BEA Champagne

[Bob G]

I have just finished clearing my mothers house after selling it to pay her care home fees (different story, dont get me started on that one, but about £40k/year).

We discovered an unopened bottle of Veuve Cliquot Champagne marked "Produced especially for British European Airways".

Now we bought the house in 1962 and BEA was amalgamated in 1974 IIRC, so that is the date range of the bottle.

Since you cant sell alcohol on EBay, I wondered

1. is this going to be worth anything?
2. is it going to taste good?
3. should it ever be opened or should it be kept for posterity?

What do you think?

Best
Bob

[bridgiesimon]

I would suggest googling for wine specialists and ask for advice keeping in mind they are out for profit. Am sure it has got to be worth somet, mix of the wine collectors and the aero collectors as well.
Best wishes
Simon

[RailGooner]

1. There are wine forums that might be able to give you an indication of value. Or writing/emailing a specialist wine auction house.
2. Depends on how well it's been stored.
3. Do you have any personal/familial link to it? If it was gifted to your Mum, you might want to keep it. Without any link, I'd drink it or flog it.

The Xmas after my FiL's 80th birthday he brought to dinner a bottle of Philippe de Rothschild 1936. The bottle had been purchased by his Dad and presented to him on his 21st birthday. It was really touching that he chose to share it with us. But sadly it had not been stored well and was corked.

[emjaybee]

I have just finished clearing my mothers house after selling it to pay her care home fees (different story, dont get me started on that one, but about £40k/year).

We discovered an unopened bottle of Veuve Cliquot Champagne marked "Produced especially for British European Airways".

Now we bought the house in 1962 and BEA was amalgamated in 1974 IIRC, so that is the date range of the bottle.

Since you cant sell alcohol on EBay, I wondered

1. is this going to be worth anything?
2. is it going to taste good?
3. should it ever be opened or should it be kept for posterity?

What do you think?

Best
Bob

Okay, here's the little I know.

1. Depending on the 'house' it came from it could be worth something, especially with the BEA link.

2. Champagne generally has a shelf life IF STORED CORRECTLY, i.e. lying down in a cool place out of sunlight, of only four years so it will takes like 

3. Only open it if you plan to pour it down the drain. By all means keep it as a curio, or see if you could sell it.

I spent a long weekend in the Champagne region some years ago, including tours of both Moet and Tattinger cellars. Moet have something like 28 kilometres of tunnels, out of a total of over 250 kilometres of cellars under Reims. Thousands of people were hidden in the cellars during the second world war. As an aside I don't like the regular Moet, but I DOOOO like their vintage champers!

[njee20]

The house is Veuve Cliquot, who are obviously among the better known ones. That doesn't necessarily mean quality mind...!

Yes unless that's been properly stored (somewhere with a steady temperature is most important, but ideally quite cool), then that'll be disgusting! I'd contact several dealers/auction houses for advice, should weed out anyone trying to screw you over!