As a wine enthusiast I cried a little inside watching those corks being destroyed, you have some interesting bottles in there definitely worth a good second look and if you find they're all cooked you could always get a local distiller to distil the alcohol out of it then you could barrel it and age it on site and make some abandoned ranch whisky to serve when you finish the project

If only there was a wine UKpostsr that was very close to you that could review those bottles with you. Let me know if you want help.

Well... Coming from two wine-producing families and environment, loving wine, and being particularly keen on old wines, I am pretty sure, 90% of that wine is good. I'm in Portugal, a wine producing country, and maybe you can tell, by the cork, if it still has structure, even only the bottom part, it will probably be good. Champagne also will be 99% good. And by the way, I saw Port wine (Vinho do Porto). That one should be good, and have a sweeter taste. And by the way, the red wine colour was on point. Almost all european/north African wines have a darker tone. Californian wines, and some from Peru, usually look lighter. I can come take a look if you want :D

Matt operating the reciprocating saw like a Backwoods hoodlum had me weak! 😂😂 My dad is a winemaker. He uses an air compressor and a needle to fill balls to push old corks out. Works perfectly every time. You can also put ice around the neck of the bottle with a wet towel and cut the bottle below the cork with bottle tongs heated with a torch or a charcoal fire.

If only you knew someone at a UKposts channel at which those bottles could be properly… demolished. 😈

If you told Mere that you were buying an unopened wine cellar with 1000 bottles of wine, I think it would have been an easier sell when you told her about the abandoned resort attached to it.

Hey, Matt! While cork taint due to TCA can be a concern, your main conern with old bottles of wine is spoilage due to oxidation. That tawny color that you saw looks correct for aged wines, though! Red wines will lose color while white wines gain color. The information that Donut Operator searched is spot on, and it's worth noting that most wines produced for the market today are meant to be drunk young; in the United States, wine is consumed within the first eight hours of purchase! Hope y'all are able to pop some more corks with an Ah-So or something!

Its just tough to watch Matt use tools...bless his heart.

The wine bottles on their sides are probably still good. You need to store wine on it's side so the wine is always in contact with the cork keeping the cork wet and prevent it from drying out and causing air and bacteria to get into the bottle. But you should probably contact an expert as I am not one!

Hire a wine expert and make a vid, we want a proper breakdown on the loot!

This is actually one of the coolest finds on youtube. Of all the Abandoned videos on UKposts it seems like they rarely find anything of value

I've been off line for three weeks and as I watched this video, I realised that your family has grown up so much. Addi, Annie and Linc seemed to just sprout. Three weeks is a long time eh. God bless...

Matt you need a wine professional to help you evaluate the wines and tell you what you have. Please such an interesting video!

Corked wine should be kept horizontal so that the cork doesnt dry out. Try the ones that were kept flat. Nice find btw.

Every single one of those bottles is an adventure waiting to be shared with friends. I’d say you hit the jackpot!

Mr. Demo can we please have more abandoned resort videos? I am literally craving more!!

You have to cut the bottle under the cork, the really old bottles are opened that way. They put a heated steel ring on the neck and then cool it with cold water, then it break with a clean cut

"I drank way sketchier stuff..." - Jenna is a keeper 🤣🤣🤣

PLEASE make a video going through the wine bottles and pricing them! That would be awesome. I am so curious about them

That's why you store wine on its side and rotate occasionally, keep the corks wet. Really old bottles are opened by heating the neck with a special tool then quickly cooling it, so that the neck snaps off cleanly below the cork

Port tongs (Portuguese: Tenaz) are a special set of tongs designed to open wine bottles that are sealed with a cork. The tongs are heated over an open flame and held against the neck of the wine bottle for 20-30 seconds. The heated section of bottle is then cooled with a damp cloth or ice water, causing the glass to fracture due to thermal expansion. The result is generally a clean, predictable break. Any possible shards of glass are strained out, along with any sediment, when pouring the wine into a decanter.[1]

You can hot pop the bottle of wine when it is aged like that so you don’t get the cork in the wine. Hot poping can be done with a metal circle that is roughly 300 degrees held on the neck for a few seconds then adding cold water to the heated area.

THE DURAND Wine bottle opener may be useful with those old bottles. The port is probably good. I look forward to a follow up video😊

i never had so much drama and excitement watching a wine opening.. Keep it up and good luck. Stay safe and happy hunting.

The way old vintages are usually openened is with a tool that looks kind of like a pair of tongs, you get those red hot and then clamp them around the neck of the bottle to overheat a small section. Once heated you very quickly cool it with water to force a stress break of the glass, which gets you completely around the cork

Have an expert evaluate the whole lot. There may be some bottles that are valuable and/or drinkable. Also, you may want to use an opener that uses forced air to remove the cork, rather than a corkscrew.

Depending on if the bottle has been standing up or laying down, will for sure make a difference on the bottom of the cork. Try some that has been standing up! Sure they might have some sediment (you keep turning bottles that lay down in storage) but it doesn't mean it's bad.

Look up Port tongs, they are basically tongs you heat to red hot and then put around the wine bottle neck just below the cork and they cause the neck of the bottle to sheer off cleanly, with no shards. Best way to deal with old wine corks like that. You might be able to use the CO2 needle based cork removers as well but the port tongs are the go to for really old bottles. Worse thing you'll have is probably a lot of vinegar if it got really warm in there.

You have to decant when it is older as the sediment settles at the bottom, the cork when it’s dry dry needs a special air pump wine opener. When older it gets darker as it ages.

Demo Ranch them all.

Happy New Year!🎉 Enjoy.

Woa, that's sweet! Struck gold there! Be fun to serve these to your guests.

Lincoln's voice is getting deep! It's crazy watching these kids grow up.

For those old bottles you need a wine opener called an "Ah So". Its a two pronged opener that is better for those crumbly corks. Just because the cork is falling apart doesn't mean the wine is bad. The bottles that were standing up are all probably toast but you may have some gems that survived. Also any of that Champagne that is laying down could be Ok as well. Get it properly evaluated. If you don't have much experience with aged wines you might end up throwing away some really good stuff.

Keep the videos coming. This project has a zero percent chance of failing.

kids are getting big man, time goes fast! :), love to ur family dude

For storing Wine Bottles they should either be on it's side OR at a 45 degree angle with it's cork facing downwards. Any bottles that was stored upright OR at a 45 degree angle with the cork facing upwards. Those are the ones you really got to watch out since that's not how you should store Wine Bottles as the cork tends to dry out. Which will then let air and everything else inside. Even the bottles that was stored in the one of two correct positions will have to be really checked over before drinking. Best to take those bottles to someone who really knows about Wine and can check them. Over the 20 years it depends if the Wine Room stayed at a stable cool temp all those years. If the temp in the room jumped all over the place all those years I highly doubt any of those bottles will be any good to drink.

There are ways to cut the neck of the bottle with a specific type of heated/ glowing pliers to avoid contaminating the wine with the cork. Hope you guys will enjoy them and be able to deal with the difficulties! Kind regards from Germany! 19:28

This picture in the wine sellar is great! Especially love the fact the cork remover is there!!

You can open it with the "Port" bottle method which removes the top of the bottle. Also if you rebuild and want a place to store wine, please build a proper cellar as the temperature stays right around 75F year round.

Myself, I would only start with the bottles stored on their sides to keep the cork moist. Careful with the ones standing upright. May need to investigate those more close!

Seeing how all that wine is most likely bad, I see a really cool Demo Ranch video coming. "How many wine bottles will stop a 50 BMG." You can have Mere and Jenna there as well.

I agree with the suggestion to get a Durand (kind of pricey) to open it. Also, if there's some cork in there, you can get a strainer meant for wine (cheap) and decant before trying it. But yes, wine is not supposed to be stored in that kind of heat, so the odds are that the wine is ruined, or nearly so. P.S. Even properly stored, wine often changes color with age.

Save the bottles and sign them to put into your gift shop when y'all open up. It would be a cool piece of history for the resort and for y'all that guests could get

Matt's daughter saying "it looks like you're trying to be cool", is so cute considering Matt is really frickin cool 😂

A place like this would have never lasted in my area. Would have been raided probably in the first year of being closed. Rad videos! Best of luck on this adventure!

That was Awesome,cool video, especially with Donut& Heather!

22:00 That color is fine for aged wine. Only new (like less than 10 years old ) wine will be very red. As wine ages, it will usually turn brownish. Lastly, Cork is natural, is pretty much wood, its not bad for health to drink a bit of it lol But Cork will in fact get soft and just disintegrate with age (like 20 years), hence the very expensive bottles are also sealed with Wax (which none of the ones in the video were). Last fun fact, when wine goes bad, it normally turns into a kind of vinegar and you will tell really fast if its not good lol

Y'all should get a UKposts Sommelier out there and do an episode on grading/rating/seeing if any of that wine is still good or valuable

holy i havent seen a video in years. the kids have grown up so big! wow! wish you and the family safety!

A nice way to spend a Sunday. A little family B & E quality time.

For older wine corks, an Ah-So Cork Puller works better. It has two prongs, they slide between the bottle and the cork. Maybe with one of those you'll find some of the wine salvageable.

Matt, being honest here. You need to get a wine expert in there. There is a damn good chance you have some VERY pricy wine in there, just on your camera panning around I saw a few bottles that if they are what I suspect, are $1000+ a bottle.

Get a pneumatic wine opener, its a long needle with a tiny "bicycle" pump built on to it... you insert the needle and pump air into the bottle and the cork slide out with a small pop....

That was a great find, And thank you for the shirt

I can’t believe with the amount of vandalism there, that they never found a room with a lock and broke in!

You should keep the bottles and place them around the new restaurant as decor I think that would be a cool piece of history

Woah I haven't heard Lincoln's voice in just about a year now, and it is sooooooo much deeper! No baby Lincoln! Been a long time since 2018 when I started watching.

EPIC FIND BUT BRO I WAS SWEATING!!! That angle of the Sawzall had me paranoid it was gonna kick back and Sawzall your arm off!!! MadLove ❤

A tip for the future, the bottles that are on the horizontal can be drinkeble 😅, because the cork isn't dry and protected the wine. They are old bottles so it is normal the color and some "debrief" on the bottom of the bottle. So DO NOT SAKE THE BOTTLES so they don't mixe up.

So strange that no one ever broke into the cooler room over the years given all the vandalism and arson that happened. I'm also shocked that the wine wasn't taken/sold when the resort closed. Untitled assets usually disappear when a business fails.

You can apply a bit of heat to the neck of the bottle to loosen the cork so it pops up and out

I love the legendary wine filter! The improvisation is amazing!

It's really crazy watching his kids grow up.

As a wine enthusiast of many years I suspect most of the wine is going to be lovely. Corks can deteriorate even when the bottles are stored horizontally or even with the neck slightly tilted down. I will also say that I’ve only ever seen Mere drinking white wines in previous videos. If you’re not fully indoctrinated into the world of reds they can definitely be an acquired taste. 😂

You can get a sediment filter for those. The ones that were sideways kept the cork moist but those that were vertical dried out.

Some people use a two-pronged cork extractor, also known as a butler's thief or an ah-so, which has two slim flat blades. These are gently inserted into the bottle neck on either side of the cork rather than through the cork, twisted and very gently pulled.

Matt, the bottles of wine that are on their side should be fine because the Cork has been kept wet to stop any air or bacteria

I have been selling wine and beer for a living since I got out of the Army. You need a new wine opening device just a friendly heads up. You may have some great bottles that are sought after and you could use a coravin to sample some that may have some corks that are compromised. Nice find and congrats on the property brother.

Maybe try using a Coravin system. It basically plunges like a needle through the cork and lets you pour without opening the bottle. It's typically for more expensive bottles to keep them fresh longer so it might be on the more expensive end and there is gas you are supposed to get for it but it might help with the corks

Have not tuned in in a while. What a beautiful family.

Matt, you really need to make an underground wine and liquor cellar now as part of the renovation

As a wine lover, producer, grower, and drinker, wow! What an awesome find. Unfortunately, when a wine gets warm, it accelerates the aging process a little too fast and ruins the wine. The corks failed due to a lack of humidity. Had they been cellared correctly, I bet a few of those wines would have made it. Still, it's an awesome find! Thank you for the great videos, and I love this new venture! I will help you set up a wine cellar in exchange for a stay at the resort when it's done!

Way to be brave and taste it everyone! BUT there are openers that use Co2 and a needle, pushes right through the cork. Fills the bottle with air and pushes out the cork.

Love the vid! ❤

Hey matt...no loss....in your new restaurant display the bottles on a beautiful wine wall.....that looks great!!!

Can’t wait for the pricing video. That 2015 Vosne Romanee bottle at 11:28 is at least $130 from what I can find. Pretty sure there are apps that you can snap a pic of the label to get all the info.

Lay the bottles on their sides so corks moisture is regained. Also be able to tell if any do leak and thus are bad. As few others have said could distill it all. Cognac or whiskey something for grand opening of resort

Man what id give to be hangin out with Matt and Donut!

I bet Mere regrets throwing all those wine glasses now, lol.

You need a Durand. It is a two part tool that is used to open vintage wines with fragile corks. Although heat does spoil wine, and a lot of what you found probably is.

you need a two prong bottle opener for those old corks (like this one Westmark Monopol Germany Steel Two-Prong Cork Puller). those wines looked to be OK, jealous

You should try one of those Air Cork poppers. Insert the needle, press the button and air pushes the Cork out from inside the bottle. No Cork bits left in 😉

This was like watching Capone's vault opened, so intriguing.

For thoes who don't know, when a bank forecloses on a business like that you are not allowed to take anything from the property without proving you own it and not the business. Hence why the previous owners didn't remove the wine. As the reason the bank didn't sell off the wine, I'd have to assume they originally tried to sell the entire asset together and by the time they may have considered selling individual assets off, the bank probably forgot all about the wine in the cellar

Try opening bottles that have been properly stored laid on their side -- as long as there is wine against the cork, the cork stays in good shape because it doesn't oxidize.

@3:10, those bottles will only be (guaranteed) worth more if the temperature and humidity have been properly maintained in the cellar. Above ground, it’s a gamble: does the building have passive environmental regulation? @18:00, the cork just dry-rotted. When doing long-term storage, laying the wine slightly on its side will allow the cork to absorb some wine and keep from drying out like that (and still promotes settling of solids)

Should use a needle bottle opener. It uses air pressure to extract the cork.

This would have made the best Lock Picking Lawyer crossover episode

For bottles like that u want to heat a little under the cork and then u apply water or something to cool it down it should crack or in some cases i have seen the pressure from the heating of it will cause the cork to pop out

There is a technique used for whiskey were you heat up the neck of a bottle and then use a blade to cut a perfect circle around the neck, bypassing the cork completely. Maybe this would work with wine

If you really want to save the wine from the cork slushie I suggest heated wine tongs it cracks the bottle perfectly after the cork

I honestly assumed the wine cellar was a pipe dream, lost and irrecoverable. This is insane! Great find Carrickers!

Pour it through cheese cloth. Also look for the ports and fortitude ports! Cool find. Nice new gun locker any way

you can buy a wine popper, it is co2 powered you press the gas needle into the cork and it pops the cork out.with gas pressure.

The bottle/cork is perfect! Vintage bottles commonly have a cork that crumbles that why you double decant the wine using a sieve/ muslin cloth to get all the particles out.. also using a special cork screw which is designed for older bottles like a helix corkscrew or a gas pressured one!

If you have any bottles stored with wine touching cork or angled with cork closer to the ground than the bottom of the bottle is, try those bottles. From what I noticed, there may have been only a few in this orientation to try. Those bottles should still be good, even if they lost refrigeration.

Could always cut the top off the bottle below the corks if you arent trying to save or reuse the bottle and dont want cork in the wine

At this point Mere regrets throwing all those wine glasses in the first episode!

I love aged wines and maybe a quarter of my corks have at least partially lost their structural integrity. I use “the durand” to open these bottles and succeeded 95% percent off the time.