Found a bottle in my parents' cellar

[Michael Smith]

Hi all! Complete port newbie here. I'm curious about a bottle my parents have.
Cork intact, bottle is full. They only remember that it was a gift. Here's the label text:
Front: "Product of Portugal. Old Bual Solera of the Vintage 1900 Madeira. Only 500 bottles in existence This is bottle No. A-322. Bottled & Shipped by Justino Henriques Funchal Madeira"
Rear: "1900 Old Bual Solera of the Vintage Madeira. This will serve to certify that this bottle contains a genuine Old Bual Madeira of the Vintage of 1900. It was originally acquired by our Firm from Manuel Rodrigues as important landowner in Funchal. Justino Henriques, Madeira. Sole Agents for USA Monsieur Henri Wines Ltd. NY NY".
What do my parents have here? They're not port drinkers, neither am I, would one of you among the cognoscenti be interested in acquiring this?

[Andy Velebil]

Where would you be located? That will help in trying to sell this older bottle of Madeira.

[Michael Smith]

Louisiana, USA.

For any interested parties: if this bottle is of interest and we're talking about enough money to make it worth my folks' while to sell it rather than open it and try it, I will take pictures showing the bottle's level and the condition of the wax seal, with proof of date.

[Michael Smith]

Found this:
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21564/lot/564/

And this:
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... ID=1559001
http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_ ... ID=1559001

[Andy Velebil]

Based on the liquid volume listed it was bottled and imported prior to the mid 1970's, at the latest.

Price is going to be based on a number of things, such as where stored, fill level, etc. So that information would also be greatly appreciated so people here can give you a more realistic estimate.

[Moses Botbol]

Did you find the bottle laying on its side or upright?

[Andy Velebil]

What I find interesting on the label it lists it as a Solera but both labels imply it is all from one single vintage. I wonder exactly what percentage of 1900 it is?

[Eric Menchen]

What I find interesting on the label it lists it as a Solera but both labels imply it is all from one single vintage. I wonder exactly what percentage of 1900 it is?

Yes, I noticed that too. The other bottles are labeled the same way.

Of course old solera Madeira is not like the same as sherry. With sherry the year indicates when the solera was started, but with continual rotation, addition, and removal, the product you buy could have only a fraction of the original year. For solera Madeira I believe the year indicates the last year of a ten year span that all of the wine must be from.

[Andreas Platt]

http://www.vinhomadeira.pt/Solera-1921.aspx

Quote "Madeira Wine associated with a vintage date based on the batch, not bottling an amount greater than 10% of the existing batch, which is in turn replaced by another quality wine. The maximum number of additions allowed is 10, after which all the existing wine may be bottled at once."

[Eric Menchen]

So that is consistent with my ten year span, but suggests that the year on the bottle is the first of the ten years, not the last. I'll have to see if I can find my original source, or maybe I am just misremembering.

With google today I did find one source that said while the original requirement was ten consecutive years, that was later changed to ten consecutive good vintages. I don't know when that change was made.

[Eric Ifune]

Is there a selo, or tax seal under the capsule. A picture of it may sometimes help to determine age of bottling. I'm thinking the back label bit about "Vintage" is a generic phrase.

Years ago, there was little in regulations with soleras.

[Michael Smith]

Did you find the bottle laying on its side or upright?

It's been on its side for at least the last ten years, I can't vouch for how it was stored before that. It may have been among a bunch of upright liquor bottles for a decade before that.

[Michael Smith]

Here are a few more pictures. I tried to silhouette the neck and shoulders against the sky to show the fill level but failed
The bottle is filled to the neck, the shoulders are full.

[Bradley Bogdan]

While the fill level isn't ideal, it's not bad, looks to be "base neck" or so


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