What is the most expensive wine ever sold?

The 1945 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is the most expensive wine ever sold, auctioned for $558,000 in 2018.

Why are some wines sold for such high prices?

High prices result from extreme rarity, exceptional provenance, historical significance, and perfect aging conditions that make these bottles collector's items.

Are the wines on the most expensive list still drinkable?

Many are still drinkable if stored properly, but some are primarily valued as collectible artifacts rather than for consumption.

How are the prices of these ultra-expensive wines determined?

Auction prices are driven by demand among wealthy collectors, limited supply, critical acclaim, and the wine's reputation and age.

Glasse, Hannah / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Wine

Top 10 Most Expensive Wines Ever Sold

Wine auction records are a window into the intersection of scarcity, history, and human obsession. A bottle of fermented grape juice becomes a cultural artefact when it survives a war, outlives its maker by a century, or carries the mystique of a grand cru vineyard that produces fewer than 6,000 bottles per year. The bottles on this list sold for sums that would buy a house, fund a small business, or endow a scholarship — yet they were purchased to be drunk, or at least reverently opened, by collectors who understood that the liquid inside was irreplaceable. These are the wines that shattered records, stunned auction houses, and defined the upper limit of what a bottle can be worth.

2026240 viewsMar 28, 2026 Updated Sep 7, 2026

Be the first

Current Rankings

0
#1
1945 Romanee-Conti (DRC)
This vintage was the last produced before the estate's vines were uprooted due to phylloxera, with only 608 bottles ever made. After replanting, DRC produced no wine for several years, rendering the '45 a literal final harvest from vines that no longer exist.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#2
Screaming Eagle Cabernet 1992 (6-litre Imperial)
Screaming Eagle is one of the world's most sought-after cult wines, producing only around 500 cases per year from a tiny Oakville estate in Napa Valley. The wine earned a perfect 100-point score from critic Robert Parker. Membership on the mailing list — the sole purchase channel — has a waitlist exceeding 5,000 names.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#3
Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945
A bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945 sold for $310,700 at Christie's in 1997, setting a then-world record for a single bottle of Bordeaux, surpassing the 1787 Chateau Margaux Jefferson bottle's ($225,000) earlier high. The 1945 vintage is considered the greatest year in Bordeaux history — produced in the summer of Germany's defeat, the vines absorbed a heat wave that concentrated sugars to extraordinary levels, yielding 14.2% alcohol. Mouton's label features a victory 'V' designed by Philippe Jullian. Parker awarded it a perfect 100 points, calling it one of the two or three greatest wines he had ever tasted.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#4
Chateau Margaux 1787 (Jefferson Bottle)
A bottle of Chateau Margaux 1787, believed to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson during his time as American minister to France, sold at Christie's London in 1987 for $225,000 — the highest price ever paid for a single bottle at that time, exceeding the 1945 Mouton Rothschild's eventual auction price by $85,700 in 1997 dollars when adjusted for inflation. The bottle was engraved 'Th.J' and part of a cellar discovered in Paris. Jefferson, a famous wine enthusiast, ordered roughly 360 bottles of Bordeaux for the White House during his presidency. The authenticity of these 'Jefferson bottles' has been disputed, making this sale the most contentious in auction history.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#5
Chateau Petrus 1945
Chateau Petrus 1945 commands prices above $35,000–$50,000 per bottle at specialist auctions, with a single case fetching over $157,000 at Christie's. As the most prestigious estate in Pomerol, it produces 2,500–3,000 cases annually from 11.4 hectares of clay-rich soil, yielding a Merlot-dominant blend with unmatched density and longevity.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#6
Chateau Cheval Blanc 1947
The 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc is widely considered the greatest wine from Saint-Emilion and possibly all Bordeaux, with a 6-litre imperial selling for $304,375 at Christie's Geneva in 2010. The extreme heat wave during the 1947 summer concentrated sugar levels to near-port richness, creating a wine of unclassifiable style. Robert Parker assigned it 100 points, calling it "possibly the most perfect wine." Bottles in 750ml format sell for $8,000–$15,000 at auction.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#7
Domaine de la Romanee-Conti 1990
The Domaine de la Romanee-Conti 1990 achieved $28,112 per bottle at Zachys auction in 2014, with a single original wooden case of 12 bottles selling for over $476,000. This is one of the five greatest DRC vintages of the 20th century, offering perfect balance between the concentration of a hot summer and the freshness of well-timed rains. The vineyard covers just 1.8 hectares in Vosne-Romanee, producing approximately 6,000 bottles per year.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#8
Chateau Latour 1961
The 1961 Chateau Latour is widely regarded as the best wine of what many critics consider the finest Bordeaux vintage of the 20th century. A 12-bottle case sold for $57,000 at Sotheby's in 2012, with individual magnums exceeding $8,000 at auction. A spring frost that year reduced yields by 40%, concentrating remaining grapes into wines of enormous structure and longevity. After 60 years, Latour 1961 is still evolving in bottle.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#9
Hermitage La Chapelle 1961 (Paul Jaboulet)
Paul Jaboulet Ainé's Hermitage La Chapelle 1961 is the most celebrated Rhone Valley wine, outperforming Chateau d'Yquem 1811 by achieving a perfect 100-point Parker score. A case of 12 sold at Christie's in 1997 for $57,600, and individual bottles have since exceeded $6,000. This Syrah-dominant bottle, from a granitic hill above Tain-l'Hermitage, was pivotal in putting the Northern Rhone on the global fine wine map. Its full-bodied, complex profile is 30% more concentrated than the average Rhone wine from that era, as noted by experts.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →
0
#10
Chateau d'Yquem 1811
A half-bottle of Chateau d'Yquem 1811 sold at Acker Merrall & Condit in 2011 for $117,000, the highest price ever for a dessert wine half-bottle. As the only Premier Cru Superieur property, it produces about 85,000 half-bottles annually of intensely sweet Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. The 1811 vintage, coinciding with the Great Comet, is among the oldest auctioned wines.
source: wikipediaGet it →
Details →

Current Rankings

Share this list

240 views

Get ranking updates

Get the weekly food & drink rundown

The most-voted lists across every category — curated weekly. Join the early readers.

The most-voted lists across every category
Exclusive early-access to new categories
Reader picks vs editorial picks compared

No spam. One email per week. Unsubscribe anytime.

Frequently Asked Questions About the World's Most Expensive Wines

What makes a wine worth hundreds of thousands of dollars? Rarity, provenance, and storage condition drive extreme auction prices. A bottle becomes extraordinarily valuable when very few were ever made (Romanée-Conti produces around 400–600 bottles in exceptional vintages), when documented ownership history ties it to a historical figure, or when it has survived perfectly sealed for over a century.

What is a grand cru vineyard? In Burgundy, *grand cru* ('great growth') is the highest official vineyard classification. These plots — many smaller than a football pitch — produce wines with legally protected names and extremely limited annual output, which underpins their scarcity and price at auction.

What does '6-litre imperial bottle' mean? Wine bottles come in standardised sizes. An *imperial* (or *Methuselah*) holds 6 litres — the equivalent of eight standard 750 ml bottles. Large-format bottles age more slowly and are rarer, which typically adds a significant premium at auction.

Where are the world's most expensive wines sold? Most record-breaking sales occur at specialist auction houses such as Sotheby's, Christie's, Hart Davis Hart, and Acker Merrall & Condit. Private treaty sales between collectors also account for some of the highest prices on this list.

Frequently Asked Questions About the World's Most Expensive Wines

What makes a wine worth hundreds of thousands of dollars? Extreme rarity, an exceptional vintage, documented provenance, and global collector demand all combine to push prices skyward. Estates like Domaine de la Romanée-Conti produce fewer than 6,000 bottles per year, making each bottle scarce enough to attract fierce bidding.

Where are record-breaking wines sold? Primarily through major auction houses such as Sotheby's, Christie's, Zachys, and Acker Merrall & Condit, which specialise in authenticating and selling rare fine wine collections.

Are these wines still drinkable today? Many are—great Bordeaux and Burgundy from exceptional vintages can remain extraordinary for 100+ years when stored correctly. Most buyers, however, purchase these bottles as collectibles rather than to drink.