1783

Connor opens the bottle, and inhales the vapors within. He speaks as if in a trance: 

Brandy, bottled in 1783. 1783 was a very good year. Mozart wrote his Great Mass. The Montgolfier brothers went up in their first balloon. And Britain recognized the independence of the United States. 

In the 1986 movie Highlander, antiques dealer Russell Nash is meeting with a lady at her apartment.  He knows that she is either trying to help convict him of a crime, or has guessed his secret: that he is a 450-year-old Immortal named Connor McLeod.  Despite this, he brings a bottle of brandy that he has evidently been saving for a special occasion, and inhales the air that was sealed within over 200 years before. 

One of the useful aspects of this is how it makes a particular year so memorable. Before seeing it, one  might know nothing about the 18th century or what happened during it.  After, it's easy to know the following almost as soon as someone mentions the year:

1) The Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the American revolution

2) Mozart was actively working, 

3) The first human flight, with balloons, was happening. 

Which shows how easy it is to trigger a lot of information based only on a year. It was part of the inspiration for The Grid: by knowing a small number of years, the flow of history can be seen. 

Fun fact: According to DVD commentary, this scene was based on something Jim Steinman once actually did with a bottle of wine: "I'm breathing in air from 1949."