Wine cellar left by my uncle

[Jagjagjag]

I had an uncle who was very into wine and always trying to get me to learn more. I used to joke with him that I couldn't tell the difference between 3 buck chuck and the wines he would produce out of his basement and he joked back that he would leave me the contents of his wine cellar someday so I had better learn.

Sad to say that day has come, and I have moved the remains of his cellar to my house and I'm starting by trying to figure out what I have. I have been able to find some of them on the wine-searcher board, but I can't find others since I don't seem to even understand the rules for naming the different wines (mostly from France). Is there any interest here in helping me figure this out, if I would post pictures? It is mostly from the 50's to the 80's. Thanks!

[winoweenie]

Pictures that show the label clearly and the vintage date would be the biggest help. With those 2 things I'm sure between the 2 -- hundred of us we could give you some real help. WW

[Jagjagjag]

OK, cool. Here's the first picture. Many more to come. Saint-veran from 81 and Chateau Vray Croix de Gay from 82. Hopefully I figured out the pics correctly. Thanks.

[winoweenie]

Cool pics Jag. One more thing... in your pictures please show the cork area of the bottle; in other words the neck area of the bottle. From the looks of the labels your Unc had a very neat cellar..bye the bye if he had a fairly large cellar forget the photos for now that I've seen some just list the bottles and the quantity of each.. WW

[Jagjagjag]

[quote='winoweenie' pid='107548' dateline='1488936393']
Cool pics Jag. One more thing... in your pictures please show the cork area of the bottle; in other words the neck area of the bottle. From the looks of the labels your Unc had a very neat cellar..bye the bye if he had a fairly large cellar forget the photos for now that I've seen some just list the bottles and the quantity of each.. WW
[/quote]

Funny, I had the whole bottle shown in my original pic, but it didn't fit the max size so I trimmed out all but the labels. I don't have that many, just a few cases worth; he wasn't buying like he used to, and the newer stuff still in boxes went to a cousin. I got the older stuff since no one else was really interested. I've been a long time antique furniture collector and appreciate old things so these were of more interest to me anyway.

[Jagjagjag]

So can I ask why I can't find the saint-veran on wine-searcher? Is it kind of a generic from that region, which is why there is so little useful information on the label?

[winoweenie]

[quote='Jagjagjag' pid='107553' dateline='1489104918']
So can I ask why I can't find the saint-veran on wine-searcher? Is it kind of a generic from that region, which is why there is so little useful information on the label?
[/quote]

Hi Jag. St. Veran is the region the wine came from. Seems like Barre the negociant who cellared the wine has gone the way of the DoDo. I have a buddy that may have some idea of pricing. Mite just have to pop the cork on that sucker and Pray. WW Sorry but I got so wrapped up with the St. Veran I forgot to tell you that the 82 de Gay is selling in the 45-55 range which means that hummer is probably a dead soldier. It is a minor producer in Pomerol but on the other side if he had spent 70 bucks more he could have gotten a Petrus that would have been worth almost 4 grand. Wulda, Culda, Shulda. WW

[Jagjagjag]

No Petrus, but he did pretty well. Here's a pic of some I have multiples of.

[winoweenie]

Not sure the LaLouvrie can go that kind of distance but the Mouton is definately worth a bit of coin. WW

[Jagjagjag]

[quote='winoweenie' pid='107559' dateline='1489280593']
Not sure the LaLouvrie can go that kind of distance but the Mouton is definately worth a bit of coin. WW
[/quote]

I think its safe to say he bought what he liked, and he seemed to like that vintage of LaLouviere a lot since he put aside quite a few. He probably also held on to some of the older bottles for sentimental reasons. If you're looking for highest value, it's probably this one:

[winoweenie]

Gruaud is a very nice Chateau that is capable of producing some fine juice, maybe one of the best St. Julien estates, but not in the company of the 1st growths. The Mouton is still the best of the lot so far. WW

[Jagjagjag]

Sorry, meant to do the bottle next to it.

[winoweenie]

I must say Unc had a nose for the good stuff. If you are going to sell the juice I suggest you get in touch with the major Auction houses on both the West and East coasts. They will set the minimum bids for the bottles. When you get their estimates e me the bids and we can go over the pricing. Ww

[Jagjagjag]

Thank you sincerely for the offer. For now I'm going to just let it all sit in my cellar, except for a few that I'll drink for special occasions. I have a case of the La Louviere, and they're not that high value, so I opened a bottle last night. It was great!