Have you ever wondered what you’d do if you won the lottery? Well, I think about it quite often. And honestly, I bet it all on the most beautiful pins in the world. What could be better than a legendary Romanée-Conti 1945 or a sublime Pétrus 2000? We’re not going to lie to you, there’s nothing in the world above this kind of canon… Today, we’re going to make you dream, we’re going to make you salivate, we’re going to give you a glimpse of the most beautiful bottles in the world that you absolutely must taste in your life.

(This list is not a ranking!)

Château d’Yquem

Yquem, this château needs no introduction. A true emblem and king of Sauternes, this château has left its mark on history through its production of sweet white wines. Founded in 1593, the château is the only one to have been classified as a Premier Cru Supérieur in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux white wines. Candied fruit, white-fleshed fruit, honey, lemon zest, controlled acidity, a touch of iodine… So many flavors that intermingle in a bewitchingly round, far from sickening touch. The house’s vintages have consistently achieved excellent scores in the Rober Parker rankings, with 1945, 2015, 2001 and 2009 all scoring 100/100.

In addition to its historical prestige and the image it conveys, Château d’Yquem is also very much a part of public life and popular culture. For example, Claude Chabrol, who loved the estate’s wines, has more than once brought bottles of Château d’Yquem to the screen. Less gloriously, when François de Rugy was murdered by the press at a luxurious dinner at the Élysée Palace, the wine served was Château d’Yquem. Finally, George Dos Santos, one of France’s most legendary wine merchants, regularly posts Châteaux d’Yquem on his account, which is followed by all lovers of good wine and good food.

Romanée-Conti

Romanée-Conti is a Grand Cru of the Côte de Nuits, the most prestigious terroir in the Burgundy region. This wine is a monopoly appellation d’origine contrôlée operated by the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. It is considered the best Burgundy wine in the world and one of the most expensive in the world. To this day, Romanée-Conti 1945 is the highest-rated wine in the world, and also the most expensive ($558,000 in 2018).

Renowned the world over, Romanée-Conti is one of the wines Emmanuel Macron is promoting as part of France’s “soft power”. Indeed, during his visit to China, he made a point of letting Xi Jinping taste a few jewels of French savoir-faire, including Romanée-Conti. You may also be familiar with Anne Sylvestre’s famous Romanée-Conti song, written in 1973 in the hope of being offered a bottle by the estate… and she got her wish.

Pétrus

Did you know that Pétrus is not listed in any Bordeaux wine classification, and that no château is located on the estate? Strange as it may seem, the Pétrus estate has only one cellar, although it is sometimes referred to as Château Pétrus. Moreover, Pétrus is located in the Pomerol appellation, whereas most of the other top Bordeaux estates are on the Left Bank or in Saint-Émilion.

Very elegant, Pétrus wines are complex and powerful, with opulent fruit aromas. As taut as it is dense, a Pétrus has a silky texture with discreet but charming floral notes. A fixture of popular culture, his screen credits include Death on the Nile and Hercule Poirot, as well as Adrift and Madonna. Yet before 1945, this Pomerol was just another wine. It wasn’t until the young entrepreneur Jean-Pierre Moueix took over the estate in the 1930s, improving and marketing it, that the myth began to grow around this wine. The Kennedy family adopted it as their favorite wine, and Elizabeth II’s wedding table was littered with bottles.

Château Cheval Blanc

Château Cheval Blanc is located on the outskirts of Saint-Émilion, and was elected Premier Grand Cru classé A in 1945. The history of Cheval Blanc has always been closely linked to winegrowing, with records dating back to late antiquity.

One of the region’s legendary estates, Cheval Blanc produces its wines in a bling-free cellar, where the large raw concrete vats resemble futuristic vessels, then ages them in a spacious barrel cellar. Between tradition and modernity, you’ll be surprised by the look of the vines, ordered like a North Korean military battalion on parade, which adjoin both the 15th-century château and the futuristic winery awarded the International Architecture Prize in 2013.

Grange des Pères

A Languedoc Roussillon estate, La Grange des Pères produces IGP Hérault wines from many of the region’s endemic terroirs. A wine of great breed, it breathes the South, with floral, fruity and spicy flavors, topped off with velvety, sapid notes. As soon as Laurent Vaillé took over the vineyard, he succeeded in making it one of the legendary estates that every wine-lover wants to taste at least once in their life. The first vintage came out in 1992, and was an instant success. Each year, the consistency of the wine is exemplary, and the ageing process is surprising.

La Grange des Pères is also a wine that can be found cheaper in restaurants than in the shops, thanks to the speculation that reigns over this bottle and the grey market that regulates the prices at which it is bought. Although the estate lost the legendary Laurent Vaillé in April 2021, the man who was called the “Mozart of wine”, Domaine de la Grange des Pères is far from turning the page on its triumphant history in the world of wine.

Château Rayas

Château Rayas is the most prestigious wine produced by the Reynaud family. The Reynaud family has owned vineyards in the southern Rhône valley since 1880: it was at this time that Albert Reynaud acquired Château Rayas, to which Château des Tours was added in the 1930s and Château Fonsalette in 1945. Today, Emmanuel Reynaud runs the estate with an iron fist. The vines are particularly well cared for, so much so that from the air they look like a Japanese garden.

Like Grange des Pères, Château Rayas is one of those wines that have fallen victim to speculation and are being resold at exorbitant prices on the grey market. In fact, you’ll find it cheaper in restaurants than on the market. Produced in very limited quantities, this wine is one of the secret ones, Emmanuel Reynaud hardly communicates about this estate, except that “It was for the magic of this light, in the middle of the woods, that my great-grandfather bought the estate in 1880.”

Château Mouton Rothschild

Château Mouton Rothschild is a premier grand cru classé de Pauillac in the 1855 imperial classification. Considered one of the world’s most prestigious and expensive wines, it is often tasted for its gustatory and organoleptic qualities. You won’t find a palace or Michelin-starred restaurant that doesn’t have a Mouton Rothschild in its cellar, just as no wine collector doesn’t own at least one copy of this château.

Château Mouton Rothschild is also known for its exclusive labels, which change with each vintage. Every year since 1924, a different artist has designed a label for the premier grand cru classé. A host of artists are represented, including Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons… and many others.

Charles Heidsieck Blanc des millénaires

The only champagne on the list, we had to choose. To represent the region with dignity, I chose Charles Heidsieck and its cuvée Blanc des millénaires. One of the estate’s most elitist cuvées, the Blanc des Millénaire was presented by Charles Heidsieck for the first time in 1993, with the 1983 vintage. Produced in the Côte des Blancs, in the thousand-year-old Crayères, the cuvée takes its name from this exceptional terroir. The grapes chosen for the vinification of a blanc des millénaires are meticulously selected from several Côte des Blancs crus. Only the grains best suited to ageing and developing aromas are selected.

To date, only six vintages have been produced in this cuvée: 1983, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2004 and 2006. Each has been widely acclaimed by wine critics. Very hard to find in the shops, these champagnes are unique to the region. Le blanc des millénaires is a cuvée characterized by a fairly round texture on the palate, with consistently fine, piercing bubbles. Intense aromas of fruit, vegetal notes, citrus, nougat and a hint of saltiness.

Cognac Louis XIII

Just like a meal, the spirit to finish it off! Do you know cognac, the French spirit that’s the most popular internationally? Produced in the southwest of France, in the town of Cognac, this spirit is a wine eau-de-vie made from a highly complex distillation process of Cognac white wines. Louis XIII cognac is considered the greatest cognac today, and is a “cuvée” of the Rémy Martin cognac house, which produces different types of cognac. Louis XIII cognacs can take up to 100 years to bottle.

Louis XIII cognac is not just a cuvée, it’s a creation. While there’s no denying the gustatory and organoleptic qualities of this cognac, its renown is also due to its rarity (each bottle is numbered, and each “vintage” can contain up to 1,200 different batches), as well as the more singular shape of the bottle, adorned with spikes on its sides. Numerous special collections have also been produced, such as the Louis XIII Diamant with Star Diamond, the Jéroboam Louis XIII in 2011, the Black Pearl in 2007 (produced in a hundred-year-old tierçon and bottled in a decanter created by Baccarat), or the film “100 years, the movie you will never see” starring John Malkovich in 2015. In short, a more than mythical eau-de-vie that must be tasted at least once in your life.