We are at the end of our quest for the world's most wallet-emptying wines and the big question is – where's the Burgundy?
Well, where else would it be? It's right here among the 10 most expensive wines available in global retail.
As we have travelled through various regions and grapes, looking for the most expensive examples, one thing became abundantly clear: Burgundy's prices – at least at the top end – are now completely divorced from other wines. A look at our list of wines below reveals that it is the source of nine of the 10 most expensive wines. Looking at the wider picture, of the 50 most expensive wines listed on our database, 44 are from Burgundy.
The clamor to buy Burgundy's best is showing no signs of abating and the prices are going nuts, even though a progressively smaller set of wine collectors can actually afford to buy the wines in question.
The wider picture is interesting, too, with prices for other collector-item wines increasing at much more modest rates. Bordeaux, for example, has seen prices for many of its biggest names actually fall in the past 12 months. In Italy, the top-priced wines saw even more modest increases. Napa's top 10 wines (by price) managed a healthy mean increase in global average price of 36 percent, although that figure was skewed by two big price hikes. Those wines also started from a much lower base price than the ones we're looking at today.
What makes SA wine different and why should the world buy it?
Burgundy prices are still skyrocketing. It's amazing to think that a shopping basket containing a bottle of each of the wines on this year's list would cost you 41 percent more than the same basket of last year's wines. It's even more amazing to think that, just three years ago, some people were predicting the bursting of Burgundy's balloon.
So what are these super wines? Let's take a look.
As usual, before we do that let's examine what we mean when we talk about "most expensive" in relation to wine.
First of all, we don't look at individual vintages, as that skews price and also leads to issues around availability. The wines must be generally available, so we have a set minimum for how many offers we have for each wine.
After that, we calculate a global average price per wine, based on the actual prices being charged in the thousands of retail wine lists that we monitor globally. We don't take into account producers' own claims of price (or sales, for that matter) or those of the various wine representative bodies.
Another thing to note is that the prices listed on our long list are based on a snapshot taken on August 2, so prices today may well be higher or lower than they appear in this article, which is based on prices as at August 30.
The World's Most Expensive Wines on Wine-Searcher:
Wine Name
Score
Ave Price
Domaine Leroy Musigny Grand Cru
98
$37,700
Leroy Domaine d'Auvenay Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
98
$31,220
Leroy Domaine d'Auvenay Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
97
$29,731
Leroy Domaine d'Auvenay Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
97
$27,241
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti Grand Cru
98
$25,330
Domaine Georges & Christophe Roumier Musigny Grand Cru
96
$19,946
Domaine Leflaive Montrachet Grand Cru
95
$18,296
Domaine Roumier Echezeaux Grand Cru
92
$16,653
Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
98
$16,165
Domaine Leroy Chambertin Grand Cru
98
$14,749
Well, let's all applaud Egon Müller's continued presence on these lists. The remarkable Scharzhofberger TBA has been keeping this list from being an all-Burgundy affair for some years now, and long may it continue. It's a relative bargain, too, even if it hasn't shown the sort of hefty year-on-year return on investment as some of its cohorts – the price has risen by $51 a bottle in the past year, which is basically a rounding error at this price level.
And now, let's turn to the five letters on the label that can do more for a wine than any others – Leroy. Last year, there were three wines from either Domaine Leroy or its sister winery Domaine d'Auvenay; this year half the list bears the name. In fact, looking at the long list of most expensive wines, the Leroy name is on 31 of the top 50. That is a crazy level of domination, even in a top 50 that contains only six non-Burgundy wines.
There was a time when the list of the most expensive wines in the world was a roll-call of wines from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, but even DRC can't match the prices that Leroy wines are currently achieving – and it's the white wines that are really outperforming their red counterparts. The three Domaine d'Auvenay wines on the list – all Chardonnays – had average retail price increases of 51, 93 and 92 percent respectively. By comparison, the Leroy Chambertin saw a rise of 31 percent, while the Musigny on top of the list jumped by 15 percent.
Let's put those in perspective, though. The only wine to reach those levels of average price increase was the Leflaive Montrachet, which rose in price by 35 percent in the past year. DRC's flagship could "only" manage a 17 percent increase. The Roumier Musigny rose by 27 percent, although its Echezeaux stablemate actually saw its global average price fall by 19 percent.
Regardless, the prices are astoundingly high. Last year, only three wines broke the $20,000 barrier; this year that number is five, with two more likely to join them very soon. Whether such price rises and investment returns are sustainable is rather a moot point, however.
As long as Burgundy production remains low and collectors remain happy enough to drop the price of a new car on a bottle of Chardonnay, Burgundy will remain the home of the world's most expensive wines.
