Sunday, July 1, 2012

 Most expensive wine: Kalimna Block 42 sets world record (VIDEO)

SYDNEY, Australia -- Prestigious Australian winery Penfolds has released just a dozen 750ml "ampoules" of the rare 2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon wine, which is priced at Aus$168,000 (US$170,350) per bottle - setting the new world record for the Most expensive wine, according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/.
  Photo: Winemaker Penfolds has released a specially-packaged red wine that has a recommended retail price of $168,000. The wine, a 2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon, is a rare single-vineyard wine which is only released in stellar vintages. ( enlarge photo )

  The world's most expensive is held in a unique hand-blown glass "ampoule" designed to provide the ideal environment for the liquor, and this is suspended inside a bespoke glass container which sits inside a wooden cabinet.

The Guinness world record for the most people treading grapes is 977 and was achieved by ACOBASA (Spain), at an event organised by Leticia Alfaya Lozano (Spain) in Labastida, Álava, Spain.

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the largest wine-tasting event; it involved 5,095 participants at the Plaza de Toros in Aranda de Duero, Spain.

  There's only 12 of them, each individually numbered. Each ampoule holds the equivalent of one 750ml bottle.

  Penfolds managing director Gary Burnand said the $168,000 price tag was arrived at based on the quality and rarity of the wine, the prominence of the artists who crafted the ampoule and its case, and the fact that the owner could have their own 'master class' with a senior Penfolds winemaker should they choose to have the ampoule opened in a special ceremony.

  Four artisans were commissioned to produce the ampoule and casings which feature fixtures made from precious metals that help anchor the glass sculpture to the jarrah wood box.

Penfolds is an Australian wine producer, founded in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician who emigrated to Australia, and his wife, Mary Penfold.

  It is one of Australia's oldest wineries and a company brand with an extensive product range.

  "The wine contained within the ampoule, first released in the 1950s, holds a particular significance among generations of Australian and international wine collectors," Penfolds said in a statement.

  The most expensive wine in the world, a 2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon, is a rare single-vineyard wine which is only released in stellar vintages.

  The Block 42 vineyard, planted in the mid-1880s, is in South Australia's Barossa Valley and Penfolds said it is thought to have some of the oldest continuously-producing Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world.

  "There is something really magical about the 2004 Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet," said Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago.

 "It has an ethereal dimension and a saturated blackness on the palate, it's extraordinarily perfumed with layer upon layer of flavour."

  The wine was unveiled at a special dinner in Moscow earlier this week at a swish Moscow mansion/restuarant, the Cristal Room (Cristal Room) Baccarat.

  The 20 guests from around the world included 'captains of industry', select customers, a distributor and Russian media representatives.

  One of the 12 ampoules - no.1 - has been placed in Penfolds' museum and another has already been assigned to a customer in Singapore, leaving 10 ampoules remaining.

  Four artisans were commissioned to produce the ampoule and casings which feature fixtures made from precious metals that help anchor the glass sculpture to the jarrah wood box.