proto57
New Member
Back in the 1980's, a friend lived in a 100 plus year old house. It had a stone foundation, and one night he wondered why one basement wall was wooden. When he peered through a crack with a flashlight, dozens of dusty bottles on wooden shelves could be seen. So he pried a few boards off, and discovered row on row of various home brewed wines. Mostly they were either a light (like white wine) color, or a darker, like a medium brownish color.
We assumed that this was a secret prohibition stash, but really didn't know. We did not know why else it would be hidden... but I also know that a certain amount of home brewing was allowed. The bottles were reused wine and other bottles. He gave me two bottles, and they are gallon bottles, and look like 30's era. I still have them in my crawlspace, which maintains in the 50's and 60's year round. I think they are the only bottles left of the entire batch.
We tasted other bottles of the wine (not mine, which I never opened), and it was pretty good. In the mid 80's when my friend's brother got engaged, we met him in a restaurant in NYC. It was BYOB, so we produced this dusty old bottle of one of the browner wines. The waiter was amazed, and tasted it. He said he was from Illinois, I think... somewhere in the mid-west... and said it seemed to be "molasses wine". He said he knew because his family still made it at that time.
I know now it is absolutely crazy to drink this stuff... dangerous of course. But back when we are in our twenties, we were invulnerable, and did stupid things. I would never drink the bottles in the basement, without some sort of expert testing. Not something I want to go blind over.
Any thoughts on this? Is this rare or uncommon, to find old home brewed wines in old buildings? Does this sort of thing ever have an interest or value among collectors of wine? Or is it just a sort of curiosity? Thank you for any information... Rich.
We assumed that this was a secret prohibition stash, but really didn't know. We did not know why else it would be hidden... but I also know that a certain amount of home brewing was allowed. The bottles were reused wine and other bottles. He gave me two bottles, and they are gallon bottles, and look like 30's era. I still have them in my crawlspace, which maintains in the 50's and 60's year round. I think they are the only bottles left of the entire batch.
We tasted other bottles of the wine (not mine, which I never opened), and it was pretty good. In the mid 80's when my friend's brother got engaged, we met him in a restaurant in NYC. It was BYOB, so we produced this dusty old bottle of one of the browner wines. The waiter was amazed, and tasted it. He said he was from Illinois, I think... somewhere in the mid-west... and said it seemed to be "molasses wine". He said he knew because his family still made it at that time.
I know now it is absolutely crazy to drink this stuff... dangerous of course. But back when we are in our twenties, we were invulnerable, and did stupid things. I would never drink the bottles in the basement, without some sort of expert testing. Not something I want to go blind over.
Any thoughts on this? Is this rare or uncommon, to find old home brewed wines in old buildings? Does this sort of thing ever have an interest or value among collectors of wine? Or is it just a sort of curiosity? Thank you for any information... Rich.