Officials have revealed a remarkable find: a cache of 130-year-old wine hidden beneath a chapel floor in a medieval castle. These historic bottles were discovered at Bečov Castle in the western Czech Republic, a fortress dating back nearly 700 years to the early 14th century.
The wine collection, restored by the renowned French winery Château d’Yquem, consists of 133 bottles dating from 1892 to 1899. Reuters reported that the bottles were likely hidden at the end of World War II. Today, they are proudly on display at Bečov Castle.
Bečov Castle was confiscated by then-Czechoslovak authorities after World War II. The owners, the Beaufort-Spontin family, were labeled Nazi sympathizers. The carefully restored wines are now accessible to the public.
Toni El Khawand, the cellar master at Château d’Yquem, explained that the wine benefited from optimal conservation conditions. Stored in an underground chapel with thick walls, the wines were kept in a cold and humid environment. “Those were excellent conditions to store a wine,” El Khawand noted, highlighting the preservation of moisture and a constant temperature.
In 1985, authorities discovered the hidden wine following an inquiry by an American businessman, who sought permission to recover a concealed object. This prompted the uncovering of the wine cache.
In 2016, experts assessed the wine’s quality by extracting a sample with a Coravin device, which allows sampling without damaging the cork. The restoration team even preserved the bottles’ accumulated dust, ensuring authenticity.
The discovery at Bečov Castle is unusual yet not unique. Similar instances have occurred, such as when a 150-year-old bottle of alcohol was found in a former Utah mining town. Experts later identified this as likely an apple cider rather than beer.
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