Terence Stamp and the fine wine he never drank
In the 1960s, the late actor Terence Stamp bought several dozen cases of Château d’Yquem, the legendary Sauternes. He never drank them, but decades later, the bottles kept him afloat when his career stalled.
At the height of his fame in the 1960s, Terence Stamp was the epitome of swinging London. He appeared in films such as Billy Budd, Far from the Madding Crowd and Theorem, his striking looks making him one of the decade’s most recognisable faces. Success brought money and, as he later recalled, the means to stock up on fine wine. Stamp admitted he bought “several dozen cases” of Château d’Yquem during those years, “when times were good” (as reported by the Sunday Times and repeated in later obituaries).
Château d’Yquem is no ordinary bottle to tuck away. Classified in 1855 as Premier Cru Supérieur, the only Sauternes to hold that exalted title, it has long been regarded as one of the world’s greatest sweet wines. Made from botrytised Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, it can age for a century or more, developing layers of honey, spice and dried fruit character. According to Wine & Spirit Education Trust guidance, Yquem’s longevity and rarity ensure it commands some of the highest prices at auction.
Selling wine to survive
Stamp’s career hit an abrupt pause at the end of the sixties. As he himself put it, “when the 60s ended, my career was effectively over”. For much of the 1970s, he was out of work, living a peripatetic existence in Italy, India and the US. What kept him going financially was not film fees but those cases of Yquem. He explained that whenever things became tight, he was “reduced to selling” them and that would “tide me over”.
It was a curious safety net. Stamp had by then adopted a more ascetic lifestyle, claiming he had stopped drinking altogether by the late 1960s.“I stopped drinking, I stopped smoking, I didn’t take any dope,” he recalled (as per The Telegraph). Whilst he stayed dry, his investment sat untouched in storage, gaining value.
A turning point came with Superman in 1978. Cast as the villain General Zod, Stamp made his Hollywood comeback. He admitted taking the role out of desperation, saying, “I was gasping, wasn’t I?” given that he had not worked in eight years. By then, the quiet drip feed of income from those Yquem cases had sustained him long enough to take the opportunity.
Partner Content
The pattern repeated in later years. In the 1990s, Stamp spoke of being so short of money that he could not always afford a bus ticket. Again, he fell back on his Sauternes reserves. “Fortunately, I’d bought all this white wine, Château d’Yquem, in the Sixties. I hadn’t drunk much of it, so, whenever things got tight, I could sell a case and that would tide me over”.
What the wine says about the man
Wine collectors may smile at the foresight. Buying Yquem in the 1960s, when prices were a fraction of today’s, was as fortuitous as it was inspired. A single bottle from that era now commands hundreds or even thousands of pounds at auction. Stamp himself seemed less interested in the connoisseurship than in the pragmatism.
In that sense, the wine story reflects his eccentric and resourceful personality. He lived a monkish life for long periods, yet relied on one of the world’s most hedonistic wines. It captures both his oddball detachment and his shrewd survival instinct.
Terence Stamp died in August 2025 at the age of 87. His performances will rightly be remembered, from The Collector to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Yet in wine circles, he may also be toasted for one of the most unusual personal cellars in recent memory.
Related news
Sauternes & Barsac 2024: tasting notes
