Burgundy, France
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In the private dining room of a Michelin-listed restaurant in east-central France, a small group of the world’s foremost wine authorities gathered reverently around a rather scruffy bottle, glasses at the ready.
The object of their desire — encased in a heavily weathered label and lead capsule — was an 1899 Romanée-Conti wine, from one of Burgundy’s most revered vineyards, the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC).
Once the preserve of European aristocracy, the Romanée-Conti is now sought out by multi-millionaires at auction. For an idea of its almost mythical status among wine connoisseurs, a 1945 Romanée-Conti became the most expensive single…