A single bottle sold for more than 1.2 billion KRW (about $792,000), smashing the record for the world’s most expensive wine.
On March 30 (local time), Acker — the world’s largest wine auction house — said a 1945 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti bottle fetched 1.22 billion KRW (about $812,500) at its annual La Paulee auction held the day before in Manhattan, New York.
The previous record belonged to the same wine, which sold for 840 million KRW (about $558,000) at a Sotheby’s auction in 2018. This sale eclipses that figure by roughly 50 percent.
The 1945 Romanee-Conti vintage is prized for its extreme rarity and historical significance. Domaine de la Romanee-Conti typically produces 5,000–6,000 bottles a year, but in 1945 war and severe weather reduced production to about 600 bottles. Growers uprooted the vines after the harvest, so this bottle represents the last wine from vines that endured two world wars.
The wine is also notable for coming from pre-phylloxera vines — grapes harvested from ungrafted vines that were never bred for resistance to the pest — which adds to its mystique for collectors.
\”This weekend we created a historic moment,\” Acker Chairman John Capon said. \”I’ve tasted the 1945 Romanee-Conti only three times in my life, and it was by far the best wine I’ve ever had. The 1945 vintage has cemented itself as the most sought-after wine in the history of collecting.\”
Reporter Seo Hee-won
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