Hi r/wine, my girlfriend inherited some old French wines. They've been in a very damp cellar for a long while and I had a look at them all last week. They could all be totally gone or from a quick google they could be worth something. There are about twenty.
They are largely two different types: about 12 bottles of 1967 Chateau D'Assault which is a Saint-Emilion wine, and 5-6 bottles Gevrey-Chambertin from 1973 and 1974. The labels are so faded from the damp that I wasn't able to make out the domaine of the Gevrey-Chambertin.
You can see their visual condition from the photos: they have taken a beating from the damp, and in some cases the labels have fallen off entirely. Four or five of the bottles I could tell seem definitely gone - the colour of the wine is pale or the level is quite low inside the bottle. For most of the rest, the cork is sitting quite low in the neck but the colour is nice and dark and the level high, making me hope that the high humidity has actually helped preserve the wine even if it's ruined the label.
I like wine but am far from an expert - normally I can't afford even a regular bottle of nice Burgundy! There's a part of me that just wants to open one up and try it. But I might not be able to appreciate it as much as somebody who loves this stuff. On the other hand, I doubt there are any records or papers to show how it's been kept since it was bought, or to prove authenticity - so even if they're worth something in theory, I don't know whether anyone would actually be prepared to pay other than a nominal sum.
What would you do?
For 15 years, Athan Zafirov has traveled the vineyards around the world and worked with some of the greatest chefs including Francois Duc and Alan Brown.
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