Found behind a wall in a museum, one bottle dates back to 1769.
Wikimedia CommonsTypical Madeira wine bottleful
New Jersey ’s Liberty Hall Museum is about to have a jolly raucous party .
Or , at least , they could after having discover more than 90 bottle and demijohns ( aka old - timey bottles ) of wine behind a Prohibition - era wall and shut away wooden coop in their cellar .

Wikimedia CommonsTypical Madeira wine bottles
And not just any wine-coloured ! Extremely rare Madeira wine see back to as early as 1769 .
This especial type of vino was important in the former days of the United States .
Because our forefathers could n’t figure out a way to develop wine - ca-ca grapes in the colonies , they require to find a salutary place to import from .
That lieu was the Madeira Islands off the coast of Portugal .
So can we taste ? 🍷 😆 Large , uncommon wine-coloured assembling discovered in hidden cellar in New Jersey . Over 200 + class - old bottles !
Posted byChristie Duffyon Monday , July 10 , 2017
John Hancock — widely known as the Founding Father with the world ’s enceinte key signature — was a buff of Madeira . In 1768 , one of his boats arrest 3,150 gallons of the wine wasseized by British sureness .
This stimulate a vehement dispute over the motion of import taxes — one that caused thigh-slapper in Boston and would later be agnise as a key footstep toward revolution . ( Give me wine Wednesdays , or give me decease ! )
It was alsoThomas Jefferson’sdrink of selection and was used to drink theDeclaration of IndependenceandtheConstitutionat their culmination .
George Washingtondrank a pint of the stuff every Nox with his dinner party andBen Franklinwrote about it in his autobiography :
“ … having a very fervid desire to see and observe the United States Department of State of America a hundred years hence , ” he read . “ I should favor to any average death , being immersed in a cask of Madeira wine , with a few friends , till that time , to be then return to life by the solar warmness of my costly res publica ! ”
The drink is more American than Budweiser .
It ’s also very rare . This young discovery is now the oldest - eff collection of the sweet , sherry - same vino in the United States .
“ We had no thought the old nursing bottle were there , ” John Kean , the museum ’s Chief Executive , toldCNN . “ We knew there would be vino , but had no thought as to the particular date . That was a major surprise . ”
Rare vintage wine rule @LibertyHallKean dating back to Revolutionary War ! More @CBSNewYork CBS New York Liberty Hall Museum Kean University
Posted byMeg Baker – CBS New Yorkon Monday , July 10 , 2017
The theatre in which the Liberty Hall Museum resides was built in 1772 . Originally a 14 - way construction , the student residence was home to New Jersey ’s first governor and Constitution signatory William Livingston .
After being purchased by the Kean family in 1811 , it was expanded into a 50 - room sign .
The museum is presently undergo major renovations , which contribute to the tearing down of the basement wall in the beginning constructed during inhibition .
Seeing what was behind it , it became very clear why the former residents crop so intemperately to hide their cache .
Some of the bottles ( which were also found under piles of wheat in the attic ) had been specially create for New York millionaire Robert Lenox , who expire in 1839 .
“ Nothing like this live , ” Mannie Berk , president of Rare Wine Co. , toldCNNof the find . “ They could be deserving up to $ 20,000 . ”
Madeira is also a peculiarly proficient wine to drink in after being hidden in a basement for centuries .
“ It ’s one of the longest - lived wines in the world , ” sommelier Kara Joseph said . “ It is almost indestructible because of how they make it , of the fermenting process . ”
Though it probably tastes good , the museum has n’t decided who might get to taste the 220 - year sure-enough drinks .
One bottle might be opened , Kean said , when the President of Portugal visits in the come months .
put up byLiberty Hall MuseumonTuesday , July 11 , 2017
Next , interpret aboutarchaeologists of late found remains of America ’s first settler under a Florida wine shop class . Then , check out these30 awesome figure of speech from the end of ban .