Wine Condition
Here are some notes for collectors who seek guidance about whether or not to buy a wine, not knowing from whence it came. Provenance is always a concern and what follows is comprehensive assistance in deciphering what a seller may use to describe a wine's condition.
WINE CONDITION Small variations in a bottle's quality are to be expected; it's a subjective art. A seller should inspect all bottles and describe their condition, applicable to age. General descriptions are:
Pristine - no significant visible fault can be found, representing far better condition than would be considered excellent for the age. This often indicates a recorked or reconditioned bottle among older vintages. Unless otherwise stated, this procedure has generally been done at or by the original producer. Common for bottles over 40 years of age, especially top Bordeaux, Yquem and Penfolds Grange. Viewed by many as an asset.
Excellent Condition - The fill level is commensurate with the wine's age (high to mid neck for a wine under 10 years, mid to lower neck at 10-20 years, top shoulder or better for over 20 years), no signs of seepage or a pushed cork, and a clean, intact label and capsule with no significant damage. For older bottles, a small degree of label and capsule discoloration may occur but won't detract from excellent condition.
Very Good Condition - Minor flaws (common when a bottle is part of a large lot), meaning one or two of the following: A fill level one step below expected for the bottle's age, or slight label or capsule with a small amount of damage like a small mark, tear or smudge, slight mildew, corrosion, loosening, moisture damage or wrinkling. An autograph is a good thing that may add to the wine's value. Any dispute about the condition of purchased wine must be received via fax or email within 24 hours of the time that the first delivery was attempted by the carrier. By not taking delivery on this date or not reporting the problem within this time frame, the purchaser waives all rights to wine condition, except breakage, and accepts the property in "As Is" condition. Tip: Provide a shipping address where someone over 21 can take delivery of your wine during normal business hours. Inspect it immediately. Let me know when you'll be out of town so I can hold your wine.
Fair Condition - occasionally used to indicate multiple significant flaws which, when taken together, indicate either quite a poor cosmetic specimen or one with a significant chance of internal damage.
FILL LEVELS:
MN - Mid neck fill - exceptionally stored, especially for wine over 10 years old. At 40 years or more, it was most likely recorked/reconditioned.
BN - Base neck fill - bottom of the neck, excellent storage; exceptional for bottles over 25 years. Many producers fill bottles at base neck or lower.
TS - Top shoulder fill - just down below base neck, standard fill for wines over 10 years; excellent for bottles over 25 years.
HS - High shoulder fill - a good fill for wines over 25 years.
US - Upper shoulder fill - just above the midpoint of the shoulder. Also referred to as HTMS (high to mid shoulder). Common for wines over 40 years. For younger bottles, this may indicate storage problems.
MS - Mid shoulder fill - about the midpoint of the shoulder. Not unusual for wines over 40 years, but suggests poor storage condition or early signs of cork failure. Significant risk of undrinkability.
LS - Low shoulder (and below) - below the midpoint. Often an indicator of poor storage conditions and/or an undrinkable wine. Not normally recommended for consumption.
BS - Below Shoulder -Rarely seen; fill is below the shoulder into the main cylindrical section of the bottle. Probably drinkable.
BC - Below cork. For Burgundy bottles and others (like Haut Brion) that have no clearly defined shoulders, fills may be indicated by the number of inches between the bottom of the cork and the fill level. Generally only used to indicate an uncommonly good or bad fill relative to the age.
CAPSULE CONDITION:
BWC, CWC - Broken wax capsule, chipped/cracked wax capsule. For bottles closed with a wax capsule (notably Leroy, Dunn, Sine Qua Non, Ports and large formats) this is very commonly. This doesn't indicate poor storage conditions but indicates a cosmetic flaw.
RWC - Rewaxed capsule; an obvious replacement or patching of a lost or damaged capsule. Sometimes done by sellers to enhance safe travel, protect an exposed cork or to improveappearance.
DCC - Discolored capsule - due to abrasion or external exposure to moisture.
NC - Nicked capsule - capsule has a modest cut or tear
TC - Torn or trimmed capsule - a significant portion of the capsule below the neck flange is damaged or missing. This is commonly done on purpose with high value bottles to inspect the cork and is not considered a flaw!
CC - Corroded Capsule - May indicate some seepage, but common for wines over 25 years.
MC - Missing capsule - self-explanatory.
CORK CONDITION:
DC - Depressed Cork - sometimes indicates temperature variance at some point in a bottle's history, yet slightly depressed corks are often released as such by the winery.
PC - Protruding cork - same as above.
EC - Exposed cork - the entire capsule or just its top is gone. This may call into question the contents of the bottle.
SOS - Signs of Seepage. Signs that wine has leaked past the cork. May indicate poor storage or the early stages of cork failure, especially when taken together with other conditional problems such as a low fill. Many producers in Burgundy and Germany, as well as large format bottlers, often overfill, resulting in seepage or cork movement even in well-stored bottles.
LABEL CONDITION: Other than a wine stained label (which may indicate seepage) label damage is usually only a cosmetic fault and often a way to get a sound wine for less. In fact, many consider moisture or mildew stained labels to be an indication of damp but good storage conditions. Europeans in particular often regard 'old' looking bottles as immaterial or even an enhancement to value.
BSL - Bin stained label; moisture, mildew, water stains or marks from the storage environment.
GSL - Glue stained label - where obvious gluing has occurred.
WISL - Wine stained label. May indicate seepage.
CWISL - Cosmetic wine stained label - stained with external wine, perhaps due to proximity to a leaking or broken bottle. Of cosmetic concern only.
WRL - Writing on label. May be signed by a famous personality or one associated with the wine. Not a fault; may enhance the value of the bottle.
STL - Stained label. A label stained by ink, paint, dirt, or other foreign material.
FL - Faded label - self-explanatory
NL - Nicked label - one or more nicks, small tears, or small holes in the label.
SL - Scuffed label - self-explanatory
WL - Wrinkled label - self-explanatory
TL - Torn label - Significantly torn.
TAL or TATL - Tattered label; badly torn and/or missing significant portions.
NOL - No label. Identification is on the capsule, cork and/or secondary labels. Damage to the back label, neck label or importer tag is not normally considered when grading a bottle unless it calls into question the integrity or identification of the wine.
VALUATION: Some destructive factors of wine such as cork taint (TCA or trichloroanisole) and poor long-term storage may be undetectable until you open a bottle. I'll tell you what your wine is worth in today's market, to include the major auction houses and my network of distributors/wholesalers, collectors and private buyers. Since auction houses generally pay sellers 66-75% of recent hammer price (buyer's final price), charging auction premiums, shipping/appraisal, unsold lot and storage fees, the auction price winds up being on the high end.TASTING NOTES AND SCORES Wine descriptions and scores come from a variety of sources as indicated below. To comply with copyright law, only partial descriptions by noted critics are provided in most cases. For the full description, I strongly encourage you to either ask AcCELLARate or to go directly to the sources. While I always aim to get the most up-to-date description and score from the quoted source, I don't automatically keep up to date unless requested. If you discover a more recent description from a reviewer that I do not have, please let me know, or provide me with yours!
Key to reviewers:
AL: Alex Liddell - Madeira
AM: Allen Meadows - burghound.com
BTI: Beverage Tasting Institute - tastings.com
CC: Clive Coates - Grands Vins and Cote D'Or
GR: Gambero Rosso - gamberorosso.it
FWR: Fine Wine Review IWL: Insider's Wine Line (no longer published)
MB: Michael Broadbent - The Great Vintage Wine Book, Vintage Wine and Wine Vintages
RP: Robert Parker and Pierre Rovani - The Wine Advocate, Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide and erobertparker.com
RR: Riesling Report magazine - rieslingreport.com
ST: Stephen Tanzer - International Wine Cellar and internationalwinecellar.com
UWJ: Underground Wine Journal (no longer published)
PR: The Pinot Report
WE: Wine Enthusiast magazine and winemag.com
WS: Wine Spectator magazine and winespectator.com
W&S: Wine and Spirits magazine
These reviews and scores are provided as a courtesy, and while I do my best to corroborate the evidence, they're solely the opinions of the writers, and I can make no representation about the accuracy of the information. Never make a purchase decision purely on a score or a review, but if this influences your buying decisions, once again, I highly recommend that you go directly to the source. AcCELLARate is released from all responsibility for your purchases due to erroneous tasting notes or score information.