Ancient wines, whose age is estimated at millennia, come to us either in the form of solids or in the form of vinegar. That is, it is not possible to taste such a wine.
Experts say that wines made no earlier than 1700 can be considered suitable for consumption. And then, provided that the alcohol was stored in ideal conditions. It is these drinks that are included in our today's Top 5 oldest wines in the world.
5. "Muscat pink Magarach", 1836
This wine is listed in the Guinness Book as the oldest of all produced in Russia. In total, 3 bottles of this wine have been preserved, which are stored in the wine collection of the All-Russian Research Institute "Magarach" near Yalta.
For the production of wine "Magarach" and 200 years ago, today they use only grapes growing near the village of Otradnoye in the Yalta region.
4. Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1787
This bottle of wine was obtained by employees of the British company The Antique Wine Company, selling the best wines in the world.
The bottle once belonged to the first US president, Thomas Jefferson, and then became the property of the Rothschild family. The price of the bottle, according to experts, is about $ 156,000. However, buying a historic bottle is not easy - it was included in the whole collection of 48 vintage wines. Naturally, a considerable amount will be requested for such a set.
3. Ch? Teau d’Yquem, 1787
A bottle of this Ch? Teau d’Yquem was sold in 2006 for $ 90,000. Thus, it is the most expensive sweet white wine in the world. I got a bottle from an anonymous collector from America, who said that he was not going to drink the drink, which means that wine can still find a new owner.
Before the auction, the bottle adorned the Antique collection of rare spirits for many years.
2. "Jerez de la Fronteira", 1775
Spanish wine is stored in the Crimean Massandra Museum. Five bottles of sherry make up the pearl of the museum's wine collection, which includes just under a million bottles. One of the bottles was sold in 1990 to an anonymous Sotheby's for $ 50,000.
After the wine was auctioned twice more and sold at a comparable price, permission to export wine from Ukraine was given on behalf of the country's president.
Chronicles indicate that in 1964 one of the collection bottles was opened for tasting by order of N. Khrushchev. Everyone who had a chance to try sherry, said that the wine is in excellent condition.
1. R? Desheimer Apostelwein, 1727
In the basement of one of the restaurants in Bremen, 12 wine barrels are installed, each of which bears the name of the biblical apostle. The oldest suitable wine in the world is stored in the “Barrel of Judah”, the volume of which is nearly 3,000 liters.
From time to time, several bottles are decanted from the barrel, which are not sold, but presented to the monarchs and politicians as a gift. The last time sampling in bottles was made in 1950.
Several times young wine from the wine-growing city of Rüdesheim was added to the barrel the best yields - the sugar-fed young wine allows the old one to maintain its freshness.