Very Old Wines

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran.  I recently came across an associated press article about how the famous Paris restaurant Tour d’Argent was reducing the size of its wine collection via an auction. Not unusual, restaurants with big cellars will do that periodically.  However, most restaurants have not been around since 1582 and do not have items such as Armagnac from 1875 or Cognac from 1788. Today let’s talk about very old wine.

So this restaurant on the Paris left bank has been around for centuries, and beneath it is a labyrinth of cellars in which the extensive wine collection is stored. The wine cellar is very much a part of the restaurant’s history and prestigious reputation. One day while he was looking for something else the chief sommelier runs across four bottles of 1875 Armagnac. Apparently he had forgotten they had them. They were described as being covered in black fungus that resembled matted cat fur. Apparently they just wipe it off and move on. Shortly thereafter the restaurant decided to clean out the cellar. The older wines will go up at auction with bottles valued from 600 dollars to 4,500. The auction is expected to bring in about 1.5 million dollars. Now the question is, who will buy these ancient wines, and what will they do with them? My guess is it will be collectors with no intention of drinking them. Join me tomorrow as we take a look at aging wines for personal consumption, and thanks for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.