Rare wine find in England

Every so often someone finds a cache of forgotten wines that provide fuel for excited conversation. The latest is a 400-bottle collection of rare vintages dating to 1875, found in England.

Xenia Irwin (right), wine expert at the St. Austell Brewery in Cornwall, came upon the wines in a side room that hadn't been used in years. She says she thinks it was a collection amassed by previous directors over the decades.

Irwin tells the BBC the collection includes an 1875 cognac which may have belonged Walter Hicks, the brewery's founder. She also points out:

• A 1916 Chateau Rieussec: Bottled in World War I, very few war-time vintages would have left France.
• A 1950 Mouton Rothschild: One of only five Premier Cru Classe wines from Bordeaux.
• A 1953 Chateau Lafite Premier Cru Classe: One of France's top wines and a classic vintage.
• A 1961 Rauzan Segla: 1961 is renowned as one of the best vintages of the 20th century.

Irwin said she is confident that some of the wines had survived and would be drinkable.

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