RARE OLD WINES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22540, 3 October 1936, Page 16

RARE OLD WINES

SALE FOR HOSPITAL FUNDS NOTED EUROPEAN CELLARS [from our own correspondent] LONDON, Sept. !) A sale of wines, all of pre-war vintages. from some of the greatest cellars in Europe, is to bo held in London in November, in aid of Queen Charlotte s Maternity Hospital. It will bo unique in that many of the wines on sale have, by reason of their age, become unobtainable through tho wine trade. .Mr. Andre L. Simon, president of the Wine and Food Society, who is compiling the catalogue of the remarkable collection which is being assembled, said: "The whole idea arose one evening when - Ladv Howard de Walden. president of the hosptial, was dining with a relation, who, although he has plenty of fine wine in his cellar, drinks nothing but water. As wine will not remain good for ever, he gave his cellar to Lady Howard do Walden to sell for tho hospital. "She wrote to her friends suggesting that they should give her such of their old wines as they did not want or which had been laid down for years and would become undrinkable if kept for many more years. "I am looking at the list of wines now, and the names make me gasp. A grandson of a previous owner of Chateau Lafite has given some bottles from his grandfather's cellar from tho vintages of 1825, 1837, 1846. 1861 and .1874. They are magnums and really priceless. A woman, unknown to anyone connected with the hospital, has sent some port of 1820, 1834 and 1840, all bearing the names of tho best shippers." An anonymous gift of hock of 1904 and 1911 from the Imperial Hofburg cellars in Vienna has also been received. Earl Beattv has presented the last magnum of Moet et Chandon, 1914. from the cellar of his father. Another gift is two bottles of wine formerly owned by Disraeli. Mr. Simon has been examining the wines as they have arrived to make sure that none has deteriorated through age. Among the wines which have already been received or promised are: Clarets from Chateau Margaux, Chateau Leoville. Chateau Mouton-Rothsehild and Branc-Cantenac. Several bottles of Madeira have been received from tho Buckingham Palace cellars of Queen Victoria. There are also burgundies, champagnes, brandies, liqueurs and a dozen bottles of beer specially brewed for King Edward VII,