The Worlds 5 Oldest Wines

Many years ago Clark and I celebrated her 50th birthday with family and friends at the Graycliff resort in Nassau, Bahamas. It truly is a bucket list experience with the epitome of luxury and fine food and wine. They have an extensive cellar and within that cellar is what is called the million-dollar rack where their rarest wines are stored. They used to have a bottle of allegedly Thomas Jefferson's bottle of Lafite Rothschild from 1789 that allegedly was dropped and broken years after we visited. The wine that impressed me the most was the 1727 Riesling described in this article. I was taken aback by the pristine condition of the bottle in a wine that old. The Graycliff represented at the time that it was the oldest bottled wine in the world which today is no longer true as we will see. 

The Speyer Wine Bottle

The Speyer wine bottle is believed to be the oldest bottle of wine in the world and is dated to around 325-350 AD. The bottle was unearthed in 1867 and one of 16 found in a sarcophagus in the grave of a Roman nobleman and his wife – the bottle was the only one still intact. The liquid, which is no longer alcohol, has most likely survived this long because the bottle was sealed with wax and olive oil was poured into the bottle to preserve the wine. 

Since its discovery, experts have debated whether or not the wine should be opened and analyzed. For now, the bottle remains unopened as part of the Pfalz Historical Museum collection in the German City of Speyer. The concern is what will happen the minute the wine is exposed to air. 

Strasbourg Barrel France 1472

The wine cellar under the Strasbourg city hospital (Cave Historique des Hospices de Strasbourg) in France is home to the oldest barrel-stored wine in the world. The barrel is marked with a date of 1472 and the wine inside is still drinkable. The wine has been tasted only three times in its history which I find amazing. I wish I could have been there. Once in 1576 to celebrate the alliance between Strasbourg and Zurich; a second time in 1716 after the hospital burned down; and finally in 1944 when Strasbourg was liberated by General Leclerc during World War II. The wine was most recently transferred to a new barrel in 2014 after its original barrel started leaking.  A new handmade egg-shaped barrel was made for the wine by two of France’s most-respected coopers Xavier Gouraud and Jean-Marie Blanchard.  I find it interesting that they put it in one of the new egg-shaped barrels that were invented with the intention of better extracting and aging wines today.  I guess they figure even though it was made in 1472 it still has an opportunity for improvement!

Tokaji Royal Saxon 1650-1690

This bottle of Tokaji, dated between 1650 – 1690, was sold for an undisclosed amount in a 1927 auction that took place in the Saxon capital Dresden. During the auction, 62 bottles of Tokaji from the Royal cellar of Augustus II were sold. This wine is believed to be the oldest intact Tokaji bottle and was certified as authentic by the Foundation of the House of Wettin, which administrated the heritage of the former Saxon monarchy.

Made primarily from the Furmint grape, Tokaji wines are some of the most famous in the World, yet many people have no knowledge of them.  They are a very sweet wine, drank today primarily with dessert as well as with Foie Gras.  Originally these wines were produced on the island of Malvasia under the rule of Greece and then later Venice.  In 1358 Hungary's King Louis the Great received 30 barrels of the wine as a war indemnity.  Fast forward 200 years and Hungary began producing the wine and ever since Tokaji is known as a Hungarian sweet wine.  Tokaji has a long storied history.  Paracelsus, the famous Swiss alchemist, performed prolonged experiments with Tokaji's grapes attempting to extract gold from them.  The soil in Hungary that these grapes have grown in is known to have gold ore.  Early in the 20th-century physicians would prescribe Tokaji Aszu(the rarest and sweetest made) to patients in the belief that the gold rumored to be in the subsoil was responsible for the alleged health-giving properties in the wine.   As late as 30 or 40 years modern-day Rheumatologists were giving gold injections to patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis that actually treated the disease.  Today we have better drugs but not any cheaper! Another well-known story involves Catherine the Great of Russia who allegedly was paid tribute with Tokaji wines.  From 1733 to 1800 a company of Russian soldiers was regularly stationed in Hungary with the sole job of buying, shipping, and guarding these wines for the czar's court.

Apostelwein Wine 1727

The Apostelwein 1727 comes from the famous 12 Apostles’ cellar in the Bremer Ratskeller located in Bremen, Germany. The wine comes from 12 barrels of wines in vintages of 1683, 1717, and 1727, which were reduced in number due to evaporation – when there was only one barrel left, the wine was bottled in the 1960s. 

The most expensive bottle of Apostelwein 1727, valued at $200,000 belongs to the Graycliff Hotel in Nassau and is one of the rarest wines in the world. The wine is supposedly still drinkable due to its high sugar content. The picture is one I took at the Graycliff cellar. At the time I could not believe how new the label looked. Turns out I was right. The wine may be old but the wine was first bottled from barrel in the 1960's so the label is only around 60 years old but still in great condition for 60 years. It clearly demonstrates what a bottle of wine should look like when stored properly. 

Massandra Sherry 1775

In 2001, a bottle of the Massandra Sherry de la Frontera 1775 was sold at a Sotheby's auction for $43,500 in London making it the most expensive bottle of Sherry in the world. The wine was produced by the Massandra Winery, located in the Republic of Crimea, which is home to an extensive collection of valuable Russian and European wines. 

In 1922, after the Russian Revolution, the winery was nationalized and its cellars became a protected institution. In 2015, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, allegedly drank from a bottle of Jeres de las Frontera worth $90,000. This picture shown is also a good example of what you might find when visiting cellars, especially in France. I have been in hundreds of cellars in France where you see bin after bin of dust-covered very old bottles usually with only the vintage year and the name of the wine on a plaque attached to the bin which on average stores 100 bottles I always ask the owner what they intend to do with the wines and the usual answer we open one bottle every year or two to make sure it is OK and someday in the future we might clean the bottles, put a label on them and sell them. The number of cellars with hundreds if not thousands of old and rare wine is mind-boggling. Every cellar I visited all had these cellars which are sometimes called their "library" selections. One vineyard I have visited in Bourgogne France is the Carillon vineyards whose original owner was born in 1520. I never got to see their "library" but I am willing to bet deep in their cellar are some very old and great wines even older than the ones I tell you about today. Then you consider the thousands of other family cellars in France alone and the potential for very old great wines is infinite.