Aging Wine In the Far Future

Posted by Tom Wark on Oct 9, 2006

I’ve always been more of a fan of Star Trek Next Generation than the first series. Jean Luc Picard just struck me as someone I’d much prefer to hang out with. Also, the gadgets in Next Gen were much better than in the original–The Holodeck alone is the kind of place I’m sure I’d become addicted to.

So, it was interesting to learn that in the course of auctioning off a variety of Start Trek memorabilia,
Christie’s found someone to pay $6,600 for a bottle of "Chateau Picard–vintage 2267".

The wine comes from Captain Picard’s family vineyard located in the Labarre region of France. It’s a region in the Aude in the southwest part of France near the Spanish border. The Picard family is making Vin de Pays, more than likely.

Now here is the interesting thing. The bottle of wine from vintage 2267 is poured in an episode of Next Gen. Picard keeps a stock of wine on board. However Picard was born in 2305. By the time he is pouring this wine the Captain is at least 50 years old. That makes this wine just shy of 100 years old at the time they drank it.

Pretty impressive for a Vin de Pays.

By the way, the degree to which alcohol plays a role in the Star Trek franchise is pretty impressive. In fact, Modern Drunkard has wonderful compendium of the ways by which wine and other interesting alcoholic beverages have appeared in the show.