Can you make molasses bandages to speed wound healing, though? Honey really seems to have antimicrobial properties that go way beyond just low water activity and low pH, and in particular the peroxide production seems to be important.
It does seem plausible that some wines might last longer than honey.
After doing some more reading, I think you might be right. I've been looking at various sugary solutions such as molasses and it seems that it's not uncommon for them to be sold with mold inhibitors such as propanoic acid. I suspect the hydrogen peroxide might play a role, but it's not very stable, I wonder how long it lasts in the honey.
I'm still putting my money on the wine as far as long term storage goes, but I think honey might have a solid second place above any other common foods. I've been trying to find others that might last a while but obviously most results these days are contentless slop or straight up fabrications. I did find one report of Irish chef Kevin Thornton trying 4,000 year old butter, unfortunately he described it as "rancid": https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03yf4kj
Oh, I should have mentioned that (according to, IIRC, the children's book cited in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44495658) some glucose oxidase remains in the honey, and when enough water gets into the honey for it to become active, it produces more hydrogen peroxide at that point. So the peroxide itself doesn't have to remain stable for centuries.
I didn't know that about molasses! It wouldn't be surprising actually if bees were synthesizing specifically propanoate to add to the honey and that nobody had noticed yet. But there are probably other molecules that would work at lower doses that they might use instead.
Thank you both for an illuminating thread. Comments were concise, curious, and dense with information. Most notably, there was respectful disagreement and a levelheaded exchange of perspective.
It does seem plausible that some wines might last longer than honey.