Old wines

[adwilli1]

Hi all,

I ran across this site in investigating how to sell vintage wines. My mother purchased a villa in Mexico last year and it has an undergroud wine cellar with appx. 500 bottles of wine ranging from 1966-1979 wines of various winemaker and type. A lot of Mirassou, Charlse Krug and mostly California wines.

I don't know much about wine and was wondering if anyone here knows if there is a market for this type of thing. I looked on Ebay and there are a few similar aged wines on there but different types so I wouldn't even know how to price them.

Any advice on where to look on the internet or a guide to purchase to find out.

In looking at a few posts here it seems like some of this wine might not be worth anything anymore. At Christmas we opened a bottle of Cabernet Savignon (cant' remember maker) and it was still good, in fact some loved it.

I would appreciate any feedback I could get from this site.

Thanks,

Angie

[winoweenie]

Hi Angie and welcome to the board. Most of the wines from Calif from the 66-79 vintages are over the hill. If you want to post a complete inventory I canprobably give you a good idea how much it's worth. As an aside and a definate problem, How do you intend to get the wines back into the US? The archaic laws of Mexico mite make it far roo costly. Look into it and advise us. WW

[This message has been edited by winoweenie (edited 12-30-2004).]

[adwilli1]

Thanks for your quick reply!!

I brought back 3 bottles with me when I visited recently without a problem.

I think that if we found out some of it was of value we would look into UPS shipping or having family members bring a few at a time.

I think some of it is from Italy and Spain. Would those ones still be any good?

Also are there varieties of wine that age better than others and if so which ones are they?

Thanks again,

Angie

[winoweenie]

In the older Calif wines Cabernet and Petite Sirah are the best agers. If any of them are white wines(SWs) you can pour them down the terlit. Know little about Spanish or old world wines with the exception of Bordeaux. Again, Post the wines and you'll get help. Happy New Yar! WW

[joeyz6]

To complement winoweenie's wise advice, many wineries in California, such as Heitz and Mayacamas, will be happy to tell you how certain vintages of their wine are currently drinking if you give them a call.

[winoweenie]

Joey from the original post I doubt any of the wines you mentioned made it to this cellar. Krug and Mirrasou were kind of the blue-collar wines back then. WW

[wineguruchgo]

Not so fast cowboy! I've had Krugs cab from 79 a few years ago and it was mighty tasty!

I would say - although it's a daunting task -to put together a list of all the bottles, with as much information you can (year, varietal, etc..) and let us know what you have. Some Italian (Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello) may be pretty good.

We really can't advise you until we know what you have.

[winoweenie]

WG I by no means meant to imply that some of the old Krugs weren't tasty, just that they were the supermarket availability types in the 60s. I've had hundreds of botlles of Martinis, Inglenooks and Krugs from then that were fabulous. Heitz, Mayacamus, Mondavi,et.al were just stretching their legs in the late 60s (all started in the late part of the decade) and were not in general distribution. They took off in the early 70s when wine awareness became national. I've asked for a complete posting since my first post on this subject Hopefully the list will contain some Inglenook Casks, Martini SSs, BVs and other jewels. Until we know, we wont know.(Thanks Casey). WW

[adwilli1]

Okay, well, thanks so much for your input. My mom is making a list to send to me of exactly what is there. She said some if it has certificates?????? Dunno what that means!!

I looked at the other bottle I brought back and it is a 1968 Beaulieu Pinot Noir.

Here is a preliminary list.....Can you guys look at this and tell me if you think any of these are worth my time pursuing:

1965 Louis Martini Pinot Noir 2 Bottles
1965 Charles Krug Pinot Noir 2 Bottles
1967 Louis Martini Pinot Noir 1 Bottle
1967 Sebastini Barbera 3 Bottles
Bin # 14 and Bin # 15
1968 Louis M Martini Cabernet Sauvignon 8 Bottles
1968 Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon 2 Bottles
1968 Mirassou Zinfandel 1 Bottle
1968 Mirassou Burgundy 7 Bottles
1969 Louis M Martini Pinot Noir 4 Bottles
1969 Mirassou Pinot Noir 13 Bottles ?
1969 Mirassou Cabernet Sauvignon 3 Bottles?
1970 Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon 7 Bottles
1970 Mirassou Pinot Noir 6 Bottles ?
1971 Mirassou Champagne 5 Bottles
1972 Llords & Elwood Cabernet Sauvignon 2 Bottles
Numbered #04129 and 04131
1972 Mirassou Zinfandel 5 Bottles
1972 Mirassou Cabernet Sauvignon 3 Bottles
1973 Mirassou Cabernet Sauvignon 2 Bottles
1975 Inglenook Zinfandel 1 Bottle
1976 Mirassou Premier Gamay Beaujolais 5 Bottles
1978 Mirassou Harvest Select Pinot Noir Unfiltered 2 Bottles
# 44594 and #13674
1981 Mirassou White Burgundy 1 Bottle
no Year but very old Samuel Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon
1 bottle Special Bin Selection #122
4 Bottles Simi Cabernet Sauvignon no year Napa Valley
Several old bottles of Cabernet from the Baja of California but made in Mexico different labels.
3 original wood boxes from Mirassou 1977 and 1979 Zinfandel


You guys are awesome to give advice on your own time here. Thanks so much, angie

[wondersofwine]

The Pinot Noir would not hold up this long. I will let others answer on the Cabernets.

[winoweenie]

Anjie. The Martini Cabernets will have more descriptions on the bottle such as "Napa Valley", "Special Selection " or "Monte Rosso". This all makes a difference in the value. And WOW, I've had some old Beaulieu Burgandies from the 60s' that were sensational, so some of the old field blend Pinots do age well, unlike most of the modern Pinots. WW

[Kcwhippet]

WOW!!! Nice collection. Too bad it wasn't drunk 15 - 20 years ago.

[adwilli1]

The Louis Martina bottle says "California Mountain" Than at the bottom Produced and bottled at the winery in Napa County of Louis Martini.

[joeyz6]

I love that "California Mountain" designation. Bob used to use that on his Mayacamas wines until sometime in the 70s.

The two Cabs from '68 should be interesting, I would imagine, as well as the '70 Louis Martini Cab. They'll be a litle tired, but there's probably still some flavor there. Assuming they've been stored properly.