Questionable storage practices at wine stores

Yes. I am leary about any wine that has stood upright and at room temperature for several years. I've seen it in good stores and bad -- like seeing a delicious '94 or '95 Cabernet that has been collecting dust for 5 years or so. The bottle HAS to have some age/spoilage on it.

It's alcohol abuse, really.

RRV

So, brocolli, Mother says you're very good for me. Well, I'm afraid I'm no good for you!

It would bother me. It's the one of the two main resons I'd recommend spending as much as you possibly can the first couple of years when starting a wine colection. Buy recent releases and lay them down to age. Also buy some wines for early consumption so your agers can reach maturity. This way, you'll know all your wines have been stored well. The other reason is that as time goes by, these wines will be considerably more expensive

Just one more sip.

Yes, it bothers me. In the long run it is much cheaper to pay the prices of quality wine merchants than to buy wine at discounted prices that has been on the floor for 2 to 5 years. I drank one of my last questionable purchases over the Christmas Holiday, a bottle of '94 Beringer Private Reserve, bought on grocery store closeout. It went down the drain. I learned this lesson many times when I was just getting into collecting and I don't make these gambles any more.

Ooh, this irks me. I recently saw a nice collection at a Big Bear grocery store here that had the idiotic locked display case w/ all of the wines standing straight up. I'm sure they had all been there for at least 2 years. The lot included:

- 1999 Pine Ridge SLD Cab (5x)
- 1998 Mouton (3x)
- 1997 d'Yquem (3x)
- 1995 Beringer PR Cab (3x)
- 1997 Beaulieu GDL PR (5x)
- 1996 Haut-Brion (2x)

I will not bother to type the rest... there was some Diamond Creek, Lafite, Krug, etc. Stores like this make me so angry... I'm sure every one of those corks were dried and crumpled inside the bottles. The store was at least 70 degrees.

I see this even in the shops that I frequent. WHY DO YOU DO THIS!?!?!?! Do they wonder why nobody bothers to purchase these good wines, at good prices? Sure, if you're throwing up a bunch of '02 Sauv Blancs that will be gone in 2 weeks... FINE! But your high-end cali cabs, bordeauxs, italians... HELLO!!!!

I completely agree with Board-O. Even if you are tight for cash (speaking!), the less time that bottle spends in the wine shop, the better it will be when you pop it down the road.

For any retailers reading... especially in the Columbus area... PLEASE STOP w/ the upright crap!! We can read capsules and signs! We do have the physical strength to pull that heavy .750 mL bottle of wine out of the rack to look at the label!! PLEASE STOP!!! Especially with the older bottles... such a dumb idea. Get them low to the ground and on their side, unless you want some very expensive upright decorative bottles on the top of your store racks.

Sorry... touchy subject.

LJ

"Drink up, me hardies, YO HO!"

Parkside Church

Griffin House

I once inquired on the wine storage in a shop in St.Emilion, where I saw a 1964 Canon de la Gaffeliere (or was it Chateau Gaffeliere) together with a few other lofty names standing upright in the doorway of the establishment directly in the sun. It was 32 C (90 F)in the shade that day. Imagine those bottles moving from doorway and sun to cellar and dark every day since before I was born...

I was kindly asked to leave the establishment.