THE ULTIMATE WINE HOARDER

THIS TAKES WINE collecting to a whole new level. A cache of over 22OO bottles of wine was recently discovered in the garage of an Aer Lingus pilot in England after he passed away. Sometime in the 197Os the unnamed man began collecting wine, picking up a case from duty-free every time he flew. When he died in April his vast collection was discovered intact. An auction house was called in to sell-off the collection after the man’s daughter informed them that he had “some wine”. Expecting a modest collection, the team was amazed to find a garage crammed with some 2OO crates of wine totaling 228O bottles. Behind the wall of wines, auctioneers were even more surprised to find a 1992 Talbot Horizon GL motor car that hadn’t been moved for 24 years and had just 318 miles on the clock. It was apparently won by the pilot in a raffle held by Aer Lingus. Much of the wine is believed to be worth just $7-$8 a bottle, with auctioneers valuing the entire collection at around $8OOO. Among the wines collected from countries including Argentina, Chile, Italy and France was a 1978 Vina Real from Spanish producer CVNE, a 1974 Rioja from Faustino and a 1999 bottle of “Australian red”. Auctioneers also discovered 6O cases of spirits in the garage comprising Irish whisky, Scotch, vodka, liquor, Drambuie and amaretto. Of course this all begs the question: why on earth would anyone hoard this much wine and never drink it?!