1928 & 1959 Bordeaux Wine Bottles
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APPRAISER:
Yeah, that's fun. You know how long I've been waiting to do wine on Antiques Roadshow?
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
A long time. I love wine, and you brought in a couple of fine bottles. So the shape of the bottle, it's called a capsule shape, and that is typical of Bordeaux. If you think of Burgundy wines, they have more of a tapering neck. That's a different type of grape, Pinot noir. But Bordeaux-- Cabernet and Merlot is the primary grape of Bordeaux. So they're both from Bordeaux, they're both from the best estates in Bordeaux. They're called first growths, which means, out of all the wines in Bordeaux, five are selected to be first growths, and you've got two of the five first-growth wines. So much of wine is driven by year, as well, and '59 and '28 were both really good years. The one word of caution is, I could tell you, on one hand, that the wine in the bottle could be good, but the way it's stored and what's in there now is always a mystery to us. And one thing that I look for-- I look for several things, actually. Number one, very often, there will be leakage through the capsule. There's no leakage under these capsules, so that's a good sign. Number two, though, is the fill level. And if you look at the wine over here, you'll see. This is called a shoulder fill level. This is a higher shoulder fill level, okay? The lower the fill level, it means, over the years, if they've not been recorked and changed, wine evaporates, air gets in. And air is your friend once you open the bottle to drink it. It's your enemy beforehand, it compromises the wine. I would say this one has a pretty good chance of still being good, although it's getting there. This one, being a 1928, I'm not sure if the wine in that... Have you, did you drink any of the three you brought over? Time to crack one, you've got a perfectly good excuse for it. '59 Lafite in mint condition is probably about a $1,000 to $1,500 bottle of wine. And a '28 Mouton Rothschild, which is a fabulous wine, if it's in, if it's still in good condition, you're probably still looking at about $1,500 to $2,000 for that bottle of wine. These are really super wines, so thank you very much. It's great to see these. When you open them up, can I come to the house?
GUEST:
Absolutely.
APPRAISER:
Don't mind inviting myself.
GUEST:
Lousy cook, but good wine.
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