I'm clueless

[leilei]

I recently cleaned out my deceased Aunts basement. I found a few bottles of wine and I'm curious to know if they are drinkable or if they have any value. In the 40's and 50's , they used to grow grapes and make their own wine in the basement. It's always between 45-55 degrees down there. One is a bottle of "Nonno Pietro" vintage 1945.Produced and bottled by Dino Barengo, Ocampo, Ca. The label says only 984 bottles produced. The other is a bottle of Champagne. Lanson [red label] 1971 Brut. Any info would be appreciated. L

[wineguruchgo]

Hi Leilei!

Welcome to the wine board. It's highly unlikely that any of these wines will be any good. Not for lack of trying, mind you, for the temperature of the room is perfect for storing.

There are very few grapes that will last 60 years and still be drinkable. Most are the Bordeaux grapes (Cabernet, Merlot, Franc, etc...). If this is homemade wine there is now way of knowing what grapes were used.

I'm sure others will chime in here for they are more knowledgable than me with aging wine.

You can always open a bottle and smell it. If it smells like Grandmas basement, I wouldn't drink it.

If you or your siblings have a bar in your homes you can always use the bottles for decoration. I, personally, would love to have a few bottles for decoration. It would be really cool! I'm sure the lables are old and faded by now.

Sit tight. Others will chime in after they have had their morning coffee.

[This message has been edited by wineguruchgo (edited 03-19-2005).]

[hotwine]

Welcome to the board, Leilei. Doubt seriously that there's any value to those old bottles, except as curiosities. However, a Google search for Dino Barengo found him easily; go to http://www.mokelumneoaksvintners.com/index.cfm?id=424&fuseaction=browse&pageid=24
and look under Lodi-Sacramento Wineres. It looks like he might still be in operation and moving back and forth between Sacto and Reno areas. If so, you might be able to contact him through the Website listed.

As to homemade wines lasting 60 or so years... it's been my experience that they stand a good chance of surviving a long time because of the common practice among home winemakers of heavily chaptalizing their wines, that is, augmenting the sugar content of the "must". I have some homemade wines in the 25-30 year range that are doing just fine. But if you decide to try one, be very gentle with the bottle so as not to disturb the sediment, and decant it carefully. I use a coffee filter to remove the sediment, and quite commonly have to use a second filter because the first loads up so quickly. Have fun.