200-YEAR-OLD WINE from a Subscriber's Collection - Will I survive this?!
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Published 2023-05-14
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I use this wine key: Laguiole en Aubrac Wine Key Ebony
I have used this glass in this Video: Gabriel Glas StandArt
I have tasted the following wines in this Video:
1825 Madeira I. B. Hinker’s Nachfolger München
The 100 Point Scoring System (from www.robertparker.com):
96-100: An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase and consume.
90 - 95: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.
80 - 89: A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
70 - 79: An average wine with little distinction except that it is soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
60 - 69: A below-average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive acidity and/or tannin, an absence of flavor or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.
50 - 59: A wine deemed to be unacceptable.
He was not joking this looks like a bottle of 1825 Madeira. Just so you understand: The grapes for this wine were harvested around about a century before my grandparents were born. It was ten years after Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo when Charles X was King of France.
In 1825 John Quincy Adams was elected as the 6th US president and George Stephenson's "Locomotion No. 1" became the 1st public train to carry passengers.
One of my subscribers gave me this bottle so that I can make a video about it and taste it … well he actually gave me two bottles. This one likes pretty perfect while the other one has a tear across the century … I will open this bottle and the other one is for reference.
How did this wine survive 198 years and is the wine still drinkable or will this be my last wine tasting? Lets find out. If you look at the bottle you can see that it is old. The irregularities in the glass, small air bubbles that are trapped in the glass and so on all indicate that it is old-fashioned bottle production.
Especially the base of the bottle looks very interesting. There is almost no punt in the bottle and it the seams are slightly crooked. The condition of the bottle is very good, and the capsules seem to match the information on the label.
The labels look great, but it is unclear when the wine was put in a bottle. You see: The wine is a Madeira. A wine named after the island Madeira off the coast of Morocco. Madeira wines are often aged for a long time before being bottled. The best can stay for decades in a barrel in hot conditions. The heat and the limited amount of oxygen entering the wine make the wine basically indestructible.
It is not clear when this wine was bottled and how old the label and the bottle actually are. What is relevant to the vintage on the bottle, however, is the year of the grape harvest – in this case 1825.
I talked to a friend of mine about this and he said that the bottle looks like an early 20th-century bottle and he wasn’t sure whether this is actually from 1825.
When it comes to the information on the label there is not that much to go by. Madeira is the origin and 1825 is the vintage but the label does not tell me which style of Madeira this is or who the producer is.
When you look at old Madeiras it is not uncommon that you only find the vintage and the origin on the label or printed directly onto the bottle.
It is a bit strange though that there no mention of the Producer though …
My research indicates that I. B. Hinkel Nachfolger was a Merchant in Bavaria that also sold wine and spirits to Prince Alfons of Bavaria. The business must have still been operational at the beginning of the 20th century as some invoices from 1914 are available to purchase online.
May I add for everyone watching this video going “How weird is it that people buy and sell old bottles of wine” – there are people who buy and sell old invoices! Anyways, it appears that the business does not exist anymore, so I wasn’t able to find out more details on the wine … I will have to rely on my nose and palate from here on out.
All Comments (21)
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I am overwhelmed by so many positive comments and people thanking me for donating this wine for the tasting. However, I am especially thankful to Konstantin for giving me this opportunity and for the amazing experience!!
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Can't wait for the future where we can try 200 year old Franzia blush zinfandel.
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"History smells like raisins, toffee, and a touch of glue." - Konstantin Baum
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Thanks to Sebastian--seems like a sweet guy. Great episode--full of history. Imagine what that bottle has seen.
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My brother got to taste a 1786 Madeira -- from before the US constitution was signed -- when a restaurant closed 20 years. I'm still jealous to this day. He described it similar to the wine in this video but added that every drop that touched his tongue lingered for at least 3 minutes. One glass could likely last you an entire day.
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It's probably a Solera, or, it was shipped in cask to Germany and bottled between 1890-1925, in Germany, hence the newer cork and the label at all (Madeira from Madeira usually had chalked letters and no labels back then). Or both, could be cask that was topped off in Madeira over time and then shipped in the 1890-1925 span. Reasoning being for the time span is that the design of the label very much looks like some bottles I had from 1921, 1934, etc of another probably German or Danish bottling of Margaux (the muncipality, sadly not Chateau Margaux), which would fit the theory. That pastel colored, white background, simple but colored design just fits that period.
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Despite fortified wines easily lasting for a 100 years, getting hold of a drinkable 200-year bottle automatically grants 100 points on my hypothetical score 😜 It wouldn't get there without quality and it is liquid history before anything else😊
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Even if it was stored in casks or whatever in 1825 then bottled later, it's still wine from 1825. Incredible.
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Those lines are from the 3 piece mold where the bottle was shaped, not 3 pieces of glass soldered together. Bottles are shaped like lightbulbs, taking a blob of molten glass and blowing the inside with air while enclosing the glass into a mold.
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Many thanks to the generosity of this subscriber. You’ve educated and brought joy to many of us!
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love the fact your drinking a bottle of wine from the time when Napoleon was just defeated and exiled.
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My uncle has a 1815 Madeira bottle. I’ve been trying to get him to open it. It has no label only white letters. The oldest I’ve tasted was a 1863 Madeira. Amazing experience. Great video!
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An absolute amazing experience. Thanks Sebastian and Konstantin for sharing it with us !
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Konstantin, you do such a great job of describing your experience, that it's almost like we're tasting it. Thank You
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You already know this is going to be your most watched video ever 🔥 you are killing it as always!
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Wow, what a treat! Amazing that he shared it with us. I would never have thought such tastings vicariously through you would be so enjoyable to watch, but they really are. Love these old bottle videos.
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Wonderful video, Konstantin! Your videos are always a treat and this one was extra special. Thank you (and Sebastian) for sharing this experience!
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Thank you Sebastian and Konstantine for sharing this with us!
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Wow, I wish I could taste this wine !!! Thanks for sharing the experience, Kostnatin!
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Judging by the bottle, I believe the wine is old but not that old, and the year is a referral not of the vintage but the founding year of the house
