Value of old wine
One of our most frequently asked questions come from folks who've been holding a wine for many years, or recently inherited, found or were given a very old wine.
In many cases, sadly, older wines are past their prime or were never intended for aging. For more information on this, see our Questionary article on "Old wine: Is it still any good?"
If your older wine is a legitimate collectible, however, and if it has been stored under reasonably good conditions, it may have value. Although we're not equipped to appraise collectible wines on The Wine Lovers' Page, you can find good resources online.
For the quickest and best way to determine the current retail value of collectible wines, click to Wine-Searcher.com. This worldwide reference is so complete that if you can't find your wine there, it probably means that there's no market for it.
The Chicago Wine Co., a wine-auction house, publishes the "hammer prices" of all the wines it sells at auction, and this is a good way to what other wines similar to yours have commanded in recent sales. Check its Website at www.tcwc.com and, once there, click on "hammer prices" and then on the vintage of your specific wine for a complete list of sales prices for wines from that year.
