’s from the previous owner. We bought the store in 1997”, he replies. I then knew time was of the essence; I had to play it cool while I swiftly collected the wine. “Most people don’t like old wines, they’re very risky”, I replied. He just smiled and laughed. “What are we talking price-wise?”, I asked. He replied with, “$20 per bottle and $30 for the large bottles”.

I usually don’t buy large quantities of a wine before at least tasting it; but I knew this was an exception. We will never know how the older bottles were stored throughout their whole lives, but it looked like most of the stuff was acquired directly from the distributor and stored in that cool, 60-ish degree room since 1980. Whoever put these bottles in that room had stored them all on their sides. Most were in cardboard boxes, though the Branaire and Casa de Sonoma were still in their original cases. Also, I found part of a Pio Cesare case; but alas no bottles. [head-bang.gif]

23

Great find, congrats!

24

Thanks for sharing the story, and the costs, I was curious as I am sure others were as well.
Probably ~15 years ago I bought a bunch of old poorly stored caveat emptor bottles at auction from TCWC (old Cheval Blanc, Latour, etc). Let’s just say I hope you have better luck with your bottles …
With all those bottles, I would certainly sell some to fund future endeavours. But you do what you want.

25

WOW! Thanks for the backdrop. I hope they are still good. Looking forward to hearing the results.

I think you need to invite some local WBs over. [cheers.gif]

26

Mark I’ll be in Chicago from Thursday to Sunday. Feel free to open one with me :wink:

27

Mark I’ll be in Chicago from Thursday to Sunday. Feel free to open one with me

I’m sure we can figure something out. Which one(s) were you thinking about? [drinkers.gif]

28

Also, does anyone happen to know the backstory on the 40’s era Roger Louis Blanc de Blancs? I can’t find any info online. I believe it’s the '49 vintage. Thanks!

29

Thanks for the back story, Mark.

I’m interested in the scoop on the Casa de Sonoma. I’m not familiar with that. Anyone?

30

Sounds too good to be true, Mark. These days most people are aware that old stuff can be valuable and it’s worth a quick online search. Hard to believe the shop owner is so naive.

$20 per bottle is a steal. I hope there are some tasty nuggets in the lot.

Great story. Nice change from reading about wine fraud.

31

I’m interested in the scoop on the Casa de Sonoma. I’m not familiar with that. Anyone?

The Casa de Sonoma was a 1982 library release that was recorked from the personal cellar of August Sebastiani (1913 - 1980). They believe the grapes were sourced from Sonoma County in 1941 and aged in redwood for at least 4 years, and bottled in 1947. It came with a very cool booklet explaining the origin of the wine, and an artist sketch of the late, great winemaker.

32

join us at the HDH auction saturday morning! We’ll be opening a bunch of goodies.

33

If you’re confused, it’s only because you aren’t familiar with Nathan Smyth.

34

join us at the HDH auction saturday morning! We’ll be opening a bunch of goodies.

What kind of goodies are we talking about? I only ask as to have an idea of what to bring. [cheers.gif]

35

Wow… It must be excited to find such treasure.

Congratulations !!! Share them well and you will receive good karma.

36

Greg dal Piaz opened a bottle of that at a dinner some years ago. My memory isn’t very clear but I vaguely recall it as being quite good but not up in the amazing category.

37

Most liquor stores only care about how many cases of crappy domestic beer and Captain Morgan they sell. Wouldn’t surprise me AT ALL if there weren’t many liquor stores like this around Chicago that were in a previously wealthy neighborhood that now has a different clientele.

I’d guarantee if I asked the owners of the few liquor stores in my home town what a “1st Growth” is, they’d return nothing but blank stares.

The owner of this store is probably posting on liquorstoreownerberserkers.com about how some kid paid him $20-$30 a bottle for some old wine buried in his basement and can’t believe his own good fortune.

38

Yes, as I posted on Mark’s previous thread about this place, there used to be a guy who “worked” as a broker for a small importer but really only so he had an excuse to case stores exactly like this with new (often recent immigrant) owners here in LA. He made a very nice living liberating “old wine” and selling it to restaurants and collectors.

39

Thanks for promoting my new site. Liquorstoreownerberserkers is the fastest growing liquor store owner website on the internet right now!

40

I tried this a few years ago (probably also from Greg) and thought alive and good but not really complex, but a great story. Used to be a lot cheaper, but it’s still cheap compared to '47 Bdx. :slight_smile: