With No Budget in Sight, Would You Pour It Into Wine?
Let’s play a little game of "what if."
If you had all the money in the world, where would you start? A magnetic floating bed in your new Villa Leopolda overlooking the French Riviera? A vintage 1963 Ferrari GTO parked in the middle of Hong Kong’s financial district?
Dreaming is still free, after all. And regardless of bull or bear markets, there are always people willing to pay eye-watering sums to get what they love.
So, what would you splurge on if you suddenly became a millionaire? The truth is, when you have that much money, deciding what to buy first becomes its own kind of dilemma. For some, the answer is obvious: wine. And honestly? I don’t blame them. We all have our indulgences, and for many collectors, wine isn’t just a passion—it’s an identity.
Let’s take a look at four bottles that prove when it comes to wine, the price tag often tells a story far bigger than what’s in the glass.
1787 Château Margaux – $225,000
Let’s start light something "affordable" by billionaire standards.
This 1787 Château Margaux, supposedly from Thomas Jefferson’s personal collection, was once valued at half a million dollars. That is, until fate (and a clumsy waiter) intervened. In 1989, New York wine merchant William Sokolin brought the bottle to a dinner at the Four Seasons. But before he could test its market value, a waiter accidentally bumped the table, shattering the bottle into a very expensive puddle.
Insurers eventually paid out $225,000, making it the most expensive bottle of wine never sold.
And the waiter? I often wonder what became of him.
1869 Château Lafite – $230,000
Some people binge-watch Netflix. Others impulse-buy on Amazon. Then there are those who, from the comfort of their living rooms, casually drop hundreds of thousands on wine.
At an auction in Hong Kong, one anonymous Asian bidder phoned in and purchased three bottles of 1869 Château Lafite at $230,000 each. Originally estimated to fetch just $8,000, the final price stunned everyone in the room.
Why the frenzy? In parts of Asia, Château Lafite isn’t just wine, it’s a luxury symbol, a cultural icon. When prestige meets scarcity, expect fireworks.
1907 Heidsieck & Co Monopole “Shipwrecked” – $275,000
This one’s less about taste and more about history.
In 1998, divers recovered 2,000 bottles of 1907 Heidsieck Champagne from a shipwreck off the coast of Finland. The cargo, intended for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, had spent 80 years at the bottom of the sea interrupted by a German submarine torpedo during WWI.
Yes, people paid $275,000 to sip a wine of uncertain drinkability. But it was not about the flavor it was about the story. Still, sommelier Chris Hoel described it as having aromas of “gun-flint, black rifle powder, and something salty,” with notes of graham cracker, burnt lemon oil, and flamed orange.
History, it turns out, has quite the palate.
1992 Screaming Eagle – $500,000
At first glance, the $500K price tag on this 6-liter bottle of 1992 Screaming Eagle seems outrageous until you realize it was sold at a charity auction in Napa.
Here, rarity met generosity. Unlike the century-old wines on this list, this Californian cult wine was barely old enough to rent a car when it sold. But that’s the power of Screaming Eagle. It’s notoriously difficult to get your hands on a bottle, even getting on the email list can take over a decade.
Each bottle comes with a tamper-proof “bubble-coded” seal and a unique ID number that can be verified on their website. Security, exclusivity, charity, what more could a wine lover ask for?
The thing about money is that it allows you to be gloriously, unapologetically eccentric. If you want to buy a half-million-dollar bottle of wine, display it in a rotating, climate-controlled vault, and never drink it no one bats an eye. That’s part of the fun.
And maybe that’s the ultimate truth: these wines aren’t just beverages. They are time capsules, trophies, legends. And for those who can afford it, every sip, real or imagined, it might worth the price.
''At the end of the day, you really can’t make a wrong choice.
As long as you pay attention to what it is that you don’t like about a wine
each bottle will get you closer to what you do like.
Take it one glass at a time!''