25.12.2014 Archival wines in a Nazi bunker

Six years ago, a pair of searchers from Poland found archival wines in a Nazi bunker. They were exploring the cramped maze of Third Reich tunnels near the town of Swinoujscie. It's believed that no one has set foot there in the last 70 years.

Searchers discovered two bottles of French Bordeaux wine in a rotting ammunition box. One dates back to 1938 and is a red, specifically a Chateaux Grand Barrail Lamarzelle. It was made at the Chateau Grand Barrail in St. Emilion. This place is famous for its clay terrain. The second wine is a white Chateau Latour-Matillac, vintage 1939. Twelve years ago, one bottle was valued at £270.

Although the temperature underground usually provides ideal conditions for storing wine, it is quite possible that it has gone bad. But even such bottles are of interest to historians and wine collectors.

We wrote here: Searchers find archival wine in Nazi bunker

Archival wines owned by the Nazis have been found several times in the past. In 2007, a bottle from the collection was even auctioned off and known to have been given to high-ranking officers at Hitler's 54th birthday.

The bottle dates back to 1943. The label depicts the dictator in a suit and tie with the Nazi symbol - an eagle with outstretched wings and a swastika. The rare bottle was found in a garage in France. The neck is sealed, probably with wax, which is intact. But the wine is apparently no longer drinkable.

"In the 20 years I've been involved in auctions, I've never heard of or seen anything like this. It is quite unusual to find such a thing. However, I have no moral problem selling such a thing. It is just an interesting piece of history. It's the sort of thing that will probably appeal to collectors of Nazi war memorabilia," thinks Paul Keen, who ran the auction.

According to Decanter magazine's website, there is an ongoing interest in wine-related fascist memorabilia. Italian producer Alessandro Lunardelli has caused controversy in the past by selling wines with Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini labels to German tourists in Italy.

Four years ago, Finnish divers found crates of champagne and beer in a sunken ship that had been lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea for some 200 years. The wine was fresh and drinkable...

Sources: www.thedrinksbusiness.com, www.theguardian.com