Czech castle's cache of precious wine goes on display in new-old bottles

BECOV NAD TEPLOU, Czech Republic — A collection of late 19th-century wine that was hidden away for years under a chapel floor in the Czech Republic's Becov castle has been painstakingly restored by the prestigious French winery Château d’Yquem and is now on public display.

The 133 bottles, most dating from 1892 to 1899, were discovered in 1985. They had been hidden there at the end of World War II by the owners of Becov castle, located close to the border with Germany.

Toni El Khawand, Chateau d’Yquem’s cellar master, said the cache provided the perfect conditions for preserving the wine.

Its quality was proven when it was tested in 2016 using a Coravin device, which extracts a sample through a needle by piercing the cork without damaging it.

"It benefited from very good conditions of conservation, in this old chapel—I think very humid and very cold, with thick walls, and also underground, so it preserved the moisture and temperature in a very constant way. Those were excellent conditions to store a wine," El Khawand said.

While Chateau d’Yquem has recorked several bottles, El Khawand noted that the restoration was scrupulously authentic, right down to preserving the original dust on the bottles.

The wine will be on display at Becov castle, the former home of the Beaufort-Spontin family. Following World War II, the family was labeled Nazi sympathizers, and the castle was seized by the government of the former Czechoslovakia.

Before fleeing to Austria, the Beaufort-Spontins hid their wine alongside the Reliquary of St. Maurus, an artifact that is said to hold the bones of St. John the Baptist.

In 1984, the family approached Danny Douglas, an American businessman, to help retrieve the hidden treasure. Douglas secretly petitioned the government on their behalf to retrieve an undisclosed object from an unknown location.

After extensive back-and-forth negotiations with authorities over permits, police eventually realized what treasure Douglas was looking for and where it was located, ultimately leading to the historic collection's discovery. 

-Reporting by Radan Sprongl, additional reporting by Jan Lopatka; Writing by Jason Hovet; editing by Barbara Lewis/Reuters