Closet treasures. Really?
Posted: 22:08 Wed 26 May 2010
I originally posted this on WS forum...
Now and then, we're asked by someone on our site to divulge the approximate value of an old bottle of port found in a closet. Or garage. Or safe deposit box.
Usually, the query goes like this: "I found an old bottle of old Salty Dog Port in my recently deceased grandfather's closet. Label says 1909 but it was never opened. Do you know how much it could be worth?"
Now, I'm all for finding treasures but I have a hard time believing anything that old was properly stored or handled correctly. For a one hundred year old bottle, it had to have been tossed around. Literally. Seepage, cork erosion, fluctuations of temperatures - these are some things that come to mind right off the bat.
And some brands are a total mystery to me.
But it got me to thinking.
Has anyone here ever found a treasure like this and opened it? Tried it? How'd it turn out?
Now and then, we're asked by someone on our site to divulge the approximate value of an old bottle of port found in a closet. Or garage. Or safe deposit box.
Usually, the query goes like this: "I found an old bottle of old Salty Dog Port in my recently deceased grandfather's closet. Label says 1909 but it was never opened. Do you know how much it could be worth?"
Now, I'm all for finding treasures but I have a hard time believing anything that old was properly stored or handled correctly. For a one hundred year old bottle, it had to have been tossed around. Literally. Seepage, cork erosion, fluctuations of temperatures - these are some things that come to mind right off the bat.
And some brands are a total mystery to me.
But it got me to thinking.
Has anyone here ever found a treasure like this and opened it? Tried it? How'd it turn out?