Quote Originally Posted by GRADS View Post
Hopefully those cabs were stored properly or they could be garbage. I have this one from 1969 that I'm afraid to open....looks nice in the bottle though.

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BTW......for the benefit of some others here (not directed at you GRADS) different wines age differently. I recently was able to try what was supposed to be one of the best wines/vintages of the 20th century a 1984 Chateau Lafitte Rothschild that a friend who collects wine purchased for well under $50 when it was first available in the late 80's......we were all so excited. A quick check on WineBid showed these bottles going for ~$4000 a bottle and reportedly selling for well over $10K a bottle at certain restaurants such as The French Laundry

We were having dinner at Press in Rutherford (I think). It all started when the sommelier went to open the wine when we arrived in order to decant it and let it open up before we were to drink it at dinner. We saw 6-7 people around the sommelier at a separate table taking a very long time opening the bottle making sure not to damage the cork.......it was a real scene with all these "wine people" all but paying homage to this wine bottle (Weird)

Fast forward an hour or so and the ritual begins....first the sommelier tastes it and provides his approval (not vinegar) then we all get a small taste as there were 6 of us at dinner.......bottom line was that this wine WAS NOT READY to be consumed.......it was still too "Young" believe it or not. Don't get me wrong the wine was OK but certainly nothing special that would be worth ~$1,000 a glass, at least not to me. Think about it though......almost 30 years old and it was still "Too Tight" to enjoy, not many things in this world can say that .

In any case different wine age differently.......very complex wines can take decades to be "Ready" to drink and can be in their prime for 20 or more years before they start to degrade......but even then can still be "Good" to drink for a while after that. Other red wines can we all but vinegar in 6-7 years.......even if stored properly if they are nothing more than fermented grape juice (wine snob slam here) so it really all "Just Depends" when it comes to wine and aging.