Local HBS in CT selling 6gal juice buckets for $40

[geek]

These buckets are from last fall and have been refrigerated (obviously).
They are NOT pre-inoculated and only have reds, no whites.

Available selection:
-cabernet sav
-merlot
-carignane
-burgundy
-zinfandel
-old zynfandel?
-near diablo? (italian)

You only get the juice but isn't that a good price?
I've never seen/tried the near diablo (is that the correct name??) or the carignane.

What you think?
Look at the picture, good/bad?

..

 

[robie]

I would make sure they come with a guarantee, as they are pretty old just to have been refrigerated.

.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Nero d'Avola is a great wine..

 

[joshs]

I saw this but decided to pass. I am going to wait for the fresh stuff this fall.

Josh

 

[ibglowin]

I would make em pop the lid on one your interested in. See if any pressure releases. If it does, walk away. If no pressure, smell test, if it passes the smell taste, on to taste test, if it passes taste test and taste sweet with no off flavor it should be good to go. No mold obviously either!

 

[geek]

I would make sure they come with a guarantee, as they are pretty old just to have been refrigerated.

.

what kind of guarantee should I ask for? I don't know at what temp they kept this at and I know this is old (maybe 9 months or so) but also wonder when plain juice starts to go bad, any way to tell?

 

[ibglowin]

If things went terribly bad I would suspect lids would have blown by now. If these were sulfited to the normal 50ppm and then sealed into a sterile container and kept well refrigerated they may be OK. See post #5.

 

[geek]

yep, thanks Mike....we posted at the same time almost...lol
They're a reputable company (I think) so I assume they wouldn't be selling this if they were not good anyways.

 

[geek]

They don't have yeast in them, would need to ask specifics on sulfite and all that. I assume they could be put through mlf.

 

[Edward Sacco]

I bought some buckets that were refrigerated the whole time and about the same age, without yeast. When I opened them up checked they were finished fermenting. They were ok, drinkable but I wouldn't do it again and I got them for $20 a bucket from a reputable dealer . You get what you pay for
God bless Edward

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree with Edward. I had about 30 left to sell that were only about 3 months old and planned on just fermenting them all myself but a customer came in and bought all of them over the weekend. Luva Bella's will do the same thing before they an old pail.

 

[ibglowin]

Take a hydrometer to test the SG!

 

[Pumpkinman]

I'll agree with Edward, I wouldn't buy these, this lhbs is trying to recover some money from a mistake on their part.
These will be fermented at this point, who knows what other issues, how long they sat out before refrigerating them, and so on.