Posted on 12/22/2010 3:51:26 PM PST by devane617
TAMPA — A few times a month, the sommeliers at Bern's Steakhouse go hunting for wine lost and forgotten in the restaurant's cellars.
They climb the shelves, crawl over cases and shine a flashlight on anything not on the inventory list. It's like mining for gems, says restaurant owner David Laxer. You never know what you'll find.
This spring, they struck gold. A double magnum 1947 bottle of Chateau Latour.
The selling price: $30,000.
The first-growth Bordeaux will be on the 61st edition of Bern's wine list due out in early January. It's by far the most expensive wine in the restaurant's history.
Senior sommelier Eric Renaud found the bottle during a "project day'' at the restaurant. He was working in the rare wine room when he saw the bottle tucked away on a high shelf in the back. It was on its side, instead of pointed outward like the rest.
"It looked like someone had hid it there a long time ago,'' he said. "The second I saw it, I almost had a heart attack.''
Laxer figures his father, Bern, who founded restaurant in 1956, bought it a half century ago for about $100. It had probably been sitting there for decades, gathering dust but improving with age.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
OMG
BWAHAHAHA !!!!
Yes, you would be correct. The nicest people run the place. They even let you taste before you buy. I finally found it locally when we lived in Miss. The laws don’t permit you to order it in state.
Some of the best wine at good prices.
Is that wine 3,000 times better than a $10 bottle of wine? No way.
Oh, yeah. I’ve had it. We spent 17 years in Vicksburg. Everybody there goes over the River to the Chevron station in Delta to buy booze ‘cause the taxes are so much lower.
I’m in the market for a new Merlot to try. The more recent vint of Blackstone just hasn’t live up to the earlier years I’ve had. Ant suggestions? ... I’ve already found the finest Ruby Port, but can no longer get it back here in East Tennessee ... Whidby’s!
I was on the Gulf Coast for 6 years, 5 near Jackson.
I used to buy lottery tickets in the Delta. :)
And yes, the taxes on beer, liquor and wine were high. I used to get a kick out of the liquor stores being called the Wine and Spirit Store. Over here you can buy wine at Walmart. WOO HOO.
I found a bottle of Moet & Chandon for 7.00 in a small convenience store next to a restaraunt. After I bought it I asked if they had any more and he said no they had just found the bottle on a shelf and put the 7.00 on it not knowing what to charge. It was most excellent. Best I’ve ever had.
That’s why it’s just for gargling....too expensive to drink.
Well, I can see how it could happen, but, if I had any financial interest in this place, I would be livid.
Actually, it was brilliance......the wine wasn't worth $30,000 when it went missing..........That's todays price.
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