My brothers and I gave my Dad a Christmas present of a day helping him inventory his cellar and put it on cellar tracker. He has been collecting wine since the 70’s and had only a vague idea of what he had in inventory. It has been stored in a temperature controlled (but warmer than ideal wine temps) storage room in NYC for most of its life. Inventorying nearly 1400 bottles took 5 of us all day.Most of his bottles were actually in good shape, but a few were not. That evening we sat down to drink some of the problem bottles we culled from the herd that day:
1961 Chateau de Chambrun - Cork had fallen into the bottle, fill was about halfway up the bottle. Actually not terrible - quite a lot of bricking, leather and funky earth on the nose. Nice red fruit on the attack, but a little thin and metallic on the finish.
1967 Cos d’Estournel - Fill to bottom shoulder. Very light color, rainisy porty nose, shot on the palate.
1967 Chateau de Pez - Fill slightly above bottom shoulder. Still solid core of color, some significant bricking on the rim. Leather, mint, tobacco and nice clean dark earth on the nose. Nice tart blackberry fruit with fully resolved soft and mellow tannins. While not a blockbuster, a very pleasant drink and surprise.
1966 Luigi Bosca Barolo Reserva - Good fill, clean cork which came out easily in one piece. Lots of dark colored sediment at the bottom and light orange colored liquid at the top. Horrible nose of port upon opening and totally shot on the palate. Tried shaking it up to mix the two components, still awful. Let it sit for two hours, still awful. Then poured out in the sink and a great aroma of spicy, peppery underbrush and earth rose up out of the sink as if all the good stuff was in the bottom of the bottle but not in the liquid.
Late 60’s (approximately) Oude Libertas Pinotage - No label left, but capsule showed producer. My Dad knew it was pre South African embargo, so most likely 1968-1972. Fill was good, but we figured there was no way a 40 year Pinotage would be drinkable. Very funky mushroomy nose upon opening, but that blew off after a few minutes. Lots of clay, spicy pepper and red cherry fruit on the nose with soft red furit and spciy ginger on the palate. Damn good and a total surprise!
With dinner (slow smoked brisket which was out of this world):
198+3 Chapoutier Cote Rotie - Seeping cork, fill top shoulder however. Great nose of herbs de provence, oregano, gamey meat (wild boar?), freshly crushed peppercorns and wildflowers. Sweet candied spice on the attack with lovely floral notes. All tannins fully resolved, but still plenty of life left and a great blalance between acid and fruit. Outstanding.
198+5 Delas Frères Hermitage Marquise de la Tourette - Also seeping cork, fill mid shoulder. Bacon fat, candied black fruit and white pepper on the nose. The aroma just filled the room from the decanter. As it opened up, a nice feral note of underbrush really crept into the nose. Very elegant, soft tannins - still quite lively on the palate and again in a great place balanced between acid, fruit and structure. Also outstanding.
Just goes to show that well made wines are hardier than we think sometimes!