I recently received about 120 bottles of wine from my relatives that I am storing in my cellar. The problem is that I am not sure of how well these vintages will have held up while they were being stored. All the bottles were kept in a proper wine cellar (but not turned every 6 months).

I am looking for some help figuring out which wines will still be in their prime and which are WAY over the hill!

Sorry for the super long post, but I would LOVE to get some feedback on which of these can be held onto for a bit and which I should start corking immediately before they degrade further...

BV 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Georges de Latour Private Reserve
BV 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Rutherford
Caymus 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Caymus 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection
Ceretto 1990 Barolo Bricco Rocche
Château Beychevelle 1989 St.-Julien
Château Latour 1993 Pauillac
Cosentino 1990 M. Coz Napa Valley
Codorniu 1990 Champagne
Diamond Creek 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Red Rock Terrace
Diamond Creek 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Gravelly Meadow
Diamond Creek 1989 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Volcanic Hill
Diamond Creek 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Volcanic Hill
Diamond Creek 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Red Rock Terrace
Diamond Creek 1988 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Gravelly Meadow
Diamond Creek 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Gravelly Meadow
Dunn 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Fattoria di Felsina 1995 Toscana Fontalloro
Gaja 1989 Barolo Sperss
Gaja 1996 Barbaresco
Geyser Peak 1987 Réserve Alexandre Alexander Valley Methusaleh
Geyser Peak 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County
King Estate 1993 Pinot Noir Oregon
Kistler 2000 Chardonnay Sonoma County Cuvée Cathleen
Klein 1991 Constantia
Lynsolence 2000 St.-Emilion
Luigi Dessilani 1985 Gattirara Riserva
M. Cosentino 2003 The Zin
Martin Ray 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Moët & Chandon 1988 Brut Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon
O'Brien 2006 Chardonnay
Piper-Heidsieck 1995 Brut Champagne
Robert Mondavi 1993 Chardonnay Napa Valley Reserve
Rombauer 1987 Le Meilleur du Chai Napa Valley
Rosemount 1994 Syrah McLaren Vale Balmoral
Robert Groffier 1993 Chambolle-Musigny Les Hauts-Doix
S. Anderson 1993 Brut Napa Valley
Silver Oak 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Santa Margherita 1995 Pinot Grigio
Sensi 1993 Brunello di Montalcino
Staglin Family 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon
Sterling 2003 Muscat
Veuve Clicquot 1983 Brut Champagne Gold Label Vintage Réserve
William Hill 2003 Chardonnay Napa Valley
Windsor 2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Thats a nice list of wine you've got there. I'm jealous of all that Diamond Creek. That 93 Latour should just be getting into its maturity, and according to RP should be good til 2025.

To clear up one matter first, I think that the turning every 6 months that you referred to must be some confusion with riddling, which is definitely NOT required (and is mostly discouraged) for wine storage. Which makes me want to ask the question, what constituted "kept in a proper wine cellar" for you?

As for your list of wines, it's rather long so instead of answering these for you I'll direct you to a site where you can look these up for yourself. Go to www.cellartracker.com, and click on "Add wine to my cellar" (note that you may need to create an account to do this, but it's free - unless you find your appreciation of the site leads you to donate to Eric ).

In the search box, enter the name of the wine and in the screen that comes up find your particular wine (multiple wines may come up depending on how much information you entered) and click on your vintage. Scroll down to see the drinking window that the CellarTracker users have entered.

This isn't perfect (frequently the entries err to the young side for ageable wines), but it should answer many of your questions. Good luck and watch out for the wine bug. It has a vicious bite!

I'm not familiar with all of those wines, but some that are likely to be past their prime are the 1990 Codorniu, the 1993 King Estate pinot noir, the 1993 S. Anderson Brut, the 1995 S.M. Pinot Grigio, and the 1983 Veuve Clicquot Brut. The 1988 Dom Perignon might still be very good, but will not get any better, so it should be opened soon. Also, the 1986 BV Rutherford is not as ageworthy as its big brother the Georges de Latour Private Reserve, so open the Rutherford soon.

You've got some nice drinking ahead of you. Time to get busy!

Great - I setup my Cellar Tracker. That is a nifty little site (and I donated to help him out!)

The drinkability report is pretty useful, there are still 20 or so wines that don't have age ranges on them, but at least I have a better feel for the order I need to drink them in.

Thanks a ton!

Djiran,

If there's a particular wine you have questions about and can't find the answer on Cellartracker, ask away. Just glancing down your list, assuming temp controlled storage, you don't have many that are over-the-hill and most should be drinking really well. Enjoy!

Yep, ditto. And, don't be afraid to ask over on the regular Wine Conversations board. There are some HUGE wine brains over there who rarely check out this Learn Wine section. There's usually a bit of flaming, but it's (mostly) in good fun and most folks there would find your collection pretty impressive (me included).

Djran-

Concurring what several others have already mentioned. Someone invested the time, money and passion to put together what is, mostly, a very nice collection of fine wine. To your benefit. Enjoy!

I agree that this is an interesting collection and I alwasy find it interesting when I run across a cellar where I haven't had the opportunity to try any of those wines.

The one that stood out as an odd duck to me was the 1995 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, although I enjoyed the reminder of one of grun's alter-egos (it's to die for!) whose posts have disappeared.