how to buy wine safely on ebay

How to Buy Wine Safely on eBay, Craigslist, and Other User-Driven Websites

MENTIONED IN THIS POST: –Robert Mondavi Winery –Silver Oak Cellers –Chateau Pichon Lalande –Chateau Cheval Blanc  A Wine Berserkers forum member once considered buying a mixed case of 1970s and 1980s California and French wine, including some Robert Mondavi, Silver Oak, and Pichon-Lalande. The only potential problem that this forum member noticed was that the…

Read more

How to Protect Wine Provenance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Tracing Your Wine’s History

Collectors often assume that a wine’s provenance doesn’t matter once they’ve bought their bottles and stowed them away in their cellars. This might be true if they only plan on drinking the wine, but if they want to resell the bottle later, the wine’s provenance still has a long way to go. I’ve bought bottles…

Read more
tips for a successful wine auction purchase

Tips for a Successful Wine Auction Purchase: Look for the Red Flags Your Seller May Have Missed

Sometimes, sellers will put a bad wine case up for auction without realizing there’s anything wrong with it. Take premox for example; unless you open one of the bottles, it’s not immediately apparent when a case of wine has been impacted. A collector might naively invest in a vintage that’s notorious for premox problems, keep…

Read more
How to Avoid Buying Prematurely Oxidized Wines at Auction

How to Avoid Buying Prematurely Oxidized Wines at Auction

Premature oxidation (premox) catches even the most seasoned wine collectors by surprise, and it’s easy to accidentally invest in an oxidized case at auction. Collector Billy Grippo has an expansive collection containing several thousand bottles at a time, and even he’s fallen victim to premox wines. Grippo explains, “A lot of people put their wines…

Read more
2010 Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape

Hidden Gem of the Month: 2010 Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee da Capo Is Ready for a Popularity Boom

I often take for granted the fact that I am a relatively young collector. When I see that a wine will last 30 or more years in a cellar, I’m giddy with excitement; I know I’ll get to see that wine evolve completely and reach peak maturity. However, older collectors view these long-lived wines differently.…

Read more
identifying premature oxidation white burgundy

Identifying Premature Oxidation in Wines: The Flaw That Has the White Burgundy Market in an Uproar

Wine collector Billy Grippo opened his first premox bottle about eight years ago, when he was out to dinner with friends. He brought along a fantastic Leflaive 2002 Chevalier-Montrachet that he thought would be incredible in its old age, but when he poured the first glass, it looked nothing like the rich, straw-colored liquid he…

Read more