A Sydney wine collector has paid a record $142,000 for a bottle of 1951 Penfolds Grange.
The previous record was $103,000 paid in July last year.
Tamara Grischy, head of auctions at Langton’s, said demand for the bottle exceeded expectations.
“This is extraordinary,” she told The Advertiser.
“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought a bottle of Australian wine would sell for this much.
“However, this is a unicorn of a wine, and one of the finest bottles we’ve ever seen come through at Langton’s.”
The bottle of wine is signed by Grange creator Max Schubert.
It was hand recorked in August 1988 at Penfolds Magill Estate by Schubert himself, then wax dipped and finished with a Penfolds stamp.
This year is the 70th anniversary of Penfolds Grange.
There are an estimated 35 bottles of the first vintage of Grange in existence.
The price includes a buyer’s premium of 16.5 percent.
The buyer’s name has not been made public.
The prices paid at auction for Australian wine have jumped over the past year or so, with the Barossa Wine Auction earlier this year seeing record prices.
