ADVERTISEMENT

Bottle of 1945 Burgundy sells for £424,000 to become world’s most expensive wine

sglowrider

sglowrider

Hall of Famer
Gold Member
Apr 9, 2012
27,426
23,545
113
Tiny Red Dot
Smashes previous record of £177,000 for a standard bottle
wine1.jpg

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-burgundy-1945-sothebys-auction-a8583326.html

A bottle of 1945 French wine has been sold for a record-breaking £424,000 at auction. The Romanee-Conti – widely considered the planet’s finest Burgundy – was bought for 17 times its estimated worth at Sotheby’s in New York on Saturday.
Click to expand...
It smashed the world’s previous high-mark for a standard bottle: a 1869 Chateau Lafite Rothschild which sold for a comparatively inexpensive £177,000 in Hong Kong in 2010.
Click to expand...
That works out to be like $90,000 a glass/paper cup if you can still drink it.

What have you got in your wine fridge?
 
sglowrider said:
Smashes previous record of £177,000 for a standard bottle
wine1.jpg

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-burgundy-1945-sothebys-auction-a8583326.html


That works out to be like $90,000 a glass/paper cup if you can still drink it.

What have you got in your wine fridge?
Click to expand...
The market for old wines still makes me laugh. You can't drink it. There's a very real possibility that you'll open the bottle to find it's completely ruined. So you are only buying it to show it off, or to hope that it increases in value, so you can resell. To someone else who will never open it. The entire trade is based on selling and buying things that no one has any intention of ever using.
 
TheOriginalHappyGoat said:
The market for old wines still makes me laugh. You can't drink it. There's a very real possibility that you'll open the bottle to find it's completely ruined. So you are only buying it to show it off, or to hope that it increases in value, so you can resell. To someone else who will never open it. The entire trade is based on selling and buying things that no one has any intention of ever using.
Click to expand...

Most collectible markets make me scratch my head. I have some friends at an investment firm that owns a collectible car business. The same 500 buyers buy and sell their old, exotic and unique cars without driving them half of the time. If you aren't going to drive it and it only looks cool for the first day in your garage, it's senseless. To me, the fun of owning 20 different cars with various features would be to get to experience a different ride each day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheOriginalHappyGoat
TheOriginalHappyGoat said:
The market for old wines still makes me laugh. You can't drink it. There's a very real possibility that you'll open the bottle to find it's completely ruined. So you are only buying it to show it off, or to hope that it increases in value, so you can resell. To someone else who will never open it. The entire trade is based on selling and buying things that no one has any intention of ever using.
Click to expand...

Its like treating them like trophy wives. The oldest I have tasted was a lafite1956 or something. A friend opened it. Fantastic but wasnt worth opening it for a plebish palate that I have.

The oldest wine I have in my wine fridge (yes, you need one in this part of the world and not some pretentious wank) is a Bollinger Grande Annee 1988. I had four cases of it back in 1999 for my wedding. Best average priced bubbly in the world imo.

Basically, wine meant to be drunk but I kept on saving that bottle half expecting to have opened up for the 6th Banner.... and so it remains..
 
JamieDimonsBalls said:
Most collectible markets make me scratch my head. I have some friends at an investment firm that owns a collectible car business. The same 500 buyers buy and sell their old, exotic and unique cars without driving them half of the time. If you aren't going to drive it and it only looks cool for the first day in your garage, it's senseless. To me, the fun of owning 20 different cars with various features would be to get to experience a different ride each day.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I mean, I get it with certain things. Comic books, stamps, baseball cards, these are things you can set goals for, and gain some enjoyment in finishing a "set" of some kind. But for a lot of these things, the only benefit you get is knowing that you own something you paid too much money for.
 
JamieDimonsBalls said:
Most collectible markets make me scratch my head. I have some friends at an investment firm that owns a collectible car business. The same 500 buyers buy and sell their old, exotic and unique cars without driving them half of the time. If you aren't going to drive it and it only looks cool for the first day in your garage, it's senseless. To me, the fun of owning 20 different cars with various features would be to get to experience a different ride each day.
Click to expand...

Funny analogue -- my dad's business partner once told me that women are like cars. You need to change models every few years. He had five wives at one stage and multiple mistresses and when he died, all the women incl daughters (and their husbands) got all his 400million inheritance.
 
sglowrider said:
Its like treating them like trophy wives. The oldest I have tasted was a lafite1956 or something. A friend opened it. Fantastic but wasnt worth opening it for a plebish palate that I have.

The oldest wine I have in my wine fridge (yes, you need one in this part of the world and not some pretentious wank) is a Bollinger Grande Annee 1988. I had four cases of it back in 1999 for my wedding. Best average priced bubbly in the world imo.

Basically, wine meant to be drunk but I kept on saving that bottle half expecting to have opened up for the 6th Banner.... and so it remains..
Click to expand...
I tried a Bordeaux from the 50s once. It wasn't a Lafite, not even close, but this guy had been saving it for years, because his partner bought it for him as a "future retirement gift" when he made partner himself. Well, the partner died, so he decided to open the bottle in a memorial fashion. Totally oxidized. It had been sitting in his cellar for like thirty years, completely ruined the entire time because the cork had a bad seal. There was nothing anyone could have done. He'd just been sitting on a bottle of vinegar for decades.

He laughed it off ("It happens" kind of thing), but I was reminded of one of my vendors telling me about cellaring: with very few exceptions, when wineries put a wine on the market, it's ready to drink now. You don't need to wait for anything.
 
TheOriginalHappyGoat said:
I tried a Bordeaux from the 50s once. It wasn't a Lafite, not even close, but this guy had been saving it for years, because his partner bought it for him as a "future retirement gift" when he made partner himself. Well, the partner died, so he decided to open the bottle in a memorial fashion. Totally oxidized. It had been sitting in his cellar for like thirty years, completely ruined the entire time because the cork had a bad seal. There was nothing anyone could have done. He'd just been sitting on a bottle of vinegar for decades.

He laughed it off ("It happens" kind of thing), but I was reminded of one of my vendors telling me about cellaring: with very few exceptions, when wineries put a wine on the market, it's ready to drink now. You don't need to wait for anything.
Click to expand...

What a waste. Thats why fridges are good -- climate/humidity controlled so that the cork stays good.

Having said that I once opened up a 1990 Krug for my birthday dinner a 4-5 years ago -- it wasnt even fizzy white wine anymore. Just flat. Had not felt like crying since my dad's death. I had to block out the trauma until now... I still another bottle but am afraid of the disappointment that may occur.
 
sglowrider said:
What a waste. Thats why fridges are good -- climate/humidity controlled so that the cork stays good.

Having said that I once opened up a 1990 Krug for my birthday dinner a 4-5 years ago -- it wasnt even fizzy white wine anymore. Just flat. Had not felt like crying since my dad's death. I had to block out the trauma until now... I still another bottle but am afraid of the disappointment that may occur.
Click to expand...
This wasn't stored improperly. It was just a bad cork. Had imperfections in it that allowed the wine to soak into the middle of it, which it turn changed the shape and let oxygen in. It happens to about 10% of old wines, and a smaller but still significant number of newer wines with natural corks. That's why so many wineries are switching to synthetic or screw cap.
 
TheOriginalHappyGoat said:
This wasn't stored improperly. It was just a bad cork. Had imperfections in it that allowed the wine to soak into the middle of it, which it turn changed the shape and let oxygen in. It happens to about 10% of old wines, and a smaller but still significant number of newer wines with natural corks. That's why so many wineries are switching to synthetic or screw cap.
Click to expand...

I have no problems with that but wine snobs still refuse to buy them.

I came to a conclusion a while ago -- no one's palate is that good. Its all in the mind especially when they smoke cigars with their wines.

I was at a free champagne tasting session a while ago. The wine guy from Times of London was here to go through the range of Bollinger which was my favourite bubbly anyway. And while the guy was going through the obligatory review of each range of Bollingers, he would be puffing away at his cubans.
I would be guessing that with each puff he was killing off his taste buds and yet, he was telling me about the wine! Anyway, I have an English palate for wine and champagne, I think coming from my beer palate rich -- full-bodied -- I didnt need him to tell me about the bubblies. I was there because it was free!

12 guys; 10 of them were lawyers, me and a doctor -- Friday at 10am. They had anticipated like 30 folks so there were lots of spare bottles to polish off!! We must have finished like 300 bucks worth of champagne each!! Would have easily DUI at 12noon!
One of the best days of my life.
 
sglowrider said:
Funny analogue -- my dad's business partner once told me that women are like cars. You need to change models every few years. He had five wives at one stage and multiple mistresses and when he died, all the women incl daughters (and their husbands) got all his 400million inheritance.
Click to expand...

Most people would feel this way. However, some just don't care what other people think, including their own offspring.

Can't imagine his daughters accepting that lifestyle
 
JamieDimonsBalls said:
Most people would feel this way. However, some just don't care what other people think, including their own offspring.

Can't imagine his daughters accepting that lifestyle
Click to expand...

They grew up with it -- accepted his colourful lifestyle. One of the daughters did pick up a bit of the dad's lifestyle too. And she was the hottest of the bunch.

 
Last edited:
sglowrider said:
They grew up with it -- accepted his colourful lifestyle. One of the daughters did pick up a bit of the dad's lifestyle too. And she was the hottest of the bunch.

View embedded media
Click to expand...

Perhaps they accepted it externally or actually did because of cultural norms, but it doesn't matter. He clearly didn't care what they thought of him. And that is too bad.
 
JamieDimonsBalls said:
Perhaps they accepted it externally or actually did because of cultural norms, but it doesn't matter. He clearly didn't care what they thought of him. And that is too bad.
Click to expand...

Serious question - why is it anyone's business what consenting adults do with one another? I couldn't possibly care less about my parents' sex habits, before or after the divorce. I care even less about some other random person, it doesn't affect me and it doesn't affect anyone outside that relationship. I don't care what other people think about my sex habits, I happen to be monogamous with my wife but I have friends who are poly and it doesn't change our friendship one bit.
 
mashnut said:
Serious question - why is it anyone's business what consenting adults do with one another? I couldn't possibly care less about my parents' sex habits, before or after the divorce. I care even less about some other random person, it doesn't affect me and it doesn't affect anyone outside that relationship. I don't care what other people think about my sex habits, I happen to be monogamous with my wife but I have friends who are poly and it doesn't change our friendship one bit.
Click to expand...

You are assuming his wives consented to his partners and mistresses. Perhaps one of the several did.

I'm not talking about swingers. I'm talking about cheaters.
 
JamieDimonsBalls said:
You are assuming his wives consented to his partners and mistresses. Perhaps one of the several did.

I'm not talking about swingers. I'm talking about cheaters.
Click to expand...

Sure, and that's not a choice I'd make for my own relationship, but I also don't particularly see room for my judgement in anyone else's situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back