BECOV NAD TEPLOU, Czech Republic – Eight bottles of rare French wine that survived the Second World War and decades of communist rule hidden beneath a Czech castle floor, have been meticulously restored by the chateau that produced them some 130 years ago.

The bottles of Chateau d’Yquem, one of the world’s most expensive sweet white wines, form part of a collection of 136 bottles discovered at Becov nad Teplou castle in western Czech Republic in the 1980s. The collection is slated to go on public display in the future.

The wine collection once belonged to the noble Beaufort-Spontin family, who fled the former Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War when they were suspected of Nazi collaboration.

The bottles spent decades concealed under the floorboards of the castle chapel alongside the shrine of St Maurus before communist secret police discovered them in 1985.

While the shrine was immediately transported to Prague for extensive reconstruction before returning to Becov for display in 2002, the wine remained in place.

The bottles were rediscovered 10 years ago during stock-taking, triggering a painstaking rescue operation.

Chateau d’Yquem, from the Sauternes area of Bordeaux, led the restoration effort for their eight wines, produced in 1892 and 1896.

“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.

Laboratory tests confirmed the wine’s authenticity as genuine Chateau d’Yquem, allowing the winery to replace the corks and fit the original bottles with protective capsules.

As the wine had gradually oxidised, the winery re-bottled the contents, ultimately returning only five full original bottles to Becov.

A window into the past

Speaking at a presentation of the restored bottles, El Khawand described tasting the wine, which survived owing to its high sugar content, as “a magical experience”.

“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,” he said.

“The wine impressed us with its freshness on the palate. It is very, very fresh, with an almost acidic freshness,” El Khawand said.

He noted the wine’s complexity, identifying aromas of cedar, dried fruit, saffron, cinnamon and nutmeg, coupled with notes of chocolate, coffee, mocha and oud.

Recent vintages of Chateau d’Yquem sell for hundreds of dollars per bottle. The Czech National Heritage Institute has valued the entire Becov collection at approximately $5-million (about R81.3 million) if sold at auction.

However, El Khawand declined to provide a financial estimate, emphasising the collection’s historical significance.

“First and foremost, it has moral and historical value. It is a memory, ultimately, a liquid memory, to be sure, but it is a memory of all those who came before us, of the work that was done,” he said.

Future exhibition planned

No auction is planned. Instead, Becov castle intends to exhibit all bottles from the collection containing wine and cognac, including 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,” said Katerina Nyvltova, collections manager at Becov castle.

“And if we can recondition the rest, we’ll definitely go for it,” she said.