Sommelier Pays Record $117K for Bottle of Wine

And he intends to drink it... eventually
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 26, 2011 8:41 AM CDT
Sommelier Pays Record $117K for Bottle of Wine
A Chateau d'Yquem 1854 bottle is displayed in this May 6, 2011 file photo.   (Getty Images)

Christian Vanneque has big plans for his latest wine purchase—which happens to be the priciest ever. The former sommelier has just dropped $117,000 on a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem from 1811—the so-called “comet year,” which legend has it produced superior wine thanks to the appearance of a comet in the sky. The previous 2006 record of $100,000 was also for a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem, though that one was from 1787, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Vanneque plans to display the bottle in a new Indonesian wine bar he’s opening “in a bulletproof showcase, like a painting,” he says. “This showcase will be temperature- and humidity-controlled. It’ll be a mini-Fort Knox.” Still, he doesn’t intend to leave it there forever. He says he’ll crack the wine in 2017, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his career. “I will never resell it, even if a wealthy Chinese gentleman or a rich man from the Middle East offers to buy it,” he says. “I’m not a fancy collector. I’m not rich. … I’m a sommelier. Wine is for drinking.” (More wine stories.)

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