Twice in two days, a table of fourteen sat down to wines that circulate more as rumor than as bottle: a solera laid down before either World War, a Sauternes older than the modern European Union, a Pomerol pair that rarely appears in the same room, let alone the same flight. Twenty pours in total — seven at lunch, the rest across an evening that closed at Château d’Yquem — assembled by Fine + Rare and Académie du Vin across two of London’s most storied private rooms.

The name isn’t promotional exaggeration. Several of these bottles exist in quantities too small to reliably source twice; several more can only be opened once. Capping the guest list at fourteen wasn’t an exclusivity tactic so much as an arithmetic constraint — the number of pours a handful of magnums and single bottles can honestly stretch to. The event sold out in both its currency listings before a second date was ever considered.

A private room above the Thames. Seven pours, opening in Champagne and closing on a solera older than the hotel itself.

01

Le Grand Clos — Champagne Barons de Rothschild
2019 · Champagne

02

Vincent Dauvissat — Chablis 1er Cru La Forest
2007 · Chablis

Domaine Leflaive — Chevalier-Montrachet
2009 · Magnum · Côte de Beaune

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti — Romanée-St-Vivant
2009 · Côte de Nuits
One of the most allocated labels in Burgundy, in a vintage collectors still debate.

E. Guigal — Côte-Rôtie La Turque
2010 · Northern Rhône

Domaine de la Passion — Haut-Brion
1975 · Magnum · Graves
A magnum poured deep into its fifth decade.

Pérez Barquero — Montilla-Moriles Solera Amontillado
Solera 1905 · Andalusia
A lineage begun before either World War — the oldest pour of either day.

The wines in these two flights won’t reconvene.

Several existed as single bottles or magnums before the tasting began; several no longer exist as anything but a shared memory among fourteen people and the two rooms that held them. That’s the design principle behind an event built around scarcity rather than volume — and the reason The Impossible Tasting closed to new guests within days of going on sale.

Future rare-format tastings from Académie du Vin are announced first to members, ahead of public release.