Expert: Paul Wagner - 6/10/2010

Question
I would like to know if this bottle has any value. My parents bought it when my father was stationed in the Air Force in France (when we had bases there). It was bought in 1963 and at the time it was 25 years old. This would now make it 70 years old.  Here is exactly what is on the label.  Couruoisier  The Brandy on Napoleon  Cognac Grande Fine Champagne.    Grande Rue Champagne Extra Vielli..   on the very bottom of the bottle is CX..  also   Jarnac-Cognac-France...   Thanks so much for your imput.

Answer
HI Karol

It's a good bottle of Cognac.  But distilled spirits like this don't improve with age in the bottle---the alcohol levels are too high.  The good news is that this is fine to drink, and should be worth about what a current bottling is worth--about $40-50.  But it won't have appreciated in value the way some fine wines do.

Sorry that I don't have more exciting news for you.

Paul Wagner