So, you’ve made millions investing in Bitcoin and you’re finally ready to buy that Lambo. Remember though, that supercar loses a lot of value the minute you drive it off the lot. Luxury wines on the other hand have been the best performing asset class in the world for the past 20 years!
Not every bottle you buy at your local shop has 10X potential though. It takes a specific set of criteria to make the kind of wine that can age for decades and appreciate in value over that time. I will cover that criteria in a future post and discuss how you can get involved in wine investing.
This post is to showcase the types of wines millionaires buy when they wanna blow some serious cash. Also keep in mind, most of the prices listed don't factor in the typical 200-400% markup you pay in a restaurant. This is a list of some of the world's most expensive liquid assets:
1) Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC):
Average Price/Bottle: $16,599 USD
The holy grail for red wine geeks!!! These wines come from a tiny plot land in the Burgundy region of France, producing only a small number of cases each year. Catholic monks were the first to cultivate grapes in this part of the world, and through meticulous note taking and trial-and-error they were able to produce some of the longest lasting and most coveted wines in the world. Today, a bottle of 1990 DRC can run you up to $30-40k, that's over $350k a case! I was lucky enough to try a bottle from the 1960s at a past job and all I can say is WOW. The wine had a brick like red hue and tasted something like a red fruit jam that had been stored next to a batch of the most decadent truffles you've ever tried.
2) Chateau d'Yquem
Average Price/Bottle: $600 USD
Don't let the average price of $600 USD fool you, this wine has a price spread from $300-100,000. These are some of the longest lasting white wines in the world, with some bottles lasting several centuries. The sweetness levels and structural integrity are some of the contributing factors to these wine's long lifespans and hefty price tags. They are made in the Bordeaux region of France, which is probably more famous for their equally pricey red wines. The semillion grape variety used is actually naturally infected with a type of disease known as noble rot, which removes much of the water content in the grape, concentrating the juice's flavours. In 2006 an anonymous American collector purchased a bottle of the 1787 vintage for a staggering $100k. A case of 1990 d'Yquem will run you around $8000, a bargain compared to our next wine.
2) 1907 Heidsieck Champagne
Average Price/Bottle: $250,000 USD
You think you're a big baller for popping that bottle of Ace of Spades in the club? Try one of these pre-WWI bottles of Heidsieck Champagne. A collection of around 2000 bottles were lost at sea in a shipwreck, ultimately preserving the wines for nearly a century before being uncovered in 1998. When the wines went to auction they fetched prices as high as $250k a bottle. Champagne, the world's first luxury drink is already a pricey style of wine, but these prices are truly astounding. Hopefully I too can one day afford something this rare, until then, I'll enjoy my cheap bubbley.
So there you have it, three of the world's most pricey bottles of wine. If you enjoyed this post please upvote and drop me a comment with what you'd like to see me post about next.
Cheers,
Anthony