Discovered: One of the largest collections of early Madeira in the United States

Found in a sealed compartment in the wine cellar of the Liberty Hall Museum in New Jersey, almost three cases of Madeira wine from 1796 — and in the attic, buried beneath piles of straw, approximately 40 demijohns dating from the 1820s

In 2015, during a six-month renovation project at the Liberty Hall Museum in New Jersey, a decision was made to remove a plywood and plaster wall in the wine cellar of the house. The wall was likely to have been erected during the Prohibition era. Liberty Hall, which is now part of the Kean University campus, was built in 1772 and has been home to many notable figures across its long history, including future Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton; William Livingston, the first Governor of New Jersey and a signatory of the American Constitution; Henry Brockholst Livingston, United States Supreme Court Justice; and, from 1811, members of the Kean political dynasty, which has numbered US senators and congressmen. Mary Alice Kean was the last resident of the house, which she began transforming into a museum in 1949.

The hidden compartment in the wine cellar, which was revealed in 2015

As the wall in the cellar came down, the original wine cellar cage was revealed behind. Covered in years of soot, dust and cobwebs, its contents included almost three cases of Madeira wine from 1796, and assorted cases of gin, whiskey and other liquor. Approximately 40 demijohns — barrels or large bottles — of Madeira from the 1820s were also found in the attic wine closet of the house, buried beneath piles of straw.

John Kean Sr, President of the Liberty Hall Museum, reveals that he was going to give away the demijohns found in the attic to employees, ‘because they liked to make lamps out of them’

‘We had no idea what we had until we began to do the background research, and we realised we had something very rare for the United States,’ explains Bill Schroh, Jr., Director of Museum Operations at Liberty Hall Museum. He is right, for the discovery represents one of the largest known early collections of Madeira in the United States, and one of the most extensive in the world. According to historical accounts, America’s original 13 colonies imported about 95 per cent of wine produced on the Portuguese islands of Madeira, which sit in the Atlantic Ocean some 520km west of the coast of North Africa. Madeira was a popular beverage in colonial America and the early United States, chiefly because it was easy to ship and it lasted. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were noted collectors, as was Chief Justice John Marshall, and Madeira was used to toast both the Declaration of Independence and the inauguration of George Washington.

‘From demijohn number one on we were just flabbergasted by the quality of the wines’ — Edwin Vos, Christie’s Head of Wine

Much of the Madeira discovered at Liberty Hall is still labelled with handwritten tags, and can be referenced in the thousands of documents relating to the house that date across more than 200 years. The paperwork shows that some of the wine in question was for the personal use of Robert Lenox, Esq., a banker and financier who was known to import Madeira in demijohns, and then bottle and label it once it arrived. From 1795, Lenox was the exclusive US importer for Newton, Gordon & Murdoch, then the largest shipper of quality Madeira. John Kean Sr., Mary Alice Kean’s son and President of Liberty Hall, reveals that at the time of the find he was unaware that Madeira didn't spoil, and assumed instead that the hundreds of bottles of wine in the hidden compartment were unfit to drink. ‘Initially, we decided to leave it as it was and as a prop for visitors to look at,’ he says. ‘Curiosity led us to clean a few bottles, and the rest is history.’ The demijohns discovered in the attic, some containing up to five gallons of Madeira, had wicker around them to protect the glass. ‘I was going to give them away to our employees because they liked to make lamps out of them,’ reveals Kean. ‘Fortunately that did not occur.’



Edwin Vos of Christie’s (left) and Francisco Albuquerque, Winemaker for the Blandy's Madeira Wine Company, sample the Madeira from one of the 1820s demijohns

‘To find those demijohns from the 1820s is unique,’ confirms Christie’s Head of Wine, Edwin Vos, an expert on Madeira, and the man who put together the inventory of the Liberty Hall Museum discovery in 2017. On 7 December in New York, Christie’s will auction an offering from this historic collection, highlighted by a selection of demijohns that were re-corked in October this year in partnership with APCOR, the Portuguese Cork Association, and catalogued under the expertise of Francisco Albuquerque, Winemaker for the Blandy's Madeira Wine Company, S.A., and Edwin Vos. The auction also includes four demijohns of American Bourbon from the late 19th century.

The Liberty Hall Museum Madeira wines were tasted at a recent Christie’s lunch for wine writers at Rockefeller Center, New York