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In addition to many holidays to celebrate, the final months of the year are also noted for two seemingly unrelated but interconnected events: End-of-year bonuses in the financial sector and end-of-year wine sales at major auction houses. We’ve read that bonuses are expected to be lower than usual for the second year in a row, and we’ve also heard from insiders in the auction world that prices may be lower than expected because the folks who’d normally snap up vintage Champagne and first-growth Bordeaux may not be as freewheeling as they have been in past years. That’s great news if you’re not dependent on that bonus to aid your cellar-filling shopping spree—and all the more reason to start scanning the auctions presented by Sotheby’s, Bonhams, Zachys, Christie’s, and other houses.

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One specific auction has caught our eye this season. Christie’s has combined two distinct collections to present “Fine Wine from the Cellar of Quincy Jones & A Diplomat’s Collection of Rarities.” The sale, running November 30 through December 11, includes 350 lots from the legendary musician and an unnamed diplomat who has a treasure trove from France’s best regions. Among the marquee names on offer—such as Pétrus, Cheval Blanc, Cristal, Krug, and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti—is the opportunity to purchase wines from Jones’s collection that are nearly a century old. Christie’s will auction off Cos d’Estournel 1928, Latour 1933, and Leacock’s Malvazia from the same year (which is when Jones was born), and Mouton 1934.

While all in all this sounds like an incredible assortment of bottles, some of the offerings give us pause, especially many of the older ones. We have drunk extremely old vintages of very fine wine, and often the experience is sublime. Other times, though, the ravages of time have not been kind to the treasured juice inside the bottle. The thought of opening a bottle with 90 years of age on it reminds us of the time we saw another great jazz and blues performer, Ray Charles, in concert. This was in 2002, two years before he died. While we walked out of the theater very happy to have seen him on stage and we thought he put on a terrific show, we couldn’t help but wish that we had seen him years before, when he was in his prime.

Conversations with peers in the world of wine have shown us that a sense of unease is not unusual, even when making a purchase from a trusted place, like a prominent auction house. “Bidding on wine at auction carries certain risks, particularly with regards to older bottles,” explains Robin Kelley O’Connor, a wine educator who acted as a liaison between Bordeaux and the United States for over two decades. “Specialists at top auction houses have extensive wine knowledge, but winning a bid and purchasing a wine doesn’t guarantee that it will age well,” she notes.

Yannick Benjamin, the recipient of Michelin’s 2023 Sommelier Award in New York, has been on the front lines of many wine collecting experiences, and they are not always positive. “I have been a sommelier at many auctions and have had times when the wines did not meet either the collector’s or my own expectations – much to our collective disappointment,” he shares. “The fact of the matter is, only a select few wines can truly stand the test of time.”

A wine’s failure to age well may not necessarily be its own fault. Responsibility might need to be shifted to the numerous stops it made during its journey from the winery to the auction. It could have been sold multiple times, and maybe some of the previous owners did not store the wines correctly. Our on-site tasting at Marqués de Riscal in Rioja last year, which included 30 vintages going back to 1862, demonstrated the benefits of meticulous wine care. We were thoroughly impressed with the consistency and quality of the wines served that day. They were fantastic in part because they had never been moved and kept at a steady temperature until opening – they had been stored right there at the winery where they were made. Sadly, you are unlikely to find this level of care in most wines you would purchase at auction.

Furthermore, even with exceptional care throughout its lifespan, a wine can age poorly and provide a subpar tasting experience. “What if that fine Champagne has the odour of aged Parmesan rind and off-putting truffle?” London-based Master of Wine, Anne Krebiehl posed this question to us. “What if the highly esteemed Burgundy is merely a faint echo of what it once was, appearing pale, brown, and more like a paltry smoked meat broth?” Indeed, we can conceive of many other ways we might prefer to spend a large sum of money rather than on a substandard smoked meat broth.

Obtaining an aged bottle of wine may carry an inherent risk, but equipping yourself with adequate knowledge about the vintage you’re interested in can mitigate this. For example, in a Christie’s auction featuring Jones-diplomat, there were several bottles of old Bordeaux on offer. We sought expert advice from O’Connor, a distinguished authority on this wine region. He forewarned us about the issues old vintages might confront. According to him, wines made before the war could potentially taste questionable. He mentioned that the 1928 Bordeaux was one of the best vintages the 20th century experienced. However, he also warned that the years 1933 and 1934 were extremely difficult, hinting that the wines produced during the 1930s might not meet high standards.

Notwithstanding the potential risk when acquiring old wine in auctions, many believe the rewards outweigh the risks. Many consider tasting aged wine akin to sipping history. Will Lyons, a wine columnist for The Sunday Times, marvels at the evolution of fine wine as it ages and develops in the bottle, welcoming a host of tertiary characteristics that younger wines lack. While he acknowledges the risks associated with old wines, Lyons expresses his fascination for the marvelous transformation time manages to bestow on Bordeaux. Lyons describes the matured wine as exhibiting a raisin-y, nutty, and caramelized character and the texture being as light as a feather.

We’ve noticed a trend in year-end auctions, especially at Christie’s, where a plethora of bottles from recent vintages are available for immediate consumption or as additions to cellars for future openings. Regardless of the wine bottle, particularly those seasoned with years, it is crucial to remember that the experience could swing both ways. As the Eagles conveyed years ago in “Hotel California,” it could either be an utter disappointment or a heavenly experience. This sentiment is echoed by Krebiehl, who advises having a few backup bottles handy in case the experience gravitates towards the former.

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