What condition details do you need before bidding on an older bottle online?

WINE TALK
1

The replies to my recent Bordeaux auction question made me think more carefully about what a listing actually lets us verify. A fill level and a short capsule note are useful, but they do not tell the whole story of storage and transport.

When you cannot inspect the bottle in person, which details make a condition report genuinely useful to you? For example: photographs of the actual bottle from several angles, capsule and cork close-ups, measured fill, color, or a documented storage history. Are there particular omissions that make you pass even if the price looks attractive?

I am interested in how people weigh these signals in practice, especially for bottles around 20–30 years old.

2

Seems AI written. I know we’ve had other threads posts written in an AI style.

3

I dont see that in this post.

1 Like
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I could be wrong, and I could also share the signals in the post that make me think it is AI, whether it’s a real person or not.

But this is not AI berserkers.

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Use of the colon in second sentence of second paragraph and the phrase “weigh these signals”

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I guess AI is getting better

7

Fair point. I used AI to help phrase the question in English, and it came out too polished. Sorry about that. The question is genuine: when looking at a 20–30-year-old bottle online, what missing condition detail would make you pass? I’m especially interested in actual bottle photos and storage history.