The Case of the Margaux.

About 10 years ago I won a case of wine in a competition back in England. They have been sitting in my parents wine cellar ever since. Back then I was more interested in cheap wine than good wine, but in the decade since then my tastes have naturally matured to the point where I can envisage myself sharing a case of outstanding Margaux with my serious wine-loving friends. (that sure would be a lot of brownie points!). Unfortunately it is not possible to ship wines from the UK to the US without a licence which I don't have. Additionally I owe my mother a lot of money and selling the case would help me to pay off the debt. Consequently, my father has been talking to one of his wine friends to see how interesting this case of wine is and how much we could realistically expect for it.



There are 12 wines dated 1978, 80, 81, 82, 83 84, 85, 86 87, 88, 89, and 90. They are all Chateau Palmer Margaux and each bottle is personally signed by Peter Sichel who I learnt, sadly, died a few years ago.



Here is the reply from my father's wine friend:


>
>A fascinating case of wine and most certainly worth its £500 - probably
>net of auctioneers charges!
>The signature appears to be that of Peter N Sichel who was one of the
>very first people in the wine trade that I met back in the late fifties
>and who sadly died about 4-5 years ago. Curiously I was at the London
>Wine Fair yesterday and spent ten minutes talking to Charles, one of his
>four sons, who continue to run a successful Bordeaux wine merchants
>called Sichel & Co.
>The family have for over fifty years held a substantial share in Chateau
>Palmer which is very much one of the leading chateaux in the region,
>possibly second only to Chateau Margaux itself.
>I am very much interested in this case of wine as I belong to a"wine
>club" who may well be interested in purchasing it in order to hold a
>vertical tasting of the twelve vintages.



He sounds very interested in my case of wine. Eager to snap it up, I'd say. I am worried that we might have valued it too low. I have found a website that shows the starting prices of these wines at auction. We have to bear in mind that mine is a complete set and each bottle is signed too, which makes it unique. I am going to go through these prices for each year and make sure we are not about to be ripped off. What do you think...?