1811

1811 was regarded at the time as the greatest vintage in living memory, and is now universally held to be the finest vintage of the 19th century throughout the vineyards of Western Europe. 

A long hot summer and a warm dry autumn meant an abundant harvest of perfectly ripe grapes, from Bordeaux to Burgundy, from the Rheingau to the vineyards of Tokaji. In Cognac, the folle blanche reached an unequalled level of perfection, and the distiller...

There were perfect growing conditions and the picking began in Bordeaux on September 14th. The vintage was reported to be magnificent and abundant. "It sometimes happens that a good vintage is glorified by the appearance of a comet. One such year was 1630, but 1811, more famous.... is the vintage usually referred to as the comet year." (Alexis Lichine's Encyclopaedia of Wines & Spirits); "wines so marvellous that they defied superlatives" (H. Warner Allen) A History of Wine). Lafite "drinking gracefully at 115 years of age" (Maurice Healey Stay Me with Flagons) was considered to be the finest red Bordeaux ever made and the pioneer of great vintage clarets, and ranked historically by H. Warner Allen, with the Opimian vintage of 121 B.C.

The precious bottle of 1811 Château d’Yquem became the world's most valuable bottle of white wine, after it was sold for £75,000.
So whoever is eventually charged with opening it - if Mr Vanneque decides to - will need to be incredibly careful with the delicate drink and hope that they don't drop the cork inside.

The 1811 Chateau d’Yquem has earned its hefty price tag after critics raved about it. The costly tipple is prized as one of the greatest wines in the history of Bordeaux and one of the most supreme vintages ever produced. It was rated the ultimate ‘100 points’ by wine critic Robert Parker and again 100 points by The Wine Spectator's Per-Henrik Mansson in 1999. But the 200-year-old bottle had to go through rigorous checks to establish its huge value.

The bottle was accompanied by a ’record of inspection’ and the label was examined and compared to the 1811 paper labels held in the files at the chateau. An inspection of the glass bottle confirmed that the shape, punt and colour appeared to be in accordance with other examples previously seen from the early vintages of the 19th century. In 1811, the Flaugergues Comet (aka The Great Comet of 1811) passed by the earth. Now 1811 has become the most well known of the so-called 'Comet Vintages.'