An inherited bottle

Last Friday I was back at my late Dad's house in Georgia, going through the basement contents with my sisters and Gail, and found a few bottles of various beers, liquors and wine, all of dubius quality. I brought back to Tulsa a 750ml bottle of August Sabiastiani California Champagne (NV), and have about decided to open it on OTBN this upcoming Saturday. Gail suggested I update my life insurance policy beforehand, but I assured her that nothing in that bottle would allow her to collect.
The bottle has been in the basement (which generally stays fairly cool, being mostly underground with cinderblock walls and a concrete slab floor) for an unknown number of years, no older than 1982 (when the house was built) and probably no more recent than my Mom's death in 1999.

The wine is clear in the bottle, with some floating sediment that was kicked up during the 800-mile road trip in a U-Haul truck over pothole infested stretches of highway through 4 states. What are the odds of it actually being drinkable (assuming it ever was), and should I wait on the sediment to settle out naturally, or pour through a coffee filter or fine strainer?
<Edited to correct a typo.-rr>

If I may rephrase your question... What are the odds of a wine that is not drinkable in its youth becoming drinkable when it is dead?

What a trip down memory lane! I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Sebastiani family meltdown in the mid-80s, which is probably when your wine was bottled. Of course, you gotta open it, and I hope something transcendental happens. But have a backup bottle on hand!

[Jenise]

Keep the bottle standing up so that the sediment settles naturally. Open the bottle on Saturday. Have a backup ready.

My experience - 15 years after my sister's wedding, in the mid 1970s, I found a bottle of the New York State Taylor Champagne from that event (maybe $4.00/bottle then?) I opened it and found it to be drinkable with a taste and color like sherry with still a tiny bit of sparkle left. Although I don't recall that it was good enough to finish, it really was a surprise to me and I've never forgotten it. Taylor, like August Sabiastiani IMO, was not known as a real good wine when young and fresh and my expectation was to use it as drain cleaner.

My experience - 15 years after my sister's wedding, in the mid 1970s, I found a bottle of the New York State Taylor Champagne from that event (maybe $4.00/bottle then?) I opened it and found it to be drinkable with a taste and color like sherry with still a tiny bit of sparkle left. Although I don't recall that it was good enough to finish, it really was a surprise to me and I've never forgotten it. Taylor, like August Sabiastiani IMO, was not known as a real good wine when young and fresh and my expectation was to use it as drain cleaner.

I am truly not expecting anything with this bottle. Dad almost certainly did not buy it himself, as his wine of choice was Gallo and Paul Masson jug reds. He usually drank bourbon or Coors, and wouldn't know a good wine if it bit him on the arse. But I will try this bottle, and be happily surprised if it tastes ok, and not disappointed if it tastes of Drano (I've a clogged drain anyway).

If it provides nothing more than a few good memories, then how bad could it be?

I believe that wine was probably produced by Weibel who offered sparkling wine to other wineries for their own label, though if it says Methode Champenoise, it may have been a Hans Kornell wine. (Or even one of the early Gloria Ferrer bottlings, though you didn't indicate that it said anything about Sonoma on the label).

Says nothing about Sonoma or Methode Champenoise either on the label. Just California Champagne.

I would not open it. Better never to know and keep the story behind it.

I would not open it. Better never to know and keep the story behind it.

Did I mention that there's an identical bottle still in the basement?

August Sebastiani California Champagne NV (probably mid-1980's).
Underneath the foil, I found a plastic cork. Took some effort to get it out, as all the fizz had fizzled out long ago. Color was a nice amber, raisiny on the nose, but that's pretty much all. Tasted off-dry, funky, tangy, slightly metallic undertones. Not totally yuck, but nothing that made me want to taste any more, either. The tiny dark floaters that just wouldn't settle out didn't help the impression. I may run a bit through a coffee filter and give it another taste before pouring it out.

Wine2.jpg

Wine1.jpg

But what a great story! Sometimes the anticipation is everything.

I'm always for trying it. Sometimes you get lucky and it's a delicious surprise. But if you never open it, you never find out.

An hour later, the aftertaste had been getting progressively more metallic, and I opted not to partake any more of that bottle. Followed it with 1800 tequila with a splash of triple sec, on the rocks.

Says nothing about Sonoma or Methode Champenoise either on the label. Just California Champagne

The photo of the label shows it was made by the charmat process - fermented in bulk in a big tank, then bottled for sale. The fizz doesn't last long with this process, even much shorter periods of time than this bottle had been around!

Interesting story - it's fun finding old bottles and seeing if they actually have any life in them.

I went to dinner at a colleague's house a few years ago, and we got onto the subject of wine. At one point, he goes to his living room, and comes back carrying a bottle of Lafite-Rothschild 1941. Great story this bottle. When his grandfather died, they found this bottle sitting upright, in a foot locker, in the attic! So, they took it home, and naturally stuck it in the wine rack on its side. My friend walks into his kitchen not too long after to discover that the bottle had opened itself! So he calls up a knowledgeble wine friend of his, who rushes over. His friend then informs him that 1941 was one of the worst ever vintages of Lafite. But, they go ahead and try it. My friend described it as follows: 'once you got past the guardian of a nose, it tasted like cheap vinegar with hunks of moldy brown sugar dropped in.' So, they poured their glasses back in, put a new cork in it, sealed the top with wax, and he now keeps it on his mantle for posterity, with the thought of leaving it for the next generation to find.

Ryan, that was a great story!

Ryan, that was a great story!

Glad you enjoyed!