Five of Eight Restored 1890s Château d'Yquem Bottles Returned to Czech Castle After Police Discovered Hidden Collection

Five restored bottles of Chateau d'Yquem from the 1892 and 1896 vintages were presented at Becov castle in the Czech village of Becov nad Teplou on June 1, 2026. The bottles are part of a 136-bottle collection discovered in the 1980s under the floorboards of the castle chapel.

The collection once belonged to the noble Beaufort-Spontin family, who left Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II after being suspected of collaborating with the Nazis.

The wine remained hidden alongside the Reliquary of St. Maurus, said to hold the bones of St. John the Baptist, while the reliquary itself was taken to Prague for reconstruction and returned to Becov for display in 2002.

In 1984 the Beaufort-Spontin family asked American businessman Danny Douglas to retrieve the wine secretly. Police discovered the collection during the permit process for that attempt. The wine was found ten years before June 2026, after which Chateau d'Yquem began the restoration.

Cellar master Toni El Khawand said the winery tasted a very small quantity to confirm the wine matched the aromatic and palate profile of a Chateau d'Yquem of that age. Laboratory tests verified the wine was genuine. The chateau replaced the corks and fitted the original bottles with protective capsules.

Oxygen exposure during restoration meant only five full original bottles could be returned. El Khawand described the tasting as a magical experience and said opening the wine is like unveiling a time capsule because the cork sealed the liquid from its surroundings and the passage of time.

He said the wine impressed with its freshness on the palate and is very, very fresh with an almost acidic freshness.

El Khawand noted the wine's great complexity with aromas of cedar, dried fruit, saffron, cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate, coffee, mocha, and oud. The wine survived owing to its high sugar content. More recent vintages of Yquem sell for hundreds of dollars a bottle.

The Czech National Heritage Institute values the entire 136-bottle collection at around $5 million if sold at auction. El Khawand refused to give a financial estimate, stating the wine has moral and historical value as a liquid memory of those who came before and the work done.

Becov castle plans to exhibit all bottles from the collection, including wine, cognac, an 1899 Pedro Ximenez sherry, and an 1892 port.

The castle has started a fundraising campaign for the new exhibition. Collections manager Katerina Nyvltova said that if they raise the money they will do a more thorough analysis of the wines and if possible recondition the rest.