Hi i’m konstantin baum master of wine And today i’m going to taste a very Special wine a wine that was made before The car and the telephone were even Invented this is a bottle of 1863 Burmester port wine and it’s in pretty Good condition considering that it’s 159 Years old for you guys i’m going to open This bottle and taste it is it going to Be delicious or is it going to be poison We are going to find out i hope you guys Are ready for this because i’m not Really sure whether i am but Let’s go [Music] Let’s start with the most obvious Question how did i get this bottle of Wine and the honest answer is i’m not Really sure people give me wine all the Time and oftentimes i also get old Bottles of wine most of them are more For decorative purposes because they are Not good anymore but every now and then There’s a nice bottle of wine mixed in Between the other day i looked through Some of those bottles and i found this One it says 1863 in bright red letters On the label but i thought that was the Year the winery was founded i also read That the wine was aged in barrels and That it was bottled in 1932 and then Again bottled in 1942 for some reason But i did not really know what all that Meant i therefore contacted my friend
Dimitry a master of wine and a port Expert and sent him some pictures and he Reached out to the producer but Burmester does not have any records of Their wines reaching this far back However my context confirmed that this Wine is in fact a wine from the 1863 Vintage it was aged in oak vessels until 1932 when it was bottled into large Glass balloons so called demijons and Kept there for 10 years in 1942 it was Bottled into this bottle think about What this wine must have lived through 1863 was the year abraham lincoln issued The emancipation proclamation to free The slaves the year the english football Association was established and the year Rockefeller started his oil business That eventually made him the richest man In the world on top of that it was an Extraordinary vintage for port most Vintage shots don’t go back until 1863 But i found some tasting notes rating This one 100 points and taylor’s another Famous pod wine house made a special Bottling of their 1863 vintage and sold It for several thousand dollars a bottle They are saying about the vintage that The harvest of 1863 was one of the Finest of the 19th century and the last Great port vintage before phylloxera Spread throughout the duro valley yes This is another interesting part of the Story because phylloxera the insect that
Destroyed most vineyards in europe in The late 19th early 20th century was First discovered in 1863 in the south of France after seeing their vineyards Going down the drain winemakers realized That they could combat phylloxera by Grafting their own vines onto american Rootstocks which are resistant to the Laos however since then almost all Vineyards in europe are planted on American rootstocks and there are some That are saying that the old not grafted Vines were producing better quality so As this wine is definitely from a Vintage before the vines had to be Ripped out in portugal this is from one Hundred percent vitus vinifera of vines And from a great vintage on top of that The vintage is one of the most important Factors when it comes to the Age-worthiness of a wine if you want the Wine to age for centuries though it has To be from a great producer from a great Vintage and it should be a sweet wine Because those wines tend to age longer This one checks all of the boxes and on Top of that it’s made in a way that Should make it even more age-worthy this One today would be considered a Courierta crieta by law are tony ports That are made with grapes from one Vintage and they should be aged for at Least seven years in cask but remember This was aged for 69 years in cask i
Have here the current release from Burmester the same winery as this one This is the 2011 koreator and i’m going To taste a little bit as an appetizer to Get to know the style of the house a Little bit more The winery was established in 1750 johan Wilhelm burmester took over the winery In 1834 and named it jw burmester and Today it’s just called burmester the Wine is a dark tawny color it gets brown Towards the rim but the core is really Red it smells of plums figs oranges Roasted nuts and a little bit of smoke On the palate this one is really rich And concentrated with lots of body and Lots of power this is a fortified sweet Wine which means that during Fermentation alcohol was added to stop The fermentation you therefore have wine With 20 of alcohol and quite a lot of Sweetness is this the best collateral I’ve tried no definitely not i think This is pretty good but it’s not Outstanding i would rate this 89 points Great effort maybe even a little bit too Young but i’m hoping that the other one Is better than that okay now i’m ready For the big kahuna the head honcho the Top dog of the tasting the 1863 but it Would be a bit boring just to pull the Cork with one of those here on top of That it would probably not work because Corks and really old bottles of wine
Deteriorate and they just fall apart as Soon as you try to pull them out so the Best but also most dangerous option is This instrument of torture port tonks The twist is though that i’ve never used Them before and you might ask yourself Now is it really sensible to use port Tongs for the first time on one of the Oldest bottles in the world the simple Answer is no but Let’s do it So the first step is you heat the Bottoms up so the second step is that You put those tongs on the neck of the Bottle You should have it below where the cork Ends but in this case i don’t think it’s Going to work because the Bottle is just shaped funny so you want To make sure that the bottle gets really Hot around the rim And now you just need some ice water And a brush So the quick change in temperature Should cause this bottle to break now Let’s see Now you just Gently Take it off Okay this only kind of worked because of The funny shape of the neck of the Bottle or the funny shape of my poor Tongues i couldn’t actually go below the Cork and now i still have a piece of
Cork lying on top of my beautiful port One to get rid of that and then Hopefully i can enjoy it so Very Very careful focus Focus Damn This was more difficult than i thought It would be but i think we are fine There’s just one big chunk of cork Floating in that bottle so let’s start Tasting if i don’t survive this tell my Wife and my kids that i love them but This doesn’t smell too bad but first of All check out this color it looks a Little bit like a brandy really it’s Dark Brown with a little bit of red but just A tiny tiny bit What the Okay this is 159 years old and it smells amazing it’s Just beautiful there are notes of Raisins coming out of the glass notes of Figs dried fruits roasted nuts it’s just Beautiful very complex There are multi layers to this and I’m just stunned Man I could sit all day here just smelling This wine the thing is the wine was aged For a long time in barrel and barrel Aging for a great wine makes the wine Almost indestructible but i thought
After 159 years this would kind of get Weaker and won’t be as intense and Complex but not at all if you age a wine For a long time in barrel you also lose A little bit of water so the wine gets More concentrated water evaporates Through the barrel staves and this makes The wine even more rich and concentrated But now let’s taste it I have to be careful that i don’t start Tearing up here because this is just Beautiful it’s an amazing amazing wine On the palette it’s actually less sweet Than the 2011 and it has so much power And concentration Length it stays on your palette For a long time i think it will stay There for another minute or two And it’s just so complete this is one of Those wines that make me wonder what we Actually did over the course of the last 159 years because you can’t make wine Better than this they really had it Figured out back then already if there Was ever one that deserved 100 points Then it’s this one this is just Beautiful a perfect wine and i’m so glad That i could share this experience with You guys i hope You kind of understand what is actually Happening in my class right now My god I hope you enjoyed this video if you did Please like and subscribe to make sure
That this video is shared with more People to get them to take part in this Amazing experience my question of the Day is what is the oldest wine you have Ever tasted please comment down below I’m definitely going to share this one With lots of people whatever you guys do Stay thirsty because i’m so going to Stay thirsty Bye [Music] You