1940

What we would buy, and why

At eighty-six years old a wartime claret is a keepsake rather than a drink, so if the bottle is meant to be opened, buy something fortified or distilled instead. A 1940 Armagnac or a 1940s Madeira will pour properly at the table for around a third of what a tired first growth costs. If it has to be Bordeaux, insist on a top estate, a fill no lower than top shoulder and a cellar history we can name; budget 400-700 euro and treat drinkability as a bonus rather than a promise.

1940 in the world

In September four teenagers and a dog called Robot dropped through a hole in a Dordogne hillside and found the painted horses and bulls of Lascaux, sealed away for some seventeen thousand years. Two months later Disney's Fantasia opened in New York.

Best bets for 1940

• Bas-Armagnac 1940 from Laberdolive, Castarède or Darroze — 300-500 euro; a spirit does not tire in the bottle the way a wine does
• 1940 Rivesaltes or Maury from Roussillon (Domaine de Rancy, Mas Amiel) — 150-350 euro, sweet, fortified and reliably alive
• A 1940s frasqueira Madeira, Verdelho or Bual, from a house that still holds old stock — 500-950 euro and effectively indestructible
• Château d'Yquem 1940 if the budget stretches to roughly 1,200 euro and the fill is good; the sweet wines survived this year far better than the reds

How we grade a bottle

Fill level, label, capsule and cork, then provenance. Every bottle is checked by hand by people who have handled thousands of old bottles, and we write down the flaws as well as the good news. What the fill levels mean · How to choose a birth-year wine