German historians are in debate whether or not to crack open the world’s oldest bottle of wine. The bottle of wine is on display in the Pfalz Historical Museum, sealed tightly with a wax coating. The bottle also contains a white liquid and has been dated at 1,650 years old.
The bottle of wine is considered a local wine maker’s product and was found buried alongside a Roman nobleman. The man was buried in Speyer in 350 AD. The grave and bottle was discovered in 1867.
Unsure of the results when air hits the liquid, the museum’s wine curator is positive the wine is micro-biologically unspoiled, however, the flavor would not be good. A small amount of olive oil and the hot wax used to seal the white wine has kept it in relatively good shape for the amount of time it has been in existence.
For now, the question remains, should the world’s oldest bottle of wine be opened?
Highest Priced Wine
In West Yorkshire, Lord Arohl Ganster purchased a bottle of rose wine at auction in 1993 that was 816 years of age. The bottle was purchased for a whopping $100,000,000 and has since been passed to his oldest son after his death in 2006. Ganster’s son is considering selling it to an anonymous buyer from France.
Oldest Grape Wine
The remains of a grape wine were unearthed in a site in Iran. The kitchen-area site and the grape wine found in jars are suspected to be about 7,000 years old. There were six jars uncovered. The jars were dug up in 1976 and appeared to be in the kitchen of a mud-brick structure in Hajji Firuz Tepe located in the Zagros mountain region.
Grapes are the Root of All Wine?
Grapes are at the base of all wine, or at least most wines. A mixture of rice, honey and fruit were the beginnings of wine about 9,000 years ago. All of these ingredients were mixed, sealed and allowed to ferment.
Recorded in the Guinness Book of Records is the oldest grape vine. The vine has been growing for over 400 years and is still producing grapes harvested for wines. The vine is in Slovenia, located in the small town of Maribor. The vine’s offspring can be found in places around the world. It is known to be of the Zametovka variety and is one of the oldest varieties in the world. The vine can be seen sprawling across the front of the Old Vine House. Vine experts of Paris have confirmed the age of the vine.
Oldest Barrel of Wine in the World
In Alsace, France, the world’s oldest barrel of wine has a vanilla and hazelnut scent and is over 500 years old. The 1472 vintage has a known alcohol content of 9.4%. The wine has been in the cellar at the Strasbourg Hospice in the eastern portion of France and remains there today.
Comments