1971 Reds...France reasonable price but quality ?

[JAYCEE]

Hi all, New member here from Perth names John.

Not very knowledgeable in this area. But have become quite curious abuot OLD red wines.. Looking on the internet, I stumbled across someone sites advertising 1970's wines form France, starting at quite reasonable prices.... However, not much informiatn othre for someone like me to make much sense of...
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/-/1971/france/-/u

I might also might look at 1975.. 71 for my 40th birthday, and a '75 for my brother. Bu tI am worried about what they might be like, what's worth touching or not worth it etc - my low budget probably wont' help either

Wondering if anyone might have some advice as to the good the bad & the ugly etc ?!

Thanks guys, look forward to chatting .....

[Michael McNally]

Hi JC

Welcome to the forum!

In my limited experience buying old wines from anywhere, particularly auctions, is a lottery. Sometimes you win, many times you buy crap that hasn't been stored correctly or is simply past it. That is part and parcel of buying wine at auction.

One way I have found to increase my chances, particularly with seriously older wines is to buy vintage port. I was going to say "this shit seems practically indestructible" but that is exaggerating. Certainly though it seems to improve your chances of getting an older wine that is still enjoyable (in my experience).

Cheers

Michael