Wines with damaged labels...should they sell for a discount?

not sure if there’s a general board opinion on this but if there’s a slightly smudged label, should it sell for less than another bottle with a clean label? what is an appropriate discount? im not talking a torn and destroyed label from a 30 year old bottle but more of a cosmetic slight.

does anyone care about this having bottles with smudged labels in their cellars?

I’d buy such bottles in a heartbeat. Love a discount since I care about what’s in the bottle, not what’s on it.

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Sell where?

It depends on the purpose for which it is being purchased. If it’s being purchased to drink, then “No,” provided that the damaged label isn’t indicative of handling or storage issues that might affect the quality/condition of the wine in the bottle. If it’s being purchased as an investment, display/museum piece, then Yes, you should expect bottles with damaged labels to sell at a discount that is appropriately relative.

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If you are a wine drinker, no.
If you are a wine collector, yes.

Pristine labels look great in my cellar but doesn’t matter at all when the nectar is in my glass :relieved:

Is there an echo in here? … echo in here?echo in here?echo in here? …

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That doesn’t make much sense since if you are collecting as a showpiece you’re not going to buy the bottle a damaged label regardless of the price.

Am I buying or selling?

This.

What if the label is stained with wine? I recently backed out of a wine purchase for this reason. I suspected the wine was fine as the leakage seemed to come from another bottle. But I also figured if the other bottle leaked, something was wrong enough with the storage at some point to allow that to happen, so may as well buy a different bottle somewhere else. This was an older bottle btw.

Nicks or scratches on labels have zero impact on value in my mind (as a wine drinker). You can scrape labels very easily when bottles are moved within the cellar.

This, to me, seems simple. An older bottle is worth less if the label is tattered. If the label is damaged, it will sell at a lesser price. None of this guarantees what the liquid in the bottle will be like, but collectors (and drinkers) will pay more for a bottle that does not appear to be compromised.

As well as investment demand being reduced, I’d expect restaurant demand also to be reduced.

I think very high end bottles with blemishes on the label (of any kind) should be disclosed. Often those are being purchased with the potential for resale, and even if not, it might matter at an appraisal, or (sadly) for an estate valuation. The one and only time I purchased a Lafleur it was a damaged label (torn) that was disclosed and discounted thusly by the retailer. This was maybe 20+ years ago and I had not realized that aspect then.

Perhaps now with the ease of posting pictures and online auctions, visuals are better and people can look more closely.

Discount for damaged labels are pretty much a given, though how deep it is depends on the amount and type of damage.

For a host of reasons, many buyers just don’t want to purchase wines with cosmetic issues or are more reluctant to do so. There’s always the concern over storage conditions, and for better or for worst, a visual inspection of the wine is the first hurdle for most wine buyers.

Let’s leave aside the issue with stained labels, as those can often indicate other storage issues. But if we’re just talking minor cosmetic scuffs, for the most part it comes down to a matter of relative value. For example, if you had two identical bottles for sale at the same price, but one has a scuffed label, most buyers prefer to purchase more pristine wine. After all, if they are both the same price, why would you go with the one with the torn label? Or indeed, why should they pay more for something that is “damaged”? What if instead of a wine, we were talking about two cars? Same make, model, year, mileage and service history, etc. identical cars, but one had a couple of dents and scratches. Would one be inclined to purchase the one with cosmetic damage for the same price as the pristine one even though functionally they are both identical?

It can be frustration as a seller when encountering those situations, especially if you know the wine has been stored in otherwise good condition but the reality is that most people also do care about the appearance of what they are purchasing. For example, in one of my wine fridges, the shelves don’t always fit larger bottles well and those labels can get torn a bit through the act of me pulling out the shelf. I recently had a high end wine where this happened. It was a minor scuff, but it just so happened to be exactly the place where the vintage was noted on the label. I didn’t mind this for my personal consumption as I knew it had been stored well and what the wine was, but for resale purposes, that bottles would have fetched a much lower price.

As a buyer though, for those that can see beyond the cosmetic issues, damaged labels can present a nice little savings opportunity.

if no one is willing to buy them priced as if the labels were undamaged, then the answer is fairly obvious.

I don’t mind wear from maturity but do have issues with big scratches, tears ands serious wine stains. What puzzles me is when I see bottles for auction that state signs of past seepage… who buys those?

That’s one of the reasons why those types of bottles are usually discounted from more pristine bottles.

I’ve taken a shot on a few wines with signs of past seepage. All aged rieslings, those tend to leak pretty much regardless of storage conditions, so there have been a couple of interesting bottles at attractive enough prices where I was willing to take a shot at them. There’s always someone willing to take a flyer on those types of bottles if the price is right for them.

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I think that the reality is that the market price is a combination of demand from collectors and drinkers, so unfortunately, the price has to be dependent on the label condition.

Another thing is that although I plan to drink every bottle I buy, it is always good to have the option to resell it.

The only other thing I see to consider is that we often feel the damage to the label is a sign of the previous owner not caring for the bottle, making other issues more likely, which may or may not be true.

With that said, I am not overly concerned with the labels. I would pay slightly more for a perfect label, but also love to find the deals with issues to the label.

On a related note, with whiskey you occasionally see bottles signed by the master distiller. Pretty frustrating when you find someone selling a rare bottle that you want, and they want 10% more because of the signature.

I actually am happy to see older bottles with signs of mold, etc. on the label. Suggests to me the potential for having been stored properly.