One Of The Rarest Bottles Of Wine In The World, A 1934 Vieux Cepage, May Bring $50,000+ In Heritage Fine Wine Auction

From the most elite estate in the world, Domaine de la Romanee Conti; featured bottle from the $3.5+ million single-owner "Exquisite Collection of a Northeastern Gentleman" auction, March 21, at Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills, simulcast live to Hong Kong

BEVERLY HILLS — A single bottle of 1934 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg Vieux Cépages, one of the rarest and most important bottles of wine in the world, may bring more than $50,000 when it crosses the block at Heritage Auctions on March 21.

The bottle is being offered as the cover lot of the $3.5+ million Exquisite Collection of a Northeastern Gentleman, only the third time Heritage has offered a single-cellar sale. The auction will take place in Beverly Hills and will be simulcast to a live bidding room in Hong Kong.

"Domaine de la Romanee Conti is widely viewed as the most prestigious winery in the world and this is the rarest wine it has ever produced," said Frank Martell, Director of Fine Wines at Heritage. "If Domaine de la Romanee Conti is Ferrari, then this bottle, from this era, would be the 250GT, and this particular bottling, called Vieux Cepages, would be the 1958 steel-bodied 250GT Long Wheel Base, the very rarest of it's already storied breed."

Vieux Cepages was the title afforded Domaine de la Romanee Conti's oldest Richebourg vines, kept completely apart from the regular cuvee during vinification. With only a few hundred bottles produced, this is indisputably one of the most important and rarest bottles that exists in the centuries long history of the winery.

"Even with unlimited resources it would be virtually impossible to find another bottle of this wine, and it would not come with the stellar provenance our example carries," said Martell. "On a rarity scale of 1 to 10, this is a 10. I can't say unequivocally that this is a once in a lifetime bottle, but it's not too far from that. Top collectors will be taking very careful note of this. Given that buying such aged wine is not for the faint of heart, we're also offering a more modern exceptional rarity, a six-liter bottle of 2002 Romanee Conti, which we expect to sell for $90,000 or better."

The Collection of a Northeastern Gentleman features 861 lots, marking what Heritage experts consider the company's finest and most complete offering to date. Among the choice names on offer will be various best in class vintages of Ausone, Cheval Blanc, Haut Brion, Latour, Comte de Vogue Bonnes Mares and Musigny, 18 Jeroboam and 12 Methuselah from DRC, 21 vintages of Roumier Bonnes Mares, Leroy, Ponsot, Coche Dury, Ramonet, Dom Perignon, Krug, Cristal, Philipponnat, Gaja, Araujo, Bryant, Colgin, Insignia and Shafer and much more.