Please help !! Questions about gifting wine

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HenryNZ

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#243371 8-Dec-2018 14:55

My wife and I do not drink, but we keep getting wine and champagne for various reasons. Over the last couple years we have collected about 9 bottles.

We do not want to waste them, so we would like to re-gift them to others. However, as we know nothing about wine / champagne, we would just like to find out how much they are worth and whether any one of these are actually expired (not sure if alcohol can expire...). Basically we do not want to offend any one by giving them the wrong stuff, or too cheap stuff or ones that have actually gone off... We would also like to match the wine value appropriately to the recipients.

They are (I am just copying what's written on the front labels):

Man O' War Warspite 2012 from Ponui Island

Amisfield Pinot Noir 2014 Central Otago

Julicher Martinborough Pinot Noir 2013

Domaine De La Renjarde 2011 Massif D'U Chaux Cotes Du Rhone Willages

Le Pigeoulet Selon Frederic & Daniel Brunier Vaucluse 2014

Champagne Boizel Brut Reserve France

Champagne Gatinois Ay Grand Cru Brut Tradition France

Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz 2016

Esk Valley Gimblett Gravels Hawkes bay Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec 2015

Rikkitic

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#2141702 8-Dec-2018 18:07

Just use Google. For example, the first wine at the top of your list takes you to a wine seller with information about the wine. Note the year. Apparently it is hard to find and is priced at $60 a bottle. Price is no guarantee of quality, but if you don't have any other information, it can be a useful rough guide. Anyone who received a $60 bottle of wine as a gift would not feel hard done by. Most wines $20-$30 would be considered perfectly acceptable.

If you don't know anything else, the vintage (age) can also serve as a rough guide. Look up the wine and vintage and you are bound to find plenty of information about it.

Wines can go off, but as a rule they don't expire as such. In general, older is better. Wines sold in supermarkets and the like are usually from the current vintage or, at best, the previous year. These can be perfectly good, even excellent, but usually won't be regarded as fine wines, which improve with age.

Someone else may be able to add more. I am in no way a wine expert, not even a little bit, but I have picked up one or two things from much more knowledgeable friends. This is my understanding.

Again, just use Google. Usually you can find reviews of most wines which can give you good indications.

p.s.: Any French champagne that says both French and Champagne on the label is going to be good, as well as expensive, since these terms are protected.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

gehenna

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#2141705 8-Dec-2018 18:23

Amisfield pinot is excellent. 2014 was great and probably cellars for a couple more years.

jpoc

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#2142284 10-Dec-2018 08:44

On the age of wine:

Not all wine improves with age.

Most wine sold in NZ supermarkets is sold ready to drink and will not improve over time.

Wine that should be laid down for some years is generally available from specialist stores or from cellar door outlets.

While wine does not deteriorate in the same way as milk or bread, it will lose quality if incorrectly stored. Keep a bottle of wine on a shelf in the kitchen where it is at room temperature and exposed to light and it will go downhill. This affects red wine more than it affects white wine which, for example, is why red wine is normally sold in dark glass bottles.

Champagne is subject to a final processing stage known as disgorging shortly before it is sold at retail. This is to remove dead yeast from the bottle and to top it up with a sugar solution so that there will be a further fermentation to give the wine its fizz. Champagne is thus best drunk fresh. Of course, you will see offers for very old Champagne but it will be marked as 'RD' to indicate that it has been recently disgorged.

jonathan18

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#2142330 10-Dec-2018 09:28

jpoc:

Most wine sold in NZ supermarkets is sold ready to drink and will not improve over time.

I think that needs statement needs a bit more nuance, as it is somewhat varietal-dependent.

I can't remember the actual statistic, but the average length of time between a bottle of wine being bought from a supermarket and consumed is incredibly short. But I think that more reflects the way people purchase wine (for near-immediate consumption) than the suitability of a wine to cellar well.

I agree that much supermarket wine is sold RTD - especially given the popularity of drink-young wines like sauvignon blanc, but that's not to say many of the wines they sell wouldn't benefit from some (or a good amount of) cellaring. However, it's rare to find those wines that benefit from a bit of aging being sold at anything other than a year or two old.

Even a number of white varieties - eg gewurtz, riesling, chardonnay - will often benefit from being cellared for a while, and doing so can provide you with a much more interesting wine at a relatively low entry point (eg, buy a moderately-priced and suitable riesling, cellar it for a number of years, and reap the rewards... noting the points in the post above about ensuring it's cellared appropriately!)

jpoc

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#2142590 10-Dec-2018 14:58

jonathan18:

I can't remember the actual statistic, but the average length of time between a bottle of wine being bought from a supermarket and consumed is incredibly short.

I have seen a figure quoted in the HZH and it shocked me.

20 minutes.

Of course that impacts the willingness of supermarkets here to stock wine that will improve over time but it also impacts on the nature of the wine that is on offer.

If you go and buy something like a first growth Cru Classe Bordeaux, even when it is ready to drink at its best, it needs to be opened and allowed to reach room temperature and breath (oxidise) for a couple of hours before being ready to drink.

The wine that you will find in the supermarket here is sold already pre-oxidised enough to be drinkable (if not at it's best) as soon as the bottle is opened.

This varies around the world. Go to a French supermarket and buy wine in plastic bottles for less than two dollars a bottle and it still needs to be opened a couple of hours before being drunk in order to reach its best. French consumers are expected to know this and that impacts on the wine that is sold there.