Ampoules were made…each the size of a normal 750 ml bottle…and winemaker, Peter Gago, along with a team of specialists will personally come and assist in opening and presenting every Rick’s Grape Skinny [email protected] Ampoule. Better hurry…they’re going fast!!

I’ve left these kinds of “specialty” – as well as collectible wines -- out of contention for being dubbed the world’s most expensive …but I

July 2013 bet you’d be surprised by just how many of these “My books are like water; those of the great geniuses bad boys are actually out there! In any case, I are wine. Fortunately, everybody drinks water!” looked at wines that you and I can actually buy (Mark Twain) (yeah, right!) in some of the world’s finest and most posh restaurants. The World’s Most Expensive Wine! Not sure why anyone that I might know would ever The current title of world’s most expensive wine ask “me” (the original tightwad) what the world’s goes to the iconic Henri Jayer Richebourg Grand most expensive wine might be...but…because a Cru, Cote du Nuits – a scarce and stellar red number of you have asked lately…I thought it just might make an interesting topic to explore.

Before the big reveal however, let’s first do some level setting. There are some ridiculously high priced wines…like the Goût de Diamants (Taste of Diamonds) – which sold for $1.8M a from the Burgundy Region of France. If you happen to see it on a Wine List, the average price last year was a modest $15,944! Por moi, that would require a second mortgage -- oh…and a divorce…if I lived that is!

Interestingly, this prestigious claim to fame was bottle! But that’s seized from the usual claimant of the world’s because of “the bottle” – not the juice! Oh yeah, best and most expensive wine, Domaine de la designer, Alexander Amosu, adorned the bottle with a shield of 18K white gold and a 19 carat diamond…and that’s just for starters!

Or what about the much ballyhooed Penfold’s 2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet that Romanée-Conti -- another was released just last year? Penfold’s claimed it Burgundian that you can open and was the world’s most expensive wine ever to be enjoy for let’s say…somewhere around $12,514! sold from a ! And perhaps it was since

You’ll be pleased to know however that from these stratospheric costs, there’s a dramatic drop in the prices of the also-rans! Heck, for a mere $6633 you can latch on to # 3 most expensive…a bottle of Egon Muller-Scharzhof Scharzhofberger Trockenbeerenauslese! Talk about a mouthful, it’s also the world’s most luscious that little gem went for a cool Riesling from Mosel, Germany! Oh, and if you $168K an Ampoule and was made from the don’t choose to drink it right away, you could world’s oldest continuously-producing Cabernet probably keep it around for a few hundred years Sauvignon vines…planted in 1885! Only 12 for your ancestors to enjoy…for it’ll age forever!

and its association with world class wines. This is an Toast of the Month incredibly fresh, clean and dazzlingly delicious 100% – that to me presents the very essence of Chardonnay flavor and taste…or typicity if you will. http://www.oconevini.it/inglese/winery.html

“Here's to growing thinner by diminishing our White Blend dinner...and taking to light Claret instead of Pale Ale!” Primal Roots 2012 Lip Smackingly Delicious! (A corruption of a passage from Henry Leigh’s Carols of Cockayne) (Acampo, California)/$8-$10 OK…here it is…my absolute favorite Summer ! It’s not only the most luscious, scrumptious, and mouthwatering white wine you might ever enjoy…but

it’s also an incredible bargain. You’ve got winemaker Brandy Andes to thank for it…and believe you me, there Try These Star Spangled are no boundaries to her imagination and creativity when Super Summer Sippers! it comes to her formula for making the best and most expressive wines possible. A union of 50% Viognier, Rosé 20% French , 15% Riesling, and 15% Charles and Charles 2012 Crisp & Mouthwatering! Gewürztraminer…this is a well-made, beautifully (Columbia Valley, Walla Walla, WA) $11-$13 balanced and delectable wine…and it’s as versatile as The “Charles and Charles” refers to Charles Bieler they come! From porch swing to lighter seafood dishes and Charles Smith – two of the best… to spicy Asian fare, this little gem is a match made in “wise guys” you could ever meet. Smith is known heaven. http://www.primalrootswines.com/ for his eponymous Charles Smith Wines…while Mr. Bieler is known more for being a winemaking Red Blend renegade! Interestingly, Monsieur Bieler worked at Vinicola del Priorat Ònix Clàssic 2011 Château Routas – one of France’s most prestigious Deep, Dark and Devilishly Delicious! Rosé producers -- for the better part of 2 years. (Priorat DOQ – Gratallops, Spain)/$19-$22 When he returned from Provence, he drove around Priorat is one of Spain’s best and most respected wine the US in a pink Cadillac for about a year hawking regions…and one of only two that distinguished as a DOCa… being the other. From steep hillside

Château Routas Rosé. These days however, when and unique black slate and quartz-based soils he’s not teamed up with his eno-bud Charles Smith, known as llicorella, the grapes yielded are very small he’s one of the famous Three Thieves Winemaking and exceedingly concentrated…traits that enable team, Joel Gott and Roger Scommegna being the Catalonian winemakers to craft some of the world’s others. Whoever originated the term “dry Rosé” must most distinctively rich and delicious wines. Comprised have been sipping a wine just like this ruby pink jewel! of an even split of Garnacha and Cariñena, this wine is With a floral nose and fruit-salad palate of flavor, this unfiltered and sees no wood aging...an approach sassy but savory blend of Rhone mainstays – , that allows for an explosion of flavor in every sip! Mourvèdre, Cinsault, and -- is not only a http://www.qualitywinesofspain.com/VINICOLA_DEL_PRIORAT.html great Summer porch wine…it is also a superb and exceptionally versatile food wine! Such a deal! Locations Wine “I” 2011 Silky Smooth & Succulent http://bielerandsmith.com/ (Puglia & – Italy)/$18-$22 Talk about a formula for success…take Orin Swift White Cellars’ winemaker, Dave Phinney, and set him free to go make the best wine he can from the best “locations” Chardonnay he can find and Voila…there’s “F” from France, “E” Echeverría Unwooded 2012 Floral & Scrumptious! from España -- and his latest Locations wine – “I” (Curicó Valley – Molina, Chile)/ $11-$13 from Italy! Each of these iconic wines is further Viña Echeverría is anything but your new kid on the distinguished with a “1” to signify that each is the block. With Chilean roots that go back to 1740, the first of what promises to be many future venerable Echeverría family has been an expressions! This luscious gem is a blend of agricultural and viticultural bastion in Chile for Negroamaro, Nero d’Avola, , and a few more than 250 years! 1992 however marks the first other varietals from Puglia. It’s aged for 10 months year that the family produced wines under its own in neutral . Yum! http://www.locationswine.com/ name…so the world would at last know their name