Older wine - is it any good? HELP!

[jfishel]

Hi there! I have a 1974 Barolo and I was wondering if it is drinkable and what the value might be. It was bottled in Italy by Poderi Scanavino Giovanni and imported by Joseph Victori Wines of Brooklyn. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks Much!

[Innkeeper]

A lot depends on how it has been stored over the years. As we frequently say around, the only way to know is to pop it. If you do, decant it very carefully.

[jfishel]

Thanks! What do you mean by decant very carefully??? I am very new to this!! Any chance this wine has value?

[Innkeeper]

Decanting in this case is because a wine that old will have a lot of sediment in the bottom. Particularly a Barolo. Set the bottle upright for a day before drinking. Then open very carefully without shaking the bottle if possible. Pour it into another vessel similar in shape to a wine bottle. Empty Almaden bottles work great as decanters. As soon a sediment appears in the neck stop pouring. If you want to save the little bit in the bottom, run it through a coffee filter.

Don't really know for sure if the wine is any good, much less how much value it has.



[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 02-06-2005).]

[hotwine]

What Innkeeper meant to say was "Open it very carefully without shaking the bottle". You don't want to disturb the sediment, which would give the wine a bitter taste. Pouring it gently will allow the sediment to remain in the bottle and avoid stirring it back up into the wine.

Thirty years isn't too long to hold a Barolo, as I understand it. But its condition would depend heavily on its storage over that period.

[winoweenie]

Hi Jfischel. The reason you haven't gotten an answer to the value of the wine is that it is an unknown producer. Single bottles from the greatest vineyards are not worth much as usually the seller has no proof of the storage conditions the bottles were held under, therefore there's no way to ascertain the condition of the wine. As has been stated 100s' of times on this board, just because a wine is old has NO relation to its' value. WW

[TheEngineer]

"Pour it into another vessel similar in shape to a wine bottle"

Is that why there are decanters that are long and tall versus the standard wide bottom flask shaped decanters?

[This message has been edited by TheEngineer (edited 02-06-2005).]

[hotwine]

The shape of the wide-bottomed decanters is derived from that of old ship's decanters; the wide bottom enhanced their stability on a rolling ship at sea. But that shape doesn't help at all in removing sediment from a wine.