Oldest wine we've tasted?

WINE TALK
1

Age of the oldest wine you’ve tasted?

  • < 20 years
  • 20 - 39 years
  • 40 - 59 years
  • 60 - 79 Years
  • 80 - 99 years
  • 100 - 124 years
  • 125 - 149 years
  • 150 - 200 years

  • 200 years

0 voters

My question about the 1916 Pommard I’ll be having in a couple of weeks got me curious: what is the oldest wine we’ve tasted?

I’ve defined the ranges broadly, to get good statistics (and so it’s not overly tedious).

Me: an 1896 Madeira from the Leacock Collection (via the Rare Wine Company) in 2011, 115 years.
[Current] 2nd oldest: 1916 Rieussec in 2009, 93 years.
[Soon-to-be 2nd oldest: 1916 Quancard Pommard, 100 years]
3rd oldest: 1928 Coutet in 2008, 80 years.

2

1864 Madiera and then a handful of Bordeaux from the 1920s, all thanks to Bern’s.

3

1836 Madeira in a flight of 4 old Madeiras, at Blue Fin, Times Sq. NYC. This was around 2002 or 2003. Quite an experience.

4

1812 Port.

5

Thanks to the generosity of Chuck Miller, I got to try an 1875 Madeira. Amazing wine and a fun night.

6

Madeira’s and ports are going to throw results pretty dramatically - too easy to find old examples. My oldest non-port is 1987, but I’ve had several (much) older ports.

7

1890 Madeira courtesy of Eric Ifune.

8

1899 Seppelt 100 year old Tawny port, enjoyed in 2006, unbelievably good. 2nd was a 1907 Sauternes, in 2008. Don’t remember who produced the Sauternes but it tasted really good though overly sweet and about the color of tea.

9

150+ year old Madeiras are still not that uncommon (or even that extremely valuable, although prices have gone up a lot in recent years), and the great thing is that most of them seem to still drink very well.

What is hard to find now is great per-phylloxera 150ish year old wines from most of Europe.

I’ve had a few from this era on (1865 Bouchard, 1874 Lafite, 1878 Mouton, 1899 Mouton) and they have all been superb. Had lots of great wines though (red and whites) from the 1920’s on.

Seems that a lot of “great” wines in France were made pre-phylloxera, and it’s not until the 1920’s that you seem to see consistently great wine made again (big generalization - I know).

10

1863 Madeira.

Non-fortified: 1947 Sebastiani CS.

Bordeaux: 1961.

Have a 1915 Bourdy rouge, will Audouze when I open it.

What a great hobby, huh?

11

1790s Rhone.

TTT

12

I’ve got a dozen or more older, I’ll bring one next time. Glad you enjoed it!

13

1863 madeira

14

never had a wine with you, so we can’t answer the question.

15

Madeira yes. Ports prior to 1900 are quite rare.

16

Madeiras from 1790, 1794 and 1802
Bordeaux: 1934 Beychevelle
Champagne: 1966 Krug
Burgundy: 1959 Echezeaux
Port: 1927 Taylor
Barolo: 1941 Monprivato

17

Not counting a 19th century Madeira, I’ve had a couple of 1949 Jadot red Burgs.

18

In my youth, I several times tasted claret from the '20s but they weren’t at that time spectacularly old; between their 30th and 40th anniversaries. I recall that the 1928 Château Latour was still a bit closed. 1929 was then considered the star '20s vintage.

More recently, about the turn of the century, I had a couple Barolet Burgundies from 20s vintages, 1921 and 1924 IIRC. Both were in surprisingly good condition for lesser vintages. And there was a superb Corton 1929 from Bouchard P&F at millenium tasting organised by the RVF; these bottles came from the firm’s own cellars at Beaune castle but I guess that several bottles must have been sacrificed to ensure that all the guests had wine in a great condition.

19

Red wine : 1920 Ch. La Rose, Aalholm castle cellar.
Port : 1934 Dows vintage.
White sweet : 1957 Tokaji Essencia.

-And several Madeiras with spectacular old years stated on the younger labels/prints. -Only tasted these in small samples.

20

1863 Latour in 2000 is the oldest Bordeaux- it was in fabulous shape, a solid 90,but a 100 pt experience and 1875 Richebourg in Beaune from a friends cellar. Also in beautiful condition. It always helps when they’ve never been moved from home.