How long can wines last?
It varies….many wines are past their best after 3 years; some improve for 10 years…..but the longest-lived wine is actually madeira, which is almost indestructible. Here’s a letter from the DAILY TELEGRAPH, dated 25 October, 2005: Sir- I’m delighted to know others were enjoying 1805 vintage madeira on Trafalgar Day. (Letters, Oct. 24). I managed to get my bottle to go round the 60 family and friends attending a dinner my father hosted at Waterman’s Hall. The bottle came to me from the late Dr. Sydney Smith, sometime doyen of the Cambridge wine stewards. Admirable seems an appropriate adjective. Mark Blandford-Baker (Magdalen College, Oxford).
