How much would you invest in a single bottle of wine? An exceptional vintage from a highly regarded vineyard may cost as much as a luxury sports car or property. We take a look at 10 of the most expensive wines ever produced.

1. Most expensive standard-sized bottle.

Chateau Lafite 1787 sold at Christie’s London in 1985 for $160,000.

Bought for the Forbes Collection, this bottle of Lafite bears Thomas Jefferson’s initials etched into the glass, a practice not that unusual in the 18th century when large purchases were made directly from the Chateau.

Provenance notes: this bottle has been subject to much speculation regarding its authenticity – indeed it the collection it came from sparked ongoing legal action in the US. A book entitled “The Billionaire’s Vinegar” by Benjamin Wallace details the story further.

2. Most expensive large-format bottle

A Jeroboam (5 litres in the US) of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945 – considered one of the great vintages of the 20th century – sold to an anonymous buyer at Christie’s London in 1997 for $114,614.

3. Most expensive fortified wine

A 1775 Sherry from the Massandra collection, sold at Sotheby’s London in 2001 for $43,500.

Situated 4 kilometers from Yalta in the Crimea, the Massandra winery was considered the finest in Czarist Russia. Its cellar contains over a million bottles of both Russian, some bearing the Imperial seal, and Western European wines, the oldest of which was this Sherry.

4. Most expensive lot of wine ever sold at auction

50 cases (600 bottles), of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1982, by Christie’s/Zachy’s New York in 1997 for $420,000.

5. Most expensive white wine

A bottle of 1787 Chateau d’Yquem sold at Christie’s London in 1986 for $56,588. This bottle also bears Thomas Jefferson’s initials.

Provenance notes: this has now been superceded by a bottle of Yquem from the same vintage purchased by an American buyer in 2006 for $90,000.

6. Most expensive dry white wine

7 bottles of Le Montrachet, DRC 1978 sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2001 for $167,500 or $23,929 per bottle.

7. Most expensive single bottle of red burgundy

6 Magnums of Romanée-Conti, DRC 1990 at Zachy’s New York in 2002 for $69,600, or $5,800 per regular bottle.

8. Most expensive lot of red burgundy

Set of 7 Methuselahs (6 litres or 8 bottles) of Romanée-Conti, DRC 1985 sold at Sotheby’s London in 1996 for $224,900.

9. Most expensive American red wine

3 bottles of Screaming Eagle 1994 sold at Christie’s Los Angeles in 2000 for $11,500 or $3,833 per bottle.

10. Most expensive bottle of wine ever broken

Chateau Margaux 1787 insured for $225,000.

Provenance notes: the most expensive wine never to be sold is the 1787 Chateau Margaux initialled by Thomas Jefferson. In 1989 an astronomical price of $500,000 was placed on it by its owner, New York wine merchant William Sokolin who took it to a Margaux dinner at the Four Seasons hotel. Many say that in asking such a huge sum he was just looking to generate publicity (a similarly-initialled Lafite sold for “only” $160,000 four years earlier). Although he didn’t sell the wine, he certainly got a lot of publicity; at the end of the dinner a waiter carrying a coffee tray bumped the bottle, breaking it. Sokolin, however, had the last laugh: he’d managed to get the wine insured – for $225,000. This makes it the world’s most expensive broken bottle of wine.

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