Woman Stumbles on Trove of Vintage Wine Under House While Spring Cleaning

A homeowner was left baffled when she stumbled on a series of 50-year-old wine bottles stashed underneath her home.

The bottles of Wynns Huntersfield Hermitage wine date back to 1969. While the labels were deteriorating, the homeowner managed to decipher what they were.

A man from England stumbled on a similar discovery at his home in November 2022 when investigating his 200-year-old basement. Luca and his friend Tom unearthed a bunch of old bottles including medical products and liquor dating back to the early 1900s.

Ingrid, 28, lives in the Hills area of Sydney with her husband and while spring cleaning the couple was surprised to stumble on a heavy box.

"We decided to store some clean things under the house," Ingrid told Newsweek. While clearing out what was already there, they pulled some items out.

"He was complaining of a box being in the way so I told him he should just move it aside, but he said it was very heavy," said the homeowner. "Both of us struggled to pull it out and opened it up. To our surprise, there were about a dozen old wine bottles there."

Covered in dust, the bottles had clearly been underneath the house for some time and at first, the couple assumed they would simply need to go in the trash.

"But my husband picked one up and said, 'Hey these are full of wine and the label says 1969.' We carefully cleaned them up and had a look, some were definitely bad, and others look OK," said Ingrid. "The labels were very degraded, so we did some internet searching and found the label in a library archive.

"Looks like they were from south Australia and from a well-known winery," she added. "We still don't know if they have any value but hope to find out more."

The labels indicate that the wine came from the South Australian Modbury Estate, located in present-day Wynn Vale in Adelaide, South Australia.

While the couple is unsure what the wine may be worth, bottles over 50 years old tend to attract a high price. Some great wines can be stored for more than 100 years, but experts say that most wines reach their peak before 50 years old.

The way that bottles are stored can also determine whether the wine will be any good after a long time. Optimal conditions are dark, at around 55 degrees Fahrenheit and with around 70 percent humidity.

After finding the bottles, the couple turned to Reddit's r/wine forum to see if they could find out anything else about the old alcohol.

"We couldn't find any more info on them, so we went onto the Reddit thread to see if anyone knew anything," said Ingrid.

Wine buffs did not disappoint and commenters shared their reactions and thoughts. One commenter wrote: "Always a cool piece of wine history, digging out old Australian Hermitages. I doubt they'll be good, but sometimes these old Hermitages can be spectacular. I had a '76 Seppeltsfield Show Reserve recently that was still super interesting, if a bit past it."

"My mom found something similar at a garage sale once," said another commenter. "My husband and I were brave one night and decided to give it a go. Let's just say vinegar tasted better. But hey, it was worth a shot. Good luck to you and your liver."

The couple believes that the bottles must have been put there by the house's original owner, as the home was built around the same time as the date on the bottles.

"We are going to try one this weekend and see what it is like," said Ingrid. "We saw a couple of other boxes under there, so we are going on a treasure hunt this weekend."