The Th. J Chateau Lafitte, a Bordeaux variety of wine, is considered to be the most expensive wine in the world.  It got sold for an astounding $160,000 for a single bottle! The wine was bought by Christopher Forbes, the vice president of Forbes magazine and son of Malcolm Forbes at the Christie’s auction in 1985.

The wine bottle was found in an old building in Paris behind a brick cellar along with some other top quality wines. It supposedly belonged to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of US as his initials ‘Th. J’ are etched on the bottle. Jefferson was known to be a wine connoisseur who loved to collect the finest wines. He was an ambassador to France from 1785 to 1789 and loved to visit French wineries. The bottle is thought to be from his private collection during his tenure in France.

The bottle is a dark green hand-blown glass sealed with a thick black wax. There is no label on the bottle except the year 1787, the name Lafitte and the initials Th. J etched on it.

The wine is not drinkable anymore as it is more than 200 years old now! Even the best Bordeaux wines do not last more than 50 years, so the wine is no longer a wine but vinegar. The appeal of the bottle lies in collecting it rather than consuming as it is a collectible of Jefferson, a piece of history. It is the rarity of the wine that makes it so precious in today’s time.