It is not just a bottle of wine, it is the world’s most expensive bottle of white wine. It is not just a bottle of rare white wine, either, it is a bottle that has survived not one but two centuries. That is what makes the upcoming auction of a bottle of Château d’Yquem dating from 1811 too precious to miss. The historic and rare example will be offered at “The Beacons” auction during a major sale in the Hérault region on May 31, with reports placing its estimate between €60,000 and €80,000 ($70,000-$95,000). With over 200 years of existence, one would expect some visible wear and tear, but the oldest vintage of the renowned Sauternes wine is in remarkably good condition for its age. Its label and stopper are virtually immaculate, as is its original mouth-blown glass container, reported Le Figaro.
The 1811 vintage became legendary as the “Year of the Comet,” after the Great Comet of 1811 lit up European skies for months. Across Bordeaux, growers believed the celestial event coincided with unusually concentrated grapes and extraordinary harvest conditions. For sweet wines, those conditions created bottles with remarkable longevity and a reputation that still draws attention more than two centuries later. This Sauternes, produced by the Lur Saluces family, owners of the prestigious château until 1996, is one of only about ten authenticated bottles. The vintage was last tasted in 1998 by wine critic and auctioneer Michael Broadbent, who described it as reminding him of raspberry and cream, with considerable depth and length and a dry finish.
“The year 1811 is considered the greatest vintage of modern times for three reasons. First, the weather conditions were exceptional; second, this year was marked by the passage of a celestial object, giving it the name ‘Year of the Comet’; and third, the majority of the wine was exported to Russia because Napoleon Bonaparte, a great admirer of Yquem, was beginning his Russian campaign,” explained the auction house.
What makes it even more extraordinary is that this is white wine. Most white wines are not made to survive for centuries, but Château d’Yquem is different. Its balance of sweetness, acidity, and botrytized grapes gives it the kind of longevity that makes collectors treat old Yquem less like wine and more like bottled time. It is not the first time the 200-year-old white wine has hit the auction block. In fact, it is already a record holder, as in 2011 an 1811 Château d’Yquem became the most expensive bottle of white wine in the world, according to Guinness World Records, after selling for £75,000, or about $120,000, at London’s Ritz Hotel.
