17 year old bottle

sketchpad

Hi there, I'm not much of a wine expert so I need some advice please.
I was given some bottles of wine as gifts some years ago and put them away in a closet and forgot all about them until last weekend.
What are the risks of food poisoning if I were to drink them?

<Mod edit after PM discussion with OP>

What are the chances of these still being drinkable?

These are the wines:
1996 La Roseraie De Gruaud Larose, St Julien
2000 Cuvee Carl, Chateau De Seguin, Cru Exceptionnel
2002 Gevrey Chambertin, Domaine Arlaud

The closet would be room temperature, which I believe would not be ideal.

BeerNut

sketchpad wrote: »

What are the risks of food poisoning if I were to drink them?

Zero. Bacteria can't live in alcohol.

sketchpad

BeerNut wrote: »

Zero. Bacteria can't live in alcohol.

Excellent. So worst case scenario they'll just taste horrible.

MadYaker

If they're still corked properly and have never been opened they'll be grand.

Slaphead07

If they were stored on their sides they should be fine, more than fine even!. If stored upright the cork could be dried out and the wine oxidised. You won't know until you've opened them but I would strongly suggest decanting the wine as I would expect it to have sediment. I hope they're good, that's a nice little cache you have there!

Pro Hoc Vice

According to wine searcher the 1996 gruaud larose st julien haut medoc bordeaux France is best between 2004 to 2020, remember based on proper storage. http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-20-1996-chateau-gruaud-larose-saint-julien-france

Wine searcher should give you the info on the others, current price on the 1996 from €66 to €168.

sketchpad

Slaphead07 wrote: »

If they were stored on their sides they should be fine, more than fine even!. If stored upright the cork could be dried out and the wine oxidised. You won't know until you've opened them but I would strongly suggest decanting the wine as I would expect it to have sediment. I hope they're good, that's a nice little cache you have there!

Yeh, they were stored on their side. I'm getting married at the end of October so will most likely have the St Julien with dinner.

Pro Hoc Vice

sketchpad wrote: »

Yeh, they were stored on their side. I'm getting married at the end of October so will most likely have the St Julien with dinner.

Decant it for at least a couple of hours, if you can.

Slaphead07

sketchpad wrote: »

Yeh, they were stored on their side. I'm getting married at the end of October so will most likely have the St Julien with dinner.

Congrats, have a backup bottle under the table just in case it's not great but you should be ok.

The Hill Billy

sketchpad wrote: »

Hi there, I'm not much of a wine expert so I need some advice please.
I was given some bottles of wine as gifts some years ago and put them away in a closet and forgot all about them until last weekend.
What are the risks of food poisoning if I were to drink them?
These are the wines:
1996 La Roseraie De Gruaud Larose, St Julien
2000 Cuvee Carl, Chateau De Seguin, Cru Exceptionnel
2002 Gevrey Chambertin, Domaine Arlaud

The closet would be room temperature, which I believe would not be ideal.

OP updated to remove request for advice on food poisoning & provide clarification.

tHB