Credits: Article and images by Ken Gargett @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2023/09/22/apostelwein-vintage-1727-how-does-a-3-hundred-year-old-wine-taste-sensational/
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One report, from a tasting in the Bahamas (well, just as likely as Scandinavia, I guess), reported that the Graycliff Hotel in Nassau had a bottle that they priced at US$200,000. That would exceed prices, even though it is extremely rare, suggested by Winesearcher today. There, the one half-bottle which is on offer at the moment – in France – is offered at A$30,000.
The Bremer Ratskeller in Bremen
My Scandinavian friend had tried it half a dozen times before that evening, so probably knows the wine as well as anyone. At the time, he advised us that it had been a combination of three vintages held in barrels in the ancient Bremer Ratskeller winery, 1683, 1717 and 1727. The town of Bremen owns the Bremer Ratskeller winery. The cellar is under the town hall and apparently, town councilors do have access to the barrels (so perhaps evaporation is not the only culprit as is about to be suggested below).
Wine barrels stored in the Bremer Ratskeller cellar
Many, many years ago, there were twelve barrels of these wines, but evaporation reduced the contents, and they were blended into a single barrel. The Apostelwein name came from the fact that originally there were those twelve barrels. Apparently, that final barrel had been dubbed the ‘Judas’ barrel. Make what you will of that.
The barrel/bottles were labeled 1727, as this was the youngest vintage in the mix. But who really knows? My friend believed that 6,000 half bottles of this wine had been taken from the barrel, bottled, and then offered for sale back in 1960. The alcohol is believed to be extremely low, as can happen with certain German wines with considerable sweetness. One suggestion was that the wine had 300 grams/liter of sugar.
The reports that still exist suggest that 1727 was a great vintage in the region. No surprise there.
Michael Broadbent, who ran Christie’s wine auctions in London for many years, has stated that his/Christie’s first record of the wine dated back to 1829, when a dozen bottles were sold for the sum of five pounds. He noted that this was a considerable amount at the time.
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Credits: Article and images by Ken Gargett @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2023/09/22/apostelwein-vintage-1727-how-does-a-3-hundred-year-old-wine-taste-sensational/
