Wine is one of the most savored drinks in the world, and also one of the most coveted and sought after, making a list of the most expensive wines in the world quite a journey through the wine-making process. Vintners the world offer constantly seek to develop new methods, and find the optimal ingredients and recipes to create wines that will fetch a small fortune at sale.
If you are hosting a party or you just want to pair a great meal with a fine drink, wine is always the answer. On top of the health benefits it provides when consumed responsibly, the variety of grapes, and styles and types of wine are infinite. The taste of a good wine changes from location, weather, and altitude, type of grape, way of storage, fermentation ingredients, and even bottling. Wine has become a commodity that not only is praised worldwide but is also a collector’s item that can be considered an investment that will become more expensive as the years go by.
In this article we will take a look at some of these amazing bottles that have been sold at auctions and bought by private collectors. Some of these wines have never been opened, and the price is still rising. Wine companies all over the world try to compete to become the best. From Malbec to Cabernet Sauvignon, to white and even Champagne, the world of wine is one of the most varied and interesting.
Let’s take a look now at the ten most expensive wines in the world. Also check out the 15 Most Expensive Countries in the World to see if there are any connections between the origins of these wines, and regions with a costly standard of living.
10- Romanee-Conti DRC 1990
Price: $28,000
One of the prime reasons for the high price of this wine is the extremely low yield of the soil in the area of France where it’s produced; it takes the produce of three Pinot Noir grape vines to make one bottle. This Pinot Noir harvest can produce up to 450 cases of Romanee-Conti DRC wine. There were eight bottles of this wine bought at an auction in London in 1996 at $224,000.
The list of most expensive wines in the world continues on the next page with a fine vintage from 1951.
9- Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1951
Price: $38,000
This is the most expensive Australian wine in the world. The 1951 Penfolds Grange Hermitage is known to have nomore than about 20 other bottles left in existence today. In 2004, a wine collector in Adelaide paid $38,000 for a bottle at an Australian auction house. It is one of the rarest wines, and the finest in Australia, which is otherwise not overly famous for its wine making.
8- Massandra Sherry de la Frontera 1775
Price: $43,500
Massandra’s Sherry de la Frontera 1775, known as the Massandra Sherry 1775, is an astonishing 239-year-old wine. It also holds the record as the world’s most expensive bottle of sherry, after a single bottle was sold at a 2001 Sotheby’s auction in London for $43,500. The bottle came from the Massandra Winery in Ukraine, known for its large collection of vintage wines.
7- Chateau d’Yquem 1787
Price: $100,000
This was the most expensive white wine in the world until 2011. White wine traditionally sells for less than red, but a rare 1787 vintage Chateau d’Yquem was bought for $100,000 from an anonymous American collector in 2006. The only problem was that this sale was tainted by the fact there has been an ongoing lawsuit claiming it was a fake.
6- Chateau d’Yquem 1811
Price: $117,000
This is has now become the most expensive white wine in the world. From the same company as our 6th ranking wine, there were only 3,000 bottles made, and it is believed that nowadays there are only ten left in the world. Christian Vanneque, a wine connoisseur, bought this 200-year-old bottle of Chateau d’Yquem 1811 for $117,000, and claimed he would be displaying the bottle behind bullet proof glass at his Balinese restaurant.
5- Cheval Blanc 1947
Price: $135,000
This is a Merlot wine, and it enjoys the status of being one of only two wines that have been given the Class A status in the Classification of Saint-Emilion wine. A three-litre bottle was bought at Vinfolio in San Francisco in 2006 for $135,125 by a private collector who did not give his or her name.
4- Chateau Lafite’s 1787
Price: $156,000
This bottle is known as the Billionaire’s Vinegar and it is thought that it was owned by Thomas Jefferson. It was sold at an auction in 1985 for $156,000, but there is still a debate raging today about its authenticity. Its origins became the subject of the bestselling book the Billionaire’s Vinegar, which tells the story of this mysterious wine through experts and those closest to its sale.
3- Chateau Lafite’s 1869
Price: $ 230,000
This red wine has been sold at an astonishing price of $230,000. In an auction in Hong Kong, the buyer bought all three of these bottles. It is one of the rarest wines with less than 15 bottles left in the world. The price of these bottles will continue to rise as time goes by.
2- Shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck
Price: $275,000
This champagne has one of the most interesting stories known. This Heidsieck champagne was supposed to be delivered to Russian Tsar Nicholas II. But during World War I it was struck down by a German Submarine. The bottles remained at the bottom of the sea for almost 80 years until they were salvaged in 1998. Only 2,000 of these bottles were salvaged and subsequently sold at various auctions for the price of $275,000. There is history in every single one of these bottles, which should probably never be opened.
1- 1947 French Cheval Blanc
Price: $304,000
An imperial bottle of 1947 Cheval Blanc was sold at auction for the respectable sum of £192,000 ($304,375) in November 2010, setting a world record for the most expensive single bottle of wine ever sold at auction. This is the only known bottle in the Imperial format from this particular Saint-Emilion vintage; it may be one of the rarest bottles in the world. It was sold in Geneve to a private collector.
Bonus Round Screaming Eagle 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon
This bottle of red wine is the most expensive wine bottle ever sold at an auction. But it is not considered in the official lists as the price was for charity, so the real value of the bottle is not known. It is reported to have been purchased by Chase Bailey, a former Cisco Systems executive in Napa in 2000.
