Was recently given this small bottle of wine after someone was cleaning out a cabinet. I dont know much about wine so i was wondering if anyone could educate me about this bottle. I've come across the winery on Google but haven't found any bottles that match this ones label.
There is alot of sediment in the bottle, Is it safe to drink?
Also should we drink it if it is or might it be worth something?
Thank you for the help!
by Butter-Pie
8 Comments
[deleted]
Yes it’s safe to drink. Store at around 55°f for a couple weeks with the bottle positioned upright. This will help the sediment settled to the bottom of the bottle. Slowly. Decant after opening with a Ahso wine opener. Enjoy.
Vin Santo is a sweet, more or less oxidatively made wine, this one quite obviously from Tuscany. Rather good. Some are fortified, others aren’t. The one you have is 17% ABV thus either fortified or fermented to ~15.5% and then aged for a very long time in an environment where water evaporated preferentially to ethanol, concentrating it – the labelling “Riserva” supports the latter notion.
While Vin Santo doesn’t age as well as nobly sweet wines (Sauternes, Tokaji Aszú, Quarts de Chaume, TBA Riesling, …) but it’s very hard to kill due to high alcohol and an already oxidative nature of the wine. The sediment is a consequence of the ageing in bottle and is not harmful at all. You can decant the wine to make sure you don’t serve the sediment, but you can also just pour carefully and make sure you don’t shake it up.
This is likely to be quite an interesting bottle. While aged for longer than it ideally should be it will still be rather interesting. Caramel/toffee/… and woody notes will dominate, likely with a bit of dried fruit. Likely a touch of wood varnish and/or sherried notes as well.
Worth something? Not really. An interested punter might give you £20 for it, if you find the right one. A wine shop might put it on sale for £60-75, but they’re a wine store with people interested in wine coming in all day and might not sell it for several months — and their bottles come from producers/importers/… not just someone’s cabinet.
Vin Santos tend to have higher alcohol and can take more abuse than average.
The good news is that nothing harmful happens in wine without making it smell or taste bad enough that would dissuade you from drinking any amount of it.
Open ‘er up!
It’s no Sutter Home, but it will do.
I’m sure this is a great bottle of wine
Oof. I didn’t look at the second photo. Stand it up for a couple of days when you plan to drink it. Then chill it standing up. Take the wine, open it (recommending and ah-so or Durand) and then pour into a decanter very slowly as to not disturb the sediment. You’ll end up leaving about 2 fingers worth in the bottle. If you adore it and don’t want to let anything go to waste pour that remaining amount into a second glass to allow to settle and take mini sips to not get the sediment or just go right at it. The sediment won’t hurt you.
I would give you $100 no joke