BECOV NAD TEPLOU — Eight bottles of Chateau d'Yquem wine from 1892 and 1896 were restored after being hidden for decades under the floor of a chapel at Becov nad Teplou castle in the Czech Republic. The bottles were part of a collection of 136 wines concealed beneath the chapel floorboards alongside the Reliquary of St. Maurus.
The collection originally belonged to the Beaufort-Spontin noble family, who fled Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II. Decades later, communist secret police discovered the hidden cache. In 1984, the Beaufort-Spontin family asked American businessman Danny Douglas to secretly retrieve the wine, though authorities uncovered his intentions during the permit process, leading to the official discovery of the collection.
Ten years ago, Chateau d'Yquem initiated a rescue operation to preserve the historic bottles. Laboratory tests confirmed the wine’s authenticity, and the winery replaced the original corks and fitted the bottles with protective capsules. Due to oxidation, only five full original bottles were ultimately returned to Becov after re-bottling.
“We tasted a very small quantity to be sure that, aromatically and in terms of balance on the palate and overall perception, the wine corresponded to a Chateau d'Yquem of that age,” said the winery's cellar master Toni El Khawand. “The wine impressed us with its freshness on the palate. It is very, very fresh, with an almost acidic freshness.” He described aromas including cedar, dried fruit, saffron, cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate, coffee, mocha, and oud.
El Khawand added, “What we're really doing when we open it is unveiling a time capsule. We pull out this cork that has sealed the liquid off from its surroundings and, in a way, from the passage of time.”
Becov castle plans to exhibit the entire collection, which also includes an 1899 Pedro Ximenez sherry and an 1892 port. The castle has launched a fundraising campaign for the new exhibition. “If we raise the money, we will definitely want to do a more thorough analysis of the wines. And if we can recondition the rest, we'll definitely go for it,” said Katerina Nyvltova, the collections manager at Becov. The Czech National Heritage Institute estimates the collection’s value at approximately $5 million, though no auction is currently planned.