Wine has been regarded as one of the classiest drinks ever and we can't agree more. With numerous variations, blends and flavours of wine to choose from, we can't help but struggle to pick the right one for an occasion. And now that many health experts suggest that having an occasional glass of wine may be good for your health, wine lovers across the world cannot stop raving about it. But we cannot deny the fact that this classy drink is also one of the most expensive drinks.
While a bottle of wine can start from anywhere between USD 15 (INR 1000) approximately, it can go up to anything in lakhs. It depends on many factors, ranging from production quality to winemaking techniques and much more. And so we know good wine comes with a price, but how much is too much? However, wine makers from Hungary have produced the world's most expensive wine worth USD 40,000 (INR 28,31,540) a bottle. Described as 'world's most expensive wine' during its launch in 2019, 'The Essencia 2008 Magnum Decanter' comes with an expiry date of 2300 and the makers have sold about eleven of them till date.
(Also Read: This Is What Your Wine Preference Says About You - Why Red Wine Is A Healthier Option)
According to the makers, Royal Tokaji - their wine, limited edition Essencia 2008 Decanter, is worth every cent of the hefty price tag. Hungary-based artist James Carcass designed only 20 of the unique 1.5 litre magnums, of which 18 were released in the year 2019. Each of the Decanters comes in a lacquered black box along with a switch, which illuminates the bottle. No two bottles are completely identical as each of them is hand-blown.
The vintage liquor has been produced in the Tokaj wine region of Hungary, located northeast of Budapest, which is a famous tourist attraction. Essencia can only be produced in the years that have favourable weather conditions for botrytis, a plant parasite as well as saprophytes on both agricultural and forest trees; and according to the makers, 2008 was an impressive year with this regard.
"This Essencia 2008 was bottled after eight years of maturation. It's a slightly unusual for Essencia because it has a higher alcohol volume - around 4%," CNN quoted Zoltan Kovacs, general manager at the Royal Tokaji Winery as saying.
Wine-making is an intensive task and requires certain time and favourable conditions to complete the process. It takes a kilogram of exceptionally ripe aszu grapes for producing a teaspoon of the wine and around 20 kilograms of grapes, shriveled to aszu berries are required for making a 37.5-centiliter bottle of wine with just about 3 percent of alcohol content.
Would you like to try a wine worth USD 40k? Let us know in the comments section below!