Estate Sale Purchase

It would be quite interesting to see how a 23yo white zinfandel held up.... I am saving a 2000 Beaujolais Noveau for the very same reason :)

I have some old welches grape juice in the back of the fridge in case you'd like to try it too.

Steve, Hey now !

First I would go to a classification site like,

Then off to the vintage charts :

The 61 Leoville looks like the top dog, excellent year and a 2nd growth wine. There are 3 different chateau's with the Leoville name (it wasn't clear to me which you have) but all are 2nd growths and '62 was more than a decent yr.

'69 sucked ! You might try that one first, as far as the Fench wines go.

The '82's should be drinking well, it was a decent year. The whites, both Lichine's, (and for sure the white zin -GONE) are probably showing age but you never know. The French whites may have hung in there.

Another most excellent bottle will be the 75 Ch. Romer du Hayot (Sauternes). Our wine group opened a 84 Ch. d'Yquem, the top drawer Sauternes, never tasted anything like it.

The 2 Napa bottles: Beaulieu should be great, Cain may be peaked but hard to say, may be just fine as long as stored well.

HTH, Cheers, Bob

Hey yerself!

Thanks for the charts. I was having a helluva time tracking down charts that go back this far.

I hadn't read the fine print on the bottle. It's Leoville Las Cases

This is one I'm really looking forward to. Many years ago, musta been '84 or so, I took a tasting class on French wine at a night school offering at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. As an extra to the class, we all chipped in an extra $10 or so and shared a bottle of '75 (or maybe '76) d'Yquem, and that was one of the finest things I've ever drank.

Thanks again, Bob.

steve

You don't say who the producer is - but an '82 Kabinett ought to be almost dead by now. However, it will be drinkable - there is no danger trying it (I had a '64 Kabinett a couple of years ago and I'm still alive, which the wine wasn't... :-) But, you never know - it could still be good, especially if from a top class estate. Anders

Of the Clarets, the 82s should be good (providing the storage WAS adequate). The 76 and 81Gruaud Larose might be good, good producer but average years. The

With the exception of the 82 Giscours and Montrose, all the clarets should be consumed SOON. And most of the other wines sooner.

Tom Schellberg

On 25 Oct 2003 07:49:13 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Xyzsch) pounded on the keyboard until the following appeared:

Thanks Tom!

SM

Steve

As a followup, a group of us just had a tasting of five clarets last night (Sat), among which were the 81 Mouton and Latour. They are nice mature Bordeaux, with layers of subtle flavors. They do not have the ripe plummy flavors of the 82s, but are very elegant. Again, I recommend a lighter meat for the 81 Gruaud Larose, but I think the odds are in your favor on this one.

Note that my cellar is on the warm side (mid to upper 60s), yet these wines are still holding nicely.

Tom Schellberg