Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 14, 2006 Off The Vine Wine snooping doesn�t always result in a find Lorn Razzano Just a few days ago I received a call from someone wanting me to “evaluate” their wine cellar. This is sometimes a really fun thing to do, searching around cases of wine hoping to find a gem gleaming among the cases of slumbering wine. The romantic image of brick lined cellars with rows of wooden cases and wine racks filled with dusty bottles of wine from the mid-century is not quite the reality of wine cellar evaluation. More times than not, when I am asked to come to someone’s house to look at their “cellar” it turns out to be a few cardboard wine boxes under fifty shoe boxes in a dank closet. This kind of evaluation of personal wine cellars I call “wine snooping.” Let me share with you a few memorable wine snooping cases. My first call from a client came to me when I was about 25 years old and living in Northern California. The call was from a widow who knew nothing about wine but asked me to evaluate what her husband had collected over the years. I arrived at her house during a tremendous rain squall after work on a pitch black January evening. After a few minute formal meeting where she showed me the cellar under the house I went down the stairs and began to poke around a few stacks of wooden wine boxes filled with dusty bottles. After only a minute or so I began to hear a deep growl coming from a dark corner and saw, to my astonishment, a huge mix breed dog standing in the corner baring its teeth. This was a very angry animal and I was obviously trespassing on her turf. The widow had “forgotten” that “little Ginger” had slipped down the stairs some time before I had arrived. I made it up the stairs in the nick of time with the dog at my heels. The wines turned out to be very well stored — and overall, elegant collectibles — but the scare did not leave me for a long time. Another memorable wine snoop was to the cellar of a barn in the middle of the woods. An old duffer who had been a friend of my dad called and asked that I look at his wine “treasures” under the concrete slab of his barn. I drove around and around until I found the man’s farmhouse. We said our hellos and he showed me where on the floor of the barn to pull up the door to the cellar below. With some difficulty I lifted the heavy door and stepped down the wooden ladder to the floor below. Pulling a cord to a bare light bulb I saw before me about fifty cases of wine, all in very good condition. As per usual, I took out my note pad and began jotting down vintage dates and producers. After a couple of hours I was satisfied at what I had seen and went to the ladder. When I looked up I saw that the heavy door had been closed by the older gentleman. As hard as I tried I could barely lift the door. It was clear that I was trapped in this spider webbed root cellar under an ancient barn. Some three hours later the man arrived, opened the door and let me out. He had assumed that I was so “enthralled” by the wine collection that he was afraid to disturb me. Not all cellar visits are so bizarre, and do come up, from time to time, with some really fine discoveries. Remember, not all wine is destined to age well. If you think you have inherited some really rare find, the chances are that the wine might be old but not valuable for resale. Here is a great rule of thumb to find out if an older wine is valuable; check with the producer of the wine. Most wineries have an extensive “library” and have tasted older wines from time to time. This will enable the winery to tell you about the condition of the wine and a resale price you might receive for the wine. Wine shops are also a great resource with a client list that may include folks who would wish to purchase this wine from you. Well, there you have it! See you next time for more wine fun. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams