“Red wine is a great accompaniment to meat,” Mario Lemieux, a retired Canadian professional hockey player and wine collector, once said. Well, Mario, especially if the red wine is way far more expensive than the meat you are gorging on.
Over the years, the prices of some red wines have stolen the limelight away from the wine itself. Whether because of an iconic label, a former famous owner, or just simply a rare and highly valuable vintage, the wines in this list are surely some of the most lavish liquid purchases in the entire history.
Buying any of the wines on this list would make most of us declare bankruptcy. However, if you have the money or the mood to buy a really expensive bottle then here are some of the most expensive and finest red wines in the world.
This is not a definitive list admittedly, as the items here are sold differently: some are sold per bottle, jeroboam, or double-magnum.
The wine market, please take note, has a lot of intermediaries which may have a direct effect on the prices. Importers, wholesalers, as well as retailers are in the market to make a profit, so prices of wines may change depending on which level you’re dealing with. In addition, the prices of wines in auctions generally get out of hand and may result in heftier price tags.
- Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 – $500,000
This is the Grand Royale of all the most expensive wines out there. In a Napa valley wine auction in 2000, this wine got the highest bid, with a whopping price tag of around $500,000.
One wine connoisseur described the wine as: “Exceptionally impressive. Sensational nose of jammy blackcurrants and subtle toasty oak. Stunningly proportioned, ripe, intense fruit, full body, great purity… inner-core of sweet, creamy, highly extracted blackcurrant/cassis fruit. Spectacular.”
2 Chateau Margaux 1787 – $500,000
Known as the most expensive wine never to be sold, this wine’s initial price was around $500,000. It was authenticated to be once part of the wine collection of Thomas Jefferson.
Chateau Margaux 1787 was accidentally shattered in a Margaux Dinner by a waiter who knocked the bottle over and broke it. Insurers paid out around $225,000.
3 Chateau Lafite 1787 – $160,000
A bottle of Chateau Lafite 1787 that was linked to Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was sold to Malcolm Forbes in 1985 for $160,000. Despite issues over the provenance of the wine and link to Jefferson, this wine is among the most expensive single bottles of wine ever sold.
4 Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1951 – $38,420
At $38,420 per bottle, Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1951 is considered the most expensive Australian wine. According to reports, there are just 20 bottles of this wine that exists at present. In May 2004, a wine collector in Adelaide shelled out a cool AUS$50,200 for a bottle at an auction house.
5 Cheval Blanc 1947 – $33,781
One of the most expensive wines in the world, Cheval Blanc 1947 enjoys the privileged status of being one of only two wines that have been awarded the Class A status in the Classification of Saint-Emilion wine. In 2006, a three-liter bottle of this fine wine was bought at Vinfolio in San Francisco for $135,125 ($33,781 per 750 ml).
6 Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon 1941 – $24,675
Sold in 2004 for $24,675, this Cabernet is owned by Francis Ford Coppola. According to Coppola himself it was one of the best he’d ever had. “There is a signature violet and rose petal aroma that completes this amazingly well-preserved, robust wine that had just finished fermentation at the time of Pearl Harbor.” he said.
7 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1945 – $23,000
The average price for a 750 ml bottle of this wine is $16,992. In 2007, a jeroboam of this wine, regarded as one of the greatest vintages of the previous century—was sold to a bidder at Sotheby’s New York. The price? An astounding $310,700 or almost $77,675 per 750-ml bottle. A decade earlier, a jeroboam of this fine wine was bought by an anonymous bidder at Christie’s, London. The $114,614 price-tag is almost equal to $23,000 per 750 ml.
8 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti 1990 – $20,975
This wine enjoys the good reputation of the world’s finest Pinot Noir. Production is limited due to the strict yields but also because of the desire to capture the luscious fruit flavors in the berries. This wine is produced on a tiny parcel of land where vines are on the average over 50 years old.
9 Chateau Lafite 1865 – $4,650
It is quite amazing that this wine, which has around 750 ml in every bottle, is authenticated to be just 150 years old. If you want a bottle of this wine, feel free to shell out around $ 24,577 (that excludes tax, of course). However, if you are really feeling magnanimous and want a double-magnum bottle of the wine, you can have it for just around $124,469.
In 2006, a double magnum of this wine was sold for a record $111,625 at a Sotheby’s auction. The average price per glass? About $4,650.
10 Chateau Margaux 2009 Balthazar – $4,062
Considered one of the best vintages ever produced by its estate, 2009 Chateau Margaux’s three 12-liter bottles are offered for US$195,000 by exclusive wine merchant Le Clos in Dubai International Airport.
Only six Balthazars have been produced, and only three of them are up for sale; all available exclusively through Le Clos. It is housed in a grand case of oak and raised on steel legs, with beautiful gold engravings by master craftsmen.