1983 Novitiate Red Diner Wine

[PhilipBawa]

Hello,

I was wondering if you could help me find out how much an unopened bottle of Novitiate Red Dinner wine (I was told 1983) was worth.

The Novitiate Winery was closed in 1985, was located in California, and run by Jesuit Priests who were allowed their winery through the prohibition as per their religeous stature.

It was given to me as a gift from a coworker who has just lost her husband.

Also, if you know of anyone who would like to purchase it for a fair price, I'll give my coworker a good percentage of the profit as she now is in need of funeral costs.

Thank you,

Philip Bawa

[Drew]

Welcome, Philip.
I did a little research and discovered that the winery was originally built to produce sacramental wines. The Novitiate winery grew a number of fine wine varieties. The winery is now owned by Testarossa Vineyards. 1983 was an average year for California wines showing much irregularity in quality, according to my references, also the Novitiates were not known to produce quality wines. Your wine, even given pristine provenance, is probably not drinkable and it's only value might be as an oddity collectable to someone. You might try ebay but I have no price reference point to suggest. My sense is it has little to no value. Go to the below link and scroll down to Testarossa and you'll see a Novitiate winery label.
http://www.weimax.com/cal2.htm

Drew



[This message has been edited by Drew (edited 12-27-2003).]

[PhilipBawa]

Thanks for the insite, but I hope you're wrong...an undrinkable wine!

I am sure of the Testarossa Wineyard though, and the original site of the winery is still in use under a different name...

I was also under the impression of the wine being a nostalgic collectors item and I thank you once again for the insite.

Philip Bawa

[winoweenie]

Hi Phillip and welcome to the board. Hate to say it but Drew has given you a correst assesment of the wine. Sacremental wines were produced to be drunk early so this wine, even under ideaal storage conditions, is past even good vinegar.WW

[PhilipBawa]

Hey now,

This is getting personal...let's do a little research, find someone who has actually tasted this marvel of my prizes, and see what this individual has to offer us.

Novitiate Red Dinner Wine (1983)

Philip Bawa

[Kcwhippet]

What part of the old Novitiate Winery did Testarossa actually purchase, Drew? We've been a few times over the past few years to the actual Novitiate Winery and it's now the Mirassou sparkling wine facility. Mirassou may actually be making some still wines there as well since Gallo bought their old facility on Aborn Road and renamed it La Rochelle.

Philip,

Any Novitiate wine is long since dead. Besides their sacramental wines, they also made some commercial wines. However, as Drew and Winoweenie have mentioned their wines were not of the best quality. They were made to be drunk young by people who weren't really all that knowledgeable about wine, because they were made with a touch of residual sugar to appeal to non-wine drinkers. So, the weren't the best wines to begin with and 1983 wasn't that good a year, and taking that all together means that the the wine has no real value. It's possible you might find someone on Ebay looking to fill a vertical of Novitiate or someone who has a soft spot for something from an old memory. With any luck you may get about $25 or $30, but it's really not worth anything more, and it's nothing personal. That's just the way it is. If you find anyone who has tasted this particular wine and found it a drinkable wine, I can guarantee it was about 15 to 18 years ago, not recently.

[PhilipBawa]

The new winery, I read, is owned by one Robert(?) Jensen and I believe it's still there, but this is all news I've been catching glimpses of on the net today...

Philip

Ever heard of Electric Raindeer Wines...?

[Drew]

I don't know for sure, KC but Testarossa Vineyards does make their claim on their website at http://www.testarossa.com/about/novitiate.shtml. But snooping around the net it seems that the Jesuits owned and acquired many acres of the hills around Los Gatos and reading between the lines it sounds like parcels were sold off. BTW, Philip, Testarossa claims the Jesuits produced 90% of their wines for sacramental use and having been an alter boy I can attest that the wines used during mass were not that palatable.(Now you know what we did after the priest left the sacristy) [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]. Yes Electric Reindeer wine, cute bottle...nasty stuff inside. What more could one want around the holidays? [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

Drew



[This message has been edited by Drew (edited 12-28-2003).]

[Kcwhippet]

Now I'm really confused about a lot of things going on here. It appears the Mirassou family sold their brand to Gallo back in the fall of 2001. Gallo got only the brand name and the current inventory, not any of the vineyards or facilities. The sixth generation of the Mirassou family went to work for Gallo to produce the "new" Mirassou wines up in Healdsburg. The fifth generation stayed at the old facility on Aborn Rd. and renamed the winery La Rochelle. So, it's the same people making the same wine from the same vineyards at the same facility, but under a new name. Incidentally, it's really difficult to find the name Mirassou associated with La Rochelle anywhere, ala Walter Taylor at Bully Hill. La Rochelle says they have another tasting room on College Ave in Los Gatos which is the Novitiate, but maybe they share space with Testarossa, because it turns out that the Jesuits still own all of the Novitiate. They only lease out the winery facility, first to Mirassou and now to Testarossa (and maybe part to La Rochelle). BTW, Philip, Rob Jensen is the owner of Testarossa. Be that as it may, the 1983 Novitiate wine only has value as a label curiosity, and my previous estimate may have been too high. The wine inside was never that good to begin with, and the years can not have been kind.

[winoweenie]

KC and Drew don't you love it when an admitted novice asks for an opinion and then argues with it? The public sees the prices of an old Lafite and visions of dollar signs jump in their head when they get hold of an old bottle of plonk. SHEESH! WW [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

[PhilipBawa]

That the Testarossa grounds is still owned by the Jesuits I didn't know...
About the Sacramental Wines I did not know.
About the taste of something I'm allowed to taste made 20 years ago, I've never done.
The reason for my inquiry was to help a lady, a coworker who had lost her husband a month ago, yet was unselfish enough to give me a bottle of what she knows would be a gesture of friendship and sorrow (this was her husbands wine from their wine cellar).
Thank you for the gain and the loss yourselves, and if you have any other questions, make them soon, tonight I'll end this conversation.

Thank you for your patience with a novice wine drinker.

Philip Bawa

[Drew]

Philip, please, there's no need to take this personnaly. If you truly believe that the wine was given as a gesture of friendship then accept it as so, pop it, and discover for yourself. The reward was the gesture and not the contents, no matter their condition. This bottle will not fetch any significant amount of money. If your friend needs money for funeral expenses, donate what you will to help but tell her the wine was delicious...she probably would want to think you enjoyed the wine.

Drew