Check your cellar. You might have a treasure

Which is the most precious wine in the world and what makes a wine a collector’s item?

The paternity of the finest wines still belongs to France, but in recent years even American, Australian, Italian, Spanish wines are climbing the charts.

But how much do the fine wines cost?

In some cases, particular bottles, the figures can become dizzy. Let’s see some examples. The 1941 Cabernet Sauvignon of Inglenook, belonging to Francis Ford Coppola, bought thanks to the money earned with the movie “Il Padrino”, was sold for 18 thousand euros.   Even for the most famous and sought-after wine in the world, the Romanée Conti, made of one hectare of Pinot Noir grapes in Burgundy, the figures are very high. The auction house Sotheby’s has beaten a box of 8 bottles of 1990 for 132 thousand euro, about 20 thousand euros per bottle.  Penfolds Grange is an Australian wine produced from syrah grapes: the 1951 vintage is very rare because there are only about twenty bottles and the auction value is 28 thousand euros each.   Among the Sauternes, recently a Chateau d’Yquem of 1787 was worth 73 thousand euros, while a Jéroboam of 1945 of Chateau Mouton Rothschild was bought by an anonymous collector for 84 thousand euros. Another great Bordeaux, a 1954 Chateau Cheval Blanc, also a 3-liter jéroboam, was sold at an auction in San Francisco for 99.000 euros. Among the oldest pieces is a bottle that was part of the private collection of the American president Thomas Jefferson: a Chateau Lafite of 1787, first among the crus classés of 1855. Today it belongs to the publisher Macolm Forbes and is valued 117 thousand euros.