Where Can You Buy $168,000 Bottle Of Wine?
Where Can You Buy $168,000 Bottle Of Wine? Sam's Club, Of Course
Over the years, upscale grocer Trader Joe’s has sold hundreds of millions of bottles of its ultra-successful Charles Shaw wine, better known in the vernacular as “Two Buck Chuck.”
It’s a high volume, low cost strategy that might be more associated with the warehouse store model than the gourmand turf Trader Joe’s have carved out. But it turns out Sam’s Club, the warehouse brand of Walmart, is trying a very different strategy for selling wine.
This Friday, the Sam’s Club in Freehold, NJ will put something unique on its shelves – a rare $168,000 bottle of Australian wine. Interested buyers shouldn’t bother trying other Sam’s Club locations, since there are only twelve of these on earth, three for sale in the U.S., and just one destined for the big box store.
The wine in question is the Block 42 Limited Edition Cabernet Sauvignon Ampoule, from Penfolds, Australia’s most renowned winery (since 1844). Penfolds is especially famed for its Grange, a shiraz made since 1951, which has long been Oz’ most highly collectible label, with verticals showing up on world class restaurant lists and at auction. The 2008 Grange was the first non-European wine to get perfect 100 point ratings from both Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate. But recent releases of the Grange cost “just” a few hundred dollars, and even the ultra-rare first vintage, the 1951 with less than two dozen bottles in existence, only fetches about $40,000 – or a quarter of what this new release is selling for at Sam’s Club.
Penfolds claims that this vineyard block has the world’s oldest continuously producing cabernet sauvignon vines, since the 1880s, and like vintage port or champagne, the Block 42 wine is made only in exceptional vintage years – the 2004 release earned a 100 point rating from noted critic James Suckling.
The “Ampoule” refers to the unique packaging, a hand blown airtight vial made of laboratory-grade glass and rhodium, a silver metal similar to platinum and best known for being more expensive than gold. Four craftsmen and artists from Australia collaborated on the design and creation of the package, which include the wine filled Ampoule and a decorative wooden case. The bottle is so odd that when you decide to drink it, the purchase price includes a white glove service from Penfolds – they come and open if for you. And while it does not look it in the photo, you do get a full bottle’s worth, 750ml.
If you just need to get one of these but don’t have a warehouse store membership, don’t fret – along with the wine, Sam’s Club is throwing in a lifetime membership to whoever buys it.
Source: Forbes - 9th October 2014
