Regards, Ivan
Posted on 10/20/2006 4:20:12 PM PDT by MadIvan
WINE buyers from around the world crowded into auction rooms in Paris yesterday to bid for nearly 5,000 bottles of Pétrus, Lafite-Rothschild, Margaux and other great crus that were bought for Jacques Chirac during his years as mayor.
Bertrand Delanoë, the abstemious socialist mayor, is hoping to raise at least £500,000 from the two-day sale of three quarters of a cellar deemed far too lavish for official entertainment. For the budget-conscious Left, the Chirac cellar, accumulated during the his mayoral tenure from 1977 to 1995, symbolises the extravagance of a municipal regime that became a byword for lavish living and corruption.
Mayor Chirac and his family spent £400 of city funds per day on their food and drink, excluding entertainment.
The star sale on the first day was the bid of €5,000 (£3,350) each for two bottles of Romanée-Conti 1986. The buyer of the vintage Burgundy was not identified. The other big sale was a lot of 21 bottles of Château Pétrus 1989 and 1990 at €1,200 each.
Chirac supporters lament the disposal of a collection of superlative vintages that was in keeping with the majesty of the Paris mayoral office. In his years at the Hôtel de Ville, when he was also leader of the Gaullist Party, M Chirac wined and dined heads of state.
Bernard Bled, the former mayoral chief of staff who toured vineyards collecting the best vintages, said Paris had no business serving mediocre wines. “When we put together the collection, it was to give the city an image of prestige in the eyes of its guests,” he said.
A report last year by the General Inspection, which scrutinised city expenses, noted that the best bottles had appreciated so much that they were too valuable to offer to guests. “No municipal reception can justify the consumption of a wine costing hundreds, even thousands of euros,” it said.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
"It's good to be da mayor..."
Anyone willing to spend £3,350 for a bottle of wine is too stupid to entrusted with currency anyhow. Paris might as well take their money.
"Let them drink Château Pétrus"
whilst Paris burns.
Tant piss...
LOL!
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