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Old, really old, Sauternes

Sauternes tasting at Hambleton Hall

1899 Yquem, anyone? See more in Sauternes - the longest-lived wine?

I suspect most Purple Pagers know exactly what’s in their cellars, give or take a bottle or two. Most of us with wine collections come across the odd surprise bottle. Few of us expect to find, hiding behind a load of boxes, 87 bottles of Sauternes going back to an 1899 Yquem.

But this is exactly what happened last year to Kate, widow of David Dugdale, owner of London fine wine merchant OW Loeb from 1976 until the mid 1990s. Bless her, she decided to organise at least...