The Author Jonathon Alsop writes his syndicated wine column for almost 100 newspapers. He lives in Boston and is currently writing a book about wine in ancient Rome. Any wine shop you visit will feature a section of heavily discounted wines, close-outs of all sorts, or just some bin area filled with wines either dead or dieing. Often, the reason for the discount is clear. White wine that's gone orange or sickly brown is also a candidate for sure death.
Some wines end up in the wine graveyard for business reasons.
Often you'll find samples that are plenty good, just not good enough to invest in cases galore. More common, especially this time of year, is to see new vintages pushing last year's vintages into the close-out rack. A week ago, these same wines were full price in the big show, but once new vintages arrive, it's the end of the line. These are probably the best bets in wine bargains overall. 83 Burgundies have been bad-mouthed for years, and now they're retreating, unloved and marked down.