Death, Debt and Divorce. The unholy trinity that can help you to put together an interesting and inexpensive wine cellar at auction.

You don’t have to be a plutocrat bidding incredible sums for cases (or even bottles) of investment grade Bordeaux and Burgundy to take part in a wine auction. Because every auction will feature hundreds of affordable, interesting and even excellent lots that the rest of us can afford to bid on. And for this we can largely thank the three Ds of Death, Debt and Divorce.

In the case of Death, private collections that lie in dank cellars and dark cupboards are disposed of by the family of the deceased. Debt frequently causes successful businessmen to unload the wine collection they accumulated when the going was good. These guys often buy more wine than they can ever drink, sometimes without even knowing what they are buying. As for Divorce, why shouldn’t it be you who ends up with the wine when the assets are split?

(Of course, Death, Debt and Divorce, or combinations thereof, can also ensue from buying rather too much wine at auction, but we need not dwell on that).

Another reason why auctions are a good hunting ground is that many lots come from shops and merchants who send perfectly good wines to auction because they need to free up space in their premises. Many of these wines will be hitting their optimum drinking window as you catch the eye of the auctioneer.

Bargains galore

Much of my cellar – such as it is – has been sourced in this way. Where else could I have picked up a few bottles of the mercurial Marc Tempé’s 1999 Mambourg Vendage Tardive for just £9 per bottle (including commission)? Or three bottles of ageless 1989 Domaine la Roquette for £20 each? Or, to go up a level or two, a 12-bottle case of Tardieu-Laurent’s better cuvees from 2004 for half the market price? And just recently I bought a mixed case of 12 different bottles of Bordeaux going back to 1961 for less than £10 a bottle including commission. Thus far, all the bottles have been very good.

Those are just a few of the gems I have taken home over the last 20 years and I would encourage anyone to negotiate the risks, rituals and rewards of wine auctions. However, I have made my share of mistakes and I often see the over-optimistic and under-researched spending good money on bad lots. So, how does one go about walking away with excellent low- to mid-priced lots alongside one or two more expensive bottles?

Online or on-site?

There are wine auctions taking place all over the world on any given day, and they all allow you to bid online. The catalogues are available to download in advance and you can often continue to bid on unsold lots for some days after the official auction date. However, it is not cost-effective to have low- or mid-level purchases shipped from the other side of the world. And for all the wonders of the internet I much prefer to attend the auction in person. It makes for a very civilised day out and you can sample some of the wines in the pre-tasting. Even better, I know of at least one auction house that supplies you with complimentary food and wine all day, Las Vegas-style.

The catalogue

The auction catalogue will provide a detailed description of the appearance of the wine and the condition of the capsule and label etc. Perhaps most importantly, the ullage will be noted as an indication of how much of the wine has evaporated over time. The general rule (or belief) here is that the lower the ullage (or ‘fill level’), the more likely it is that the wine will have deteriorated.

However, catalogue descriptions are by no means an infallible guide to the quality of the wine. Youngish bottles of excellent appearance from good producers can be poor, while ancient bottles that appear to have been rescued from a landfill site can be wonderful. All auction houses will allow you to inspect the goods prior to the auction. Ultimately, it’s a case of caveat emptor, although experience with different wine types and vintages will help you to make fewer mistakes over time and pick up that great case of 1980s Madiran that nobody else has spotted.

Do the research

Always do as much research as possible before deciding which lots to bid on, especially if you don’t have a deep knowledge of the producer and/or appellation pertaining to a specific lot. Prior to the auction I will spend a few hours consulting various books and websites, or friends who know more about a given wine than I do.

In this respect John Livingstone-Learmonth’s book The Wines Of The Northern Rhone is a remarkably accurate guide to the quality and drinking life of wines made 15 to 20 years ago. James Halliday is a good guide when it comes to Australian wine. Online forums such as Cellar Tracker can be useful although reviews are often contradictory, and standard references such as Robert Parker and Hugh Johnson help to build up a picture of whether or not to bid. Above all, I have spent many years attending blind tastings of old wines going back to the 1920s. This has given me a good knowledge of vintage Bordeaux, along with experience of older wines from the Rhone, Burgundy, Italy, Spain and elsewhere.

Maximising your chances

Your tastes will not be mine. However, having bought countless lots from around the world, vintages ranging from 1937 to 2015, and bottles priced from £4 pounds to £150, I can offer a few guidelines that will increase your odds of drinking happily, not spitting angrily.

Good value reds

Powerful, tannic reds from places like Madiran, Cahors, Puglia, and Portugal invariably remain drinkable and even wonderful for many decades. They are often available for just a few pounds per bottle.

At a slightly higher price level I have been investigating wines from some of the better Languedoc and Australian producers (particularly those under screwcap) from the early noughties, with very positive results. In principle, tannic reds from anywhere are usually worth a punt.

Good value whites

Obviously, dry whites tend to lack longevity, but Riesling is a glorious exception and you can usually find cheap lots of German wines from the 1980s and earlier that are still very nice to drink. Sweet whites can last forever but the more celebrated ones will be expensive. On the other hand, it is often possible to buy wonderful 1980s/90s late harvest Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer from Germany and Alsace, not to mention Coteaux du Layon, for next to nothing.

Burgundy

If it’s more than a few years old and affordable, beware. Even if it’s less than a few years old and affordable, beware. If it’s from a famous producer, beware. If it’s from a producer you’ve never heard of, beware. The debtor’s jails and psychiatric clinics are full of people whose dreams have been destroyed over many years of purchasing Burgundy at auction.

Do as much research as you can and, unless money is no object, restrict purchases to wines that are less than 10 years old for reds and even younger vintages for whites.

Rhone

Syrah from the Northern Rhone can remain in very good shape for 30 or 40 years, and can often be bought quite inexpensively. I will never forget a case of 1979 Gerin Cote-Rotie that only cost a few pounds per bottle. A recent bottle of 1983 Cornas from Delas was excellent, and you can usually rely on the better producers from across all appellations.

In the Southern Rhone good examples of Chateauneuf du Pape from good vintages can last for 50 years or more and be eminently affordable. They might even come in those woozy old CdP bottles. Elsewhere in this region, it is best to stick to more recent vintages unless you have specialized knowledge of certain producers from appellations such as Gigondas and Vacqueryas.

Bordeaux

There are very few bargains to be had but keep an eye out for right bank satellites from the last 15 years or so. In terms of very old vintages i.e. pre-1960, chateau that you’ve never heard of are just as likely to be drinkable as famous estates and can sometimes be bought for pennies. Dry Bordeaux whites can be fickle and often begin to fade after just a few years so caution and careful research are advised. The dessert wines from Sauternes, Barsac and their satellites last forever and you can find enjoyable bottles that are 50 years old for a few pounds.

Italy

It is possible to find good value Barolo and Barbaresco from less prestigious producers but stick to relatively recent vintages. That said, if you spot some ‘Spanne’ (an old local name for Nebbiolo) from the 1960s and it’s not too expensive, give it a go. Be very careful at all price levels in Tuscany as Sangiovese rarely ages well, although I encountered a very nice 1993 Brunello in a pre-tasting recently. Reds from the Aglianico and Primitivo grapes in Campania and Puglia respectively are big, dark and tannic, good value and still drinkable for many years after bottling.

Spain

Red Rioja invariably lasts for decades and will not break the banco. Good reds from Priorat and Penedes can also go on and on but will be more expensive.

Very old wines

Some people are irresistibly attracted to old wines. (For the purposes of this article we can define ‘old’ as pre-1980.) I am one of these people.

Others think such wines are a bizarre indication of necrophilia over oenophilia. It’s a big subject and unless you have a detailed knowledge of aging and vintages as they relate to different wine regions, appellations and producers you should be careful. For instance, that case of old Bordeaux might look like good value at £100 – until you realise that all the bottles are from 1973 and 1974 (two very bad vintages.) Spread your bets and go for an inexpensive mixed lot of different chateau and decent vintages – you don’t want to end up with 12 undrinkable bottles of the same wine.

Good bottles in mixed cases

The professionals and the rich prefer to buy perfect, six- or twelve-bottle cases of the best wines. This sometimes enables the rest of us to find, hidden in mixed cases, small hauls of marquee wines at lower than market prices. I have enjoyed the top cuvees of Cavallotto, Clape and Domenico Clerico, among others, in this way.

Understanding the catalogue

Every lot in the auction catalogue will feature the name(s) of the producer(s), the cuvee(s), the vintage(s) and appellation(s) etc. This will be accompanied by a series of initials that provide a detailed description of every single bottle within the lot. A glossary of these initials will be found in the catalogue.

Here I list a few of the standard descriptors, along with my alternative versions, in amused affection and tribute to wine auction houses everywhere.

OWC: Own Wooden Case/Own Wooden Coffin

WC: Wooden Case/Was Chablis

BC: Below Cork/Before Christ

FL: Faded Label/Feeling Lucky?

SOS: Signs of Seepage/Some Old Sauvignon

WISL: Wine Stained Label/Will I Still Love It Tomorrow?

LL: Loose Label/Litigation Likely

NL: Nicked Label/Not Likely

TS: Top Shoulder/Tough Sell

DC: Depressed Cork/Disappointed Customer

SDC: Slightly Depressed Cork/Seriously Disappointed Customer

TL: Torn Label/Total Lunacy

TAL: Tattered Label/Tannins Lacking

PC: Protruding Cork/Previously Chianti

HTMS: High-to-Mid-Shoulder/Hit and Miss

VHS: Very-High-Shoulder/Vinegar Hardly Surprising

MS: Mid-Shoulder/Might Survive