Top Five Fine and Rare Wines

You can get a bottle of wine from the supermarket for less than £5, but there are still exclusive wines available from fine wine merchants, and some rare wines fetch hundreds of thousands when sold. Many of the old ones can't be drunk as they've now turned to vinegar, which is a natural process. But some are still drinkable, so if you have the cash, you could experience the taste of $304,000! Here are the top five fine and rare wines.

1787 Chateau Margaux

This wine was a bottle from America's third President, Thomas Jefferson's private collection, and was found behind a Paris cellar wall in 1985. It even has Thomas Jefferson's initials on it and although it was priced at $500,000, sadly the owner, William Sokolin, accidentally broke it in the Four Seasons in the 1980's. Thankfully the owner of the bottle had had it insured, and received $225,000 payment from his insurance company in 1989. That's around $390,000 in today's money.

1907 Heidsieck

A shipment of 200 bottles of 1907 Heidsieck Champagne was on their way to the Russian Imperial family in 1916, but the ship sank and the bottles lost in the deep depths of the ocean. Over eighty years later they finally reached their destination, when divers found the 200 bottles in 1997 and they were sold at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow for a massive $275,000 each. The 1907 Heidsieck holds the record as the most expensive Champagne ever sold.

1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc

Known as the finest and most expensive wine of all time, a rare six-litre Imperial bottle of this Saint-Emilion vintage claret was sold to a private collector in Geneva for $304,375. The high price was due to it being the only known imperial bottle format in the world. It can still be drunk today and is fine for another 50 years! It has become known as the greatest wine in the world, and closely resembles a vintage port in its concentration and sweetness.

1787 Chateau Lafite

No longer drinkable but sold as a collectible, the finest wine to ever turn into vinegar fetched $160,000 ($315,000 in today's money) at an auction in London in 1985. Even today it is still the world's most expensive wine and was sold to Malcolm Forbes.

Like the 1787 Chateau Margaux it was from third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson's private collection, and includes his initials etched onto the glass. Jefferson was a oenophile and loved collection wines whenever he visited Bordeaux and Burgandy.

1775 Massandra Sherry de la Frontera

This is the oldest and rarest bottle of Massandra known to date, and bears the imperial seal. The 1775 Massandra is from Russia, and came from the collection of the Massandra winery. Only a limited number of Massandra wines are sold at a time, and only through the best fine wine merchants or prestigious auction houses. Although not the most expensive bottle it is certainly one of the rarest, and was sold at auction in 2001 for $43,500, for just one bottle.

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