Access to Excess: Worlds Most Expensive Wine

 'Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.' ~ Oscar Wilde

I know for many even spending over $10 for a single bottle of wine would be unimaginable, but step away from the boxed wine aisle for a moment, have you ever wondered what the most expensive wine in the world is?

Truthfully, I've never given it much thought, but I have always suspected that it would be some crazy unrealistic price; that some fool with more money than good sense would want to spend on a single bottle. While I agree with the principal; "what the market will bear" allowing folks to get the best price for their goods or service, where small supply smacks into high demand. But honestly spending that kind on money on a bottle of wine, even from one as famed as this one is; it still reminds me of a quote from one of America's iconic statesmen; Will Rogers, who once quipped, “Too many people spend money they've earned..to buy things they don't want..to impress people that they don't like.”

In fact I'm under the impression that they won't even drink those wines, they'll just sock it away in some cellar, keep it under lock and key and quietly usher in a few close-friends to just to see the famed bottle. I sit on wine in my cellar, every once in a while, I'll take it out and ogle it, but I will eventually end drinking that bottle, famed or not. And yes I have a few bottles by famed winemaker Heidi Barret of Screaming Eagle fame, but believe when the time is right, I'll be uncorking those gems with the same reckless abandon of my Tuesday evening wines.

Okay, so did you guess that most expensive wine in the world consistently is French? It had to be right? So here it's folks, be prepared to pony-up some serious coin, according to an article I found on Wine Searcher the Henri Jayer’s Richebourg is the most expensive wine in the world. The article says; this red Burgundy, which is no longer in production, has the highest average price of all wines listed on Wine-Searcher.

It averages out at $14,395 per bottle, a figure calculated across at least three vintages. The price tag for this Burgundy grand cru tops the most expensive wine of 2011, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Romanée-Conti – another Burgundy red currently selling at a mere $11,823 per bottle. But even topping that price was a 1945 Domaine de la Romanée Conti, which sold for $123,919 during an Christie's auction in Geneva and is pictured above.

If you want to read more about access to excess, then click here for the rest of the story. If you want to read about more wines that can only be defined by access to excess click here. So the next time you come home with a case or two to sock away in cellar and the "wife" gives you the raised eyebrow look, like what the bleep are you doing? Just remind her, you could have spent so much more than the paltry $400 or so you just blew on a few favorite bottles. Until next time folks remember to sip long and prosper cheers!