Old red wine
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Discussion

Robbo 27

Original Poster:

4,196 posts

125 months

Monday 25th December 2017
quotequote all
Clearing out the home of an old relative and have found that they stored dozens of bottles of red wine, all laid down on racks.

Many if not most of the wines are pre 2000.

Nothing very exciting, mainly Merlots, Cab Sauv etc, and 90% are reds.

My wife has done some research and that says that most wines of this standard will not be fit to drink after 2 years, she is more concerned about becoming ill than the wine not being at its best.

She says to throw the lot away.

We are not big wine drinkers at all, perhaps a bottle a year at that, the few sparkling wines we are happy to keep but would appreciate your thoughts on keeping, throwing or what?

Pity there isnt an ebay for wine.

NDA

25,206 posts

251 months

Monday 25th December 2017
quotequote all
Have they been stored away from central heating etc?

There might be some good ones there - are there too many to list?

FredericRobinson

4,837 posts

258 months

Monday 25th December 2017
quotequote all
They won't make anyone ill, if they're off you'll be able to taste it straight away, may as well crack them open, nowt to loose.

Robbo 27

Original Poster:

4,196 posts

125 months

Monday 25th December 2017
quotequote all
NDA said:
Have they been stored away from central heating etc?

There might be some good ones there - are there too many to list?
Stored in a cool cellar, no heating but hasnt frozen either.

I have looked through, couldnt see anything like Chateau Neuf du Pape or great names, I suspect that they were under £10 a bottle when new, they were not the sort to spend big money on wine.



hyperblue

2,871 posts

206 months

Monday 25th December 2017
quotequote all
You could use an app like Vivino as a guide to see if they’re any good.

It can take a photo of the label and give you a rough value.

Robbo 27

Original Poster:

4,196 posts

125 months

Monday 25th December 2017
quotequote all
Thanks for the information, Vivino is a new name to me I will take a look.

NDA

25,206 posts

251 months

Monday 25th December 2017
quotequote all
As above, it won't kill you to try them and you'll know straight away if they're off.

If they're all cheap wines, then it's highly likely that they'll be a bit rubbish.

The good years are listed here in order - you might want to see if you have an ordinary bottle from a great vintage.

https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-topics/b...

BoRED S2upid

21,018 posts

266 months

Monday 25th December 2017
quotequote all
FredericRobinson said:
They won't make anyone ill, if they're off you'll be able to taste it straight away, may as well crack them open, nowt to loose.
This or send them down here 🍾

magooagain

12,870 posts

196 months

Tuesday 26th December 2017
quotequote all
Get hold of a still and distill it twice. Voila! Eau de vie the main ingredient of cognac.

You can the flavor with stuff like cassis or peach syrop etc, then decant into small bottles.

rsbmw

3,466 posts

131 months

Wednesday 27th December 2017
quotequote all
Worst case scenario, you have loads of red wine vinegar!