1815 Welsh Brothers Madeira
Posted: 07:41 Mon 03 Aug 2015
At a recent visit to Alnwick Castle I was amused to see a bottle in the middle of a display recounting the part played by Major Henry Percy in bringing the news of the French surrender at Waterloo to the Prince Regent in the East India Club on June 21, 1815.
The bottle was labelled (on a plain, typed label) as having contained Welsh Brothers Madeira of the 1815 vintage and a little note next to it explained that the contents were drunk at a dinner held at the East India Club to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the news of the surrender reaching the Prince Regent. From its appearance the bottle was of the right age and shape for the madeira to have been bottled relatively soon after the vintage - perhaps 20-30 years after - but I was amused by the fact that even the Duke of Norfolk has a collection of special empty bottles. The only difference is that he has somewhere to display them and I don't!
The bottle was labelled (on a plain, typed label) as having contained Welsh Brothers Madeira of the 1815 vintage and a little note next to it explained that the contents were drunk at a dinner held at the East India Club to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the news of the surrender reaching the Prince Regent. From its appearance the bottle was of the right age and shape for the madeira to have been bottled relatively soon after the vintage - perhaps 20-30 years after - but I was amused by the fact that even the Duke of Norfolk has a collection of special empty bottles. The only difference is that he has somewhere to display them and I don't!