How much is your wine worth?

Many of us hold onto bottles of wine hoping they will age well and increase as exponentially in value as they gather dust. How does one find the true value of their wine? The easiest way to find value of wine is to use a vintage chart which covers the general quality of wine, the growing season and also suggests when the wine will be at its best with a suggestion of 'drink' or 'hold'. From this chart you can also ascertain the region the wine was produced, the year and the score of the wines' character. Many vineyards/wine shops will provide you with the rating of the wine. Generally, the scoring is as follows:

95-100 Classic
90-94 Outstanding
85-89 Very Good
80-84 Good
75-79 Mediocre
50-74 Not recommend

The better the score on the wine, the more it will retail for. Classic wines will cost more because the production is limited while 'Very Good' and 'Good' rated wines come from grapes that are in abundance, bring the cost down. The price of wine is also based on the cost of making it. Dessert wine needs to be harvested at a different time and place than champagne thus the price difference for a 750 ml of champagne to 375 ml of 14% alcohol dessert wine can differ greatly. The dessert wine carries a higher level of alcohol percentage and must then be taxed at a higher rate. Ask your local wine shop to suggest a wine with your preferred rating and compare various wines in that caliber. The $10 bottle of wine you would never have picked up before, may rate higher than the $30 bottle you were going to purchase. Most value of a wine is located in its taste and aroma, ask to taste before you purchase.

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