some recent finds

[bartender514]

I found a couple bottles of wine at my parents house that they've had for quite some time. They're not wine drinkers so I thought I'd take them off thier hands. I'm sure they're nothing spectacular seeing how they're pretty old but I was wondering if they would be worth opening or whether or not they may have spoiled. From my knowledge they've been stored on their side and theres no visible sedement. Here's what the labels say:

Rose of California
The Wine Cellers of Ernest and Julio Gallo
Reserve
Vintage 1979


The next was a gift brought back from fance so it's all in french:

Bourgogne Rouge 1988
Appellation Bourgogne Controlee
Ce vin selectionne en 1990 par les Jures-Gourmets de la Confrerie des Chevaliers du Castevia a ete eleve et mis en bouteille par Honore Lavigne negociant-eleveur a nuits-saint-georges (cote-d'or) france


That's everything on the front label. Hopefully somebody knows French better than me.

[Innkeeper]

Hi Bartender, and welcome to the Wine Board. You are right. The rose' is an easy drinker that would have lasted a year or three. The Bordeaux is an inexpensive bottling from a "negociant" named Honore Lavigne. It may be drinkable, but I would try it alone or with one who understood what was going on. Do not try to pop it at a special event under any circumstances.

[wdonovan]

If what you have is really a Bordeaux from Nuits-St-George, it could be a very valuable bottle. As far as I know there were only two bottles produced and apparently, InnKeeper has the other one. I never saw a vineyard in the Cote d'Or with Bordeaux grapes but if it was smaller than, say a Chevy, it might have escaped me. <LOL>

[Innkeeper]

Excuse me it is a Burgundy and not a Bordeaux. The rest of my comments hold.