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Wine is an enchanting, frivolous product, but it’s also mysterious… Faced with a shelf of wines in a department store, with no one to help us, we feel quite helpless. Especially because when you’re faced with a bottle of red wine for €2, you know it’s going to be piquette Jack… So you choose a more expensive bottle, because high price means high quality, right?
Yes, but not only that… Like all products, the price of a wine is made up of the primary costs associated with production. In this case, a wine from an estate ploughed by horse and vinified without inputs in a year when it froze will inevitably be sold at a higher price than another. But it’s mainly the law of supply and demand that ultimately makes the difference between great wines. While they are of course expensive to produce, it’s speculation that drives up their prices. A selection of the world’s most expensive wines to date.
10. Egon Muller – Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese – Mosel 2017
Sold for the modest sum of 20,836 euros, this riesling liquoreux is a masterpiece from the pen of a winemaker who has become a veritable star in Germany.
9. Liber Pater 2015
30,000€ is the price you’ll have to pay to taste Loïc Pasquet’s most expensive vintage. An ambitious Bordeaux producer who makes his wines from ungrafted vines, as they were before phylloxera, and from forgotten grape varieties that are sometimes not included in the AOC specifications. Bye-bye appellation, hello success!
8. Henri Jayer – Richebourg Grand Cru 1985
One of Burgundy’s most legendary winemakers left us 15 years ago. His wines are nonetheless mythical, and sold for gold at the sale of his personal cellar: €46,818 for the most expensive.
7. Château Yquem – Sauternes 1811
It’s one of the best-known estates in the world, and the only Sauternes to have its own category (the highest) in the 1855 classification. The 1811 vintage of this great sweet wine sold at auction 200 years later for €85,000.
6. Anatoile Vercel – Vin Jaune 1774
Who would have thought that a Jura wine would make it into this ranking? Jura vins jaunes, a special category characterized by ageing under flor veil for 6 years and 3 months. This gives rise to wines with great ageing potential, and the oldest wine in the world is a yellow wine. These come close, selling for €103,000 each.
5. Penfolds – Kalimna Block 42 – 2004
Now it’s Australia’s turn to complete the selection. A special edition from one of the country’s most renowned estates. He makes Block 42 wines from very old Cabernet Sauvignon vines, and this special edition at the height of luxury sold for €136,000.
4. Château Lafite Rothschild – Pauillac 1869
First of the Grands Crus Classés in 1855, this château, owned by the Rothschild family, is a legend in its own right. The best Bordeaux wines are known for their exceptional ageing potential, as demonstrated by the 1889 vintage, which sold at auction for €198,695.
3. Château Cheval Blanc – Saint-Émilion 1947
Another Bordeaux behemoth, but this time on the other bank of the Gironde – here we are on the Right Bank, in the kingdom of Merlot. Château Cheval Blanc, which has become a legend in its own right, offered an equally legendary format at auction: 6L for just 259,125 euros!
2. Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1945
La Romanée Conti 1945 is the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold in the world. An exceptional vintage, unrivalled conditions and historical significance, and of course the legendary Aubert de Villaine estate. 482,000€ or a record never broken before 2018.
1. Petrus 2000 Cuvée de l’espace
And last but not least, the magnificent Petrus, also located on the right bank not far from Saint-Émilion. This cuvée has the unique distinction of having taken a short trip… into space! Researchers guarantee that even after such a gravity-defying journey, its contents will remain among the best in the world. Although not yet sold, it will be the most expensive bottle in the world, with bids starting at €830,000. On your marks, get set… bid!
Addict de vin et champagne, Aurore est une vraie passionnée. Ayant tout appris sur les bancs de l’école pour la préparation de concours étudiants d’œnologie, c’est plutôt en train de vagabonder à travers les vignobles que vous pourrez maintenant la croiser.
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