Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
Wolfstein was founded in 1275 on Habsburg King Rudolph I's orders, which called for a “fortified and free” town near his castle, “Woluisstein”, now known as the "Alt-Wolfstein" (“Old Wolfstein”) ruin. Rudolph forthwith granted the new town the same town rights and freedoms as the town of Speyer. As an “everlasting marketplace”, it was to be a sanctuary for commerce, trade and dealing. The first townsmen and -women came from the surrounding, much older villages.
Würzburger Stein
As was tradition in many German wine regions to celebrate notable vintages, several large ceremonial casks were filled with wines from the 1540 vintage. A cask of "Steinwein" from the Würzburger Stein vineyard was kept by the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, being regularly "topped" up with newer wine of a similar quality in order to avoid oxidation from the evaporation of what is known as the "angel's share". The wine was then bottled in the late 17th century. After bottling several bottles were kept in the cellar of King Ludwig I of Bavaria before eventually finding their way to a London wine merchant in the 20th century.
A bottle from this 1540 vintage was tried by several wine experts, including wine writer Hugh Johnson, at a 1961 tasting in London when it was 421 years of age, making it one of the oldest wines to have ever been tasted. In his book, "Vintage: The Story of Wine" (1989), Johnson recounts that the "Steinwein" was "Madeira-like" with deep brown coloring and was almost like a "living organism" in how it survived so long and still gave evidence of the German "terroir" of the vineyard. The wine apparently lasted only a few moments after opening before it was quickly oxidized, noted Johnson, ""It gave up the ghost and became vinegar in our glasses.""