The Auswine Forum

I have bought quite a bit of wine from auction, but have never given too much thought about provenance. Sure I have come across the odd dud, but generally I have been happy with my purchases (at least those I have tried!).

However, I recently bought a number of bottles of the same wine (in 1 lot), all of which so far have been oxidised. There seems to be a systematic fault with this wine, or the bottles in question have been stored poorly.

I have always been happy to approach auctions on the basis of 'buyer beware' but wonder if there is any recourse in a clear case of multiple bottles being not of saleable quality. Perhaps the auction house in turn has recourse against the seller?

Does anyone have any views on this issue or any war stories to share?

In most cases it's 'buyer beware', though auction houses take a dim view of someone knowingly passing on faulty goods. The other thing you might challenge on, would be if levels are lower than described - I'd reasonably expect an auction house to say if any of the bottles were (say) mid-shoulder level (and you could take issue here, but best done ASAP after the auction - 6 months (say) later is too late IMO).

It wasn't a white burgundy (aka Premature oxidation issue) was it? Could it be the wine which is the problem itself, not the storage? If an aussie winery, perhaps they might be a source for recourse - but only if it's the wine at fault, not the storage.

Was it a 12 bottle lot or 11 or 10 bottles?... with the latter two often seen as a warning sign by some traders.

Hope this helps

Ian