Make a winelover's birthday wish come true!

April 9, 2008 10:36 AM

What can you tell me about buying one 1978 vintage wine?

My boyfriend is turning 30 this year and is getting very into wine and I want to buy him a single bottle of wine from his birth year.

Some factors:
- He likes big, juicy west coast reds (or french or italian).
- I like them too, but don't particularly like wines with a lot of tannins.
- I don't want to spend more than $300, but I do want it to be special.
- I am in MD (apparently you can't receive wine by mail in MD), he is in FL but has no way to receive wine by mail. I could probably have wine sent to a friend in DC or VA. With some more trouble I could possibly find someone to receive a bottle of wine for him in FL.
-I have looked at vintage charts, and it looks like california cabs were good in 1978, but I'm not sure what other options I'd have.
-We would drink this in the next month or so, so it only has to be good until about 2008. Some of the reviews of california cabs I read about sounded like they would have passed their peak by about 2005. Does that matter?
- I have tried good local wine shops but they've told me they don't carry wines like this and they wouldn't order me one bottle.
- How do I find out the history of the bottle - i.e. if it's been through a fire/flood etc. How concerned should I be about this?

General advice & resources about choosing older wines and then actually finding them and buying ones that are not spoiled would be appreciated as would very specific advice per my factors.

posted by n'muakolo to food & drink (8 comments total)

A quick google revealed this from the Krug Winery. I could not speculate about quality, but it is a respected winery. This is the search results for similar wines.

As for shipping, some liquor stores will order wines like this for you if the winery or distributor agrees.

There are exceptions of course, but the truth is that most wines (reds in particular) produced in the US are not designed to last this long. Since the big "boutique" wine boom of oh say 20 years ago, the rule of thumb for all but the really expensive Meritages or Bordeaux style blends is 7-10 years maximum to maturation. So says my buddy the winemaker. I would absolutely talk with the winemaker of wherever you decide to purchase a wine that old and ask all the questions you posed here. Unless you can see the wine and examine the cork, what you're doing is a little risky. Other than the smell (bouquet) of the wine, an easy test to see if its past its prime is to hold a glass to the light and look for the color of the wine right at the top. It should be full and evenly colored. If it looks kind of brown or amber in the light, its past its maturity and heading downhill - if it isnt there already.

Good luck.
posted by elendil71 at 11:26 AM on April 9

Pretty much any wine on this list:

http://www.winebid.com/buy_wine/browse_by_vintage.aspx?VintageYear=1978
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:38 AM on April 9

Provenance (how the bottle has been stored and cared for) is often difficult to establish. The winebid guys could be lying. It's a risk you take.

You may be able to find something at an upscale restaurant in LA. There are two Grand Award winners on Wine Spectators list. You could try going to one and speaking with the sommelier. They should be able to tell you where and when and how they acquired the bottles. Don't just look at the wine list--there will be other things. Ask to see the cellar. If you show interest, most sommeliers love to go on at length about their collections. Just make sure you show up when they aren't especially busy.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:42 AM on April 9

Here's an outfit in Brookline, Mass. that has a number of suitable 1978 bottles available in your price range. This is a very reputable shop, I've done business with them, called BLM Wine & Spirits. I would call them up and discuss the options; they have very knowledgeable help. They can tell you about the history of the bottles. And they'll ship wherever it's legal, which includes Virginia or DC.

I would guess that someone could suggest a DC or Baltimore store with similar offerings and reputation. But if not, you won't go wrong with BLM.

Happy birthday to the BF. If you have this wine shipped, don't forget to let it rest a good long while to let all that shook up sediment settle back down.
posted by beagle at 11:45 AM on April 9

You should be careful about shipping older wine at all, unless you are sure that it is not going to be exposed to a high temperature. It's probably already too late in the year to ship it to Florida, anyway.

A local store is your best bet for making sure that something is in good shape, has established provenance and is unlikely to have been otherwise mistreated (i.e. not stored in appropriate conditions) in a way that would not be visible.
posted by iknowizbirfmark at 12:48 PM on April 9

No wine expert I, but after studying my friend's extensive tasting notes archive I can offer these Best of 1978 Reds. If only money was no object I could have offered one of her rare 20/20 wines, a 1978 Dom. de la Romanee Conti but at over 10,000 USD doesn't meet criteria.

I've take a few liberties with your budget (most of the following are over) but most of the high scoring wines in the list I produced were well over $1000. Hope it offers some inspiration

Shafer, Cabernet Sauvignon 1978
Very deep, healthy look with just some evolution at the rim. Extraordinary depth of colour. Very full and youthful nose. Sweet start. Very, very concentrated. Ripe. Inky end. Slightly rusty nails. Very lively. Gentle

Ch La Tour Haut-Brion 1978
Fresh fruit that definitely overwhelms the tannins. More fruit in this than in the 1975. Very pure, fresh and lively after 90 minutes in the glass.

1978 Lafite Rothschild Pauillac
Quite respectable. Mid palate is mouthfilling.

San Guido, Sassicaia 1978
Mature, thick and lots of sediment. Definite old nose. Healthy sheen. Old and meaty. Lots of amazing fruit despite age. Drying, but impressive. Good core of fruit.

Marchesi Antinori, Solaia 1978
Slightly minty nose, but very lively. Sweet and rich. Stands out. Well made.
posted by handybitesize at 12:50 PM on April 9

Sorry, looks like my link doesn't bring up the search results. Just type "1978" into the search box and they'll come up.
posted by beagle at 1:52 PM on April 9

I ended up buying a French red at Schneider's of Capitol Hill in DC, because they were very helpful. We're going to just drink it in DC - I'm not going to try and bring it to FL.
posted by n'muakolo at 7:11 PM on June 2