Roughly forty-five minutes east of Bordeaux, France is Château Coutet, one of the regions most historic wineries. Today, the winery is renown for producing some of the richest and most concentrated sweet wines in Bordeaux, if not the world. Yet, that's not always been the case. Some two-hundred and thirty years ago, most every vineyard (including Château Coutet) would produce wine by mixing up to twelve different grape varieties into a barrel for fermentation and later, consumption. Although bottling wine was still a rarity, it would occasionally occur for major events such as a wedding. Yet, little else is known about the wine produced in Bordeaux during this time. That is, until now.

Recently, at Château Coutet, the world's oldest bottle of Bordeaux wine was unearthed. What does it take for a centuries-old bottle of wine to be discovered? A good deal of luck. It all quickly happened when one of the staffers at Château Coutet was fixing a broken wine rack. While working on the rack, he noticed a pile of dirt that he hadn't noticed before. After digging through it, the staffer found a bottle of Bordeaux wine which dates back from the 1700's. And best of all, perhaps, is the fact that the bottle is in mint condition.

The clear bottle has been shut air-tight with a heart at the top, which means scientists haven't been able to actually sample the wine when determining its age. Instead, the vineyard brought in a world-renowned glass expert to determine the age of the bottle. By examining the chemical makeup, shape, and wear and tear of both the bottle and heart-shaped stopper, the scientist was able to surmise that the bottle dates back, roughly, to the 1750s.

The wine was almost certainly bottled for a very special occasion, such as a wedding.

Unlike most of the wine produced during the time period, this bottle Bordeaux wine is exclusively made from Merlot grapes (which again adds to the theory that the wine was bottled for a special occasion). The question that remains to be asked, however, is who would be willing to take a sip from a wine bottled over two-hundred and fifty years ago?