There is a very cool scan of the Berry Bros. & Rudd wine merchant list from 1909 over at Jamie Goode's Wine Blog aka the Wineanorak and I was inspired to scan an excellent wine list I have from my family. My great-great uncle Walter was a hotelier back in the 1860s and traveled a lot to other hotels as well. This wine list was dated July 2nd 1861 was from the St. Louis Hotel and the prices are just mind-blowing. I urge you to click on the scan to really appreciate it.
As was the custom of the time, Madieras and Sherries were really the most revered and demanded the most detailed descriptions.
Please don't use any part of this scan without my permission. This has been in my family for almost 150 years.
Wow -- $2 for a Madeira? That's quite a steal. But even if that means you'd be paying $46 today for the same wine (according to Jack's post above), what do you think a bottle of that from 1861 would be worth today?
I found this other blog (I included the link, http://welovegarbage.wordpress.com) by this guy who owns a rubbish removal and interior demolition company in Ridgewood, Queens, New York. He collects all this garbage, preserves it, then blogs about it. His latest post is of this 1969 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, a Bordeaux that is missing one-fourth of its contents and has a rotted cork. But, the same wine (minus the missing contents and rotted cork) is selling on some Web sites for more than $1,000. So, I'm just curious, how much would these wines, which are decades older than his, be worth today?
Posted by: Sarah | March 16, 2010 at 11:10 AM
hmm, 1861 huh? That's pretty cool that there's still documents on wine from that time!
Posted by: Wine Making Kits | September 30, 2009 at 09:07 PM
Wow - that is amazing. I wish my history course at university had included a wine module. 1861??? I think I was still stuck on Palmerston at that point...
Posted by: cheap eve isk | June 29, 2009 at 08:26 PM
Wow - that is amazing. I wish my history course at university had included a wine module. 1861??? I think I was still stuck on Palmerston at that point...
Posted by: Dan | December 29, 2008 at 01:14 AM
A menu this old is in the public domain. Also, there is no creative input in a scan intended to accurately portray a 2D work like this, so there is no new Copyright. In other words, you don't have any exclusive rights to the image of this menu. If people want to ignore your request not to use this scan they are free to do so and you have no legal recourse.
Posted by: lawdork | December 28, 2008 at 07:00 AM
Thanks for the note, Gretchen. I had a peek at your site - very cool. Isn't it also interesting that the Cognacs then are still top Cognacs now...Hine and Otard. (I've never tasted Otard, though...) - John
Posted by: The Corkdork | December 26, 2008 at 04:49 PM
Wow! Of course, we can only hope that Crab Cider is made from crab apples and not seafood...
Posted by: Gretchen | December 26, 2008 at 04:27 PM
Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!
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Dissertation
Posted by: dissertation | December 11, 2008 at 12:50 AM
Great idea! I know at the time, you could buy dinner for a family of 4 for well under a dollar in a good restaurant, so these prices are a good indication on how fancy the hotel was. - CD
Posted by: The Corkdork | November 21, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Checking two online inflation calculators, $1 is about $23 today
$2 is about $46 (for Ch. Margaux)
$2.50 is about $57
$3 is about $69 (for Cliquot)
Not as cheap as you thought, eh?
Thank's for uploading such a Readable image, too.
Posted by: Jack Everitt | November 21, 2008 at 09:54 PM