How much is this Champagne worth?? [moved from California board]
I have a case of Hanns Kornell Third Generation 25.4 oz 1980 bottles of champagne and I was wondering how much it's worth. I know I should drink it and enjoy it but I really just want to see what I have. There's 11 bottles of Sern Trocken and 1 bottle of the Muscat Alexandria, you would be a great help if you know!
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First of all, you should know that the name of the Hanns Kornell wine in question -- at least 11 of the 12 bottles -- is "Sehr Trocken," meaning "very dry, not "Sern."
Secondly, the original retail price was somewhere around $10-13, if it was that much. That is, at the winery you'd probably pay $13 or so, but at retail, you could find it for under $10.
Third, check the back label of the Sehr Trocken and see if a) it's produced from 100 percent Riesling, and b) if there is a disgorgement date shown. Those were the best bottlings of Sehr Trocken, and they might have some value. If those two things are not shown on the back label -- and I fear they changed the wine before 1980 -- then that was after the winery began to cut corners in an attempt to avoid the inevitable . . . and it would be worth significantly less.
Finally, Hanns Kornell wasn't considered a top California producer of sparkling wine since the 1960s. I cannot imagine that, under any circumstances, the wines are worth very much except to a collector of old California wines -- and since 1980 was well past Kornell's "heyday," I wouldn't expect very much.
Since you know you should drink and enjoy, I would suggest that you do just that. Except that -- honestly -- I'm not sure the wines would still be very enjoyable. The non-Riesling Sehr Trocken was never meant for aging after it was disgorged, and the Muscat was even less capable of post-release cellaring.
Sorry.
