Inherited Wines

Hello Wine Lovers,

While looking through a rarely used cabinet in her house, my mother recently discovered a few shelves of wine that she and my father had inherited and then forgotten about. We started pulling the bottles off the shelf and Googling the labels to see if any were still good and/or valuable. This ended up being harder than we anticipated, partly because we had no idea where to start, and partly because my French is pretty rusty. So I was hoping that if I listed a few labels, someone might see one they recognize and help me out. The wines are:

1975 Chateau Greysac - Cru Bourgeois - Appellation Medoc Controlee
1978 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - Clos de L'oratoire des Papes
1975 Chateau-Lascombes - Grand Cru Classe - Margaux

If anyone knows about these wines, or knows where I could look up some information about them, I would really appreciate the help.

Thanks!

~Michael

The Greysac is long gone. The Lascombes may still be holding if perfectly stored, but is well past its prime. 1975 was a horrid vintage for the S. Rhone and the CdP is long gone as well.

1975 Chateau Greysac - Cru Bourgeois - Appellation Medoc Controlee
1978 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - Clos de L'oratoire des Papes
1975 Chateau-Lascombes - Grand Cru Classe - Margauxl

The '75s you have are both from Bordeaux. That year in Bordeaux is legendary for the hard, long-lived wines it produced. Many '75 are only now becoming drinkable. I have no firsthand experience with either, but a Cellartracker user in '05 said that the Lascombes was still alilve and kicking. '78 was an outstanding year in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the Clos de L'Oratoire might still be quite interesting.

None of these wines will doing very well, however, if the storage conditions haven't been good. From the way you describe the cupboard, I suspect that the wines probably weren't kept terribly cool. As a result, they are almost certainly well over the hill.

However, no wine, no matter how ill-treated, will hurt you. So, why not open them and find out for yourself how they are? Just be prepared to find something that isn't very pleasant to drink and maybe have a "backup" bottle handy. If you do choose to open one, pour out a small amount immediately after opening and give it a smell. Wait 5 minutes and smell it again. If it seems better (less stinky or fruitier) you could very gently pour half the bottle into a different container (carafe or empty bottle) and then fill your glasses from that. It'd be a good idea to do this (it's called decanting) anyway, as the wines have almost certainly deposited sediment inside the bottle, and that's not very pleasant to drink.

Mark Lipton

Oops, misread the CdP date as 1975 -- as Mark says, 1978 was outstanding, and if your bottle was stored properly, it should still be drinking well. The Greysac is usually consumed young, and the 75 is history.

Michael, you have had some remarks about storage...if it has been good, or proper but this won't help if you don't know what is good, or what is proper. For long term storage the cooler the better and I would want nothing warmer than 55 degrees. In fact I would even have welcomed something a few degrees cooler.

But of course there is only one way to find out...