How much is it worth

[weeper1]

My mother gave me a bottle of wine when my daughter was born. I am to sell it when she goes to college which will be in a couple years. Can you tell me how much a bottle of 1978 Grand Vin de Chateau Latour?

[mrdutton]

There are printed guides and there are online web sites that might help you. One place to check would be Sotheby's. Another might be Wine Spectator.

Usually selling a single bottle of wine can be difficult and you might not get a good price for it. Fine wine is usually sold in case lots either at auction or through private sales.

Wine Spectator says the following about the 1978 wine from a 1997 tasting: An old-style wine, with hard tannins and ripe, slightly raisiny flavors. The mineral, cigar box and mint notes are appealing, but the wine is still quite tough. Drink now or hold; it may soften.--Latour vertical.

The official web site for Chateau Latour says about the 1978:

At the first tastings, colour, aroma, gras body and vinosité all confirmed the excellent quality.

Today (1997), the colour is hardly showing some signs of maturation. It has a very "Cabernet Sauvignon" personality, with an original truffle-black olives bouquet, and a very concentrated, powerful and rich mouth with a long back-bone and a firm finish. Still a little masculine. Should improve in the next 5 years with tannins smoothening up as it is already the case for the Forts de Latour.

Quality : Great year

Why would you want to sell the wine? Celebrate your daughter's graduation from high school and transition to college in a grand style. Or save the wine until her graduation from college. Both are significant life-time accomplishments worth a special celebration.

Assuming that the wine has been properly stored all these years, I might suggest you drink it during a fine dinner with your daughter. Prepare some roast beef/prime rib, roast potatoes, haricot verts (fancy green beans), a salad of spring greens with a nice vinaigrette and some jus from the pan and, of course, the Chateau Latour. But just in case the wine is not good, have a back-up bottle on hand.

Check with your local wine merchant for suggestions and buy a nice bottle of 2nd or 3rd growth bordeaux to "back-up" the Chateau Latour.

For serving the wine, Chateau Latour suggests the following:

For service, keep the bottle vertical at least half a day to settle the sediments at the bottom of the bottle. Then slowly pour the wine into a decanter in order to get rid of these sediments, keep in the decanter for at least 1 hour for aeration (1/2 hour for the Forts de Latour) and serve.

I have not answered your question directly, but I hope the information I've provided helps you a bit.