Price advice needed

What's a fair price to pay for a single bottle of 1990 Chateau Latour, excellent fill, perfect outward appearance and label, but no specifics on the provenence (storage history). Thanks for any advice.

$450-550 - without provenance, buyer beware and adjust price to suit - it will be a long time before you (should) open it, and a great disappointment if it tanks on you from bad storage.

On Winebid.com's 12/16/2001 auction one of these sold for US$380, but on the 12/02/2001 auction two sold - one for $320 and one for $340. This was in a US auction site with the wine located in either Napa, CA or Chicago, IL. What it may be worth elsewhere in the world in general or in Japan in particular I have no idea.

What's a fair price to pay for a single bottle of 1990 Chateau Latour, excellent fill, perfect outward appearance and label, but no specifics on the provenence (storage history). Thanks for any advice.

Buy with care here. 1986-1990 Bordeaux, for various reasons, are much more likely to have suffered heat damage if bought here in the US. Being stored at 70 degrees in a store, or even some more drastic temperatures over less time, will not always be outwardly visible.

I say this based on several hundred tasting notes for top Bordeaux in the past 5 years noting that there was a strong bias in the 1986-1990 vintages for poor storage.

That said, in the current market I think $350-400 would be reasonable for these.

Two things to look at when deciding on these,

1. Where are they coming from? If they are currently in proper storage that could be a good sign.

2. Look very carefully at the label. If it is the slightest bit yellowing, ie not totally blistering pure shiny white, that is a sign that the wine sat out in the light (ie on a store shelf) for a long time. You might need to have a perfect bottle to compare to see the slight color difference, but this can be a big warning sign- even just for minor color differences. And it is an especially important clue when looking at wines from this era that appear to be otherwise in top condition.

Hope this helps!