PENFOLDS BLOCK 42 KALIMNA CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2004

Extremely rare Australian Cabernet Sauvignon is world’s most expensive bottle of wine

The world’s most expensive bottle of wine has gone on sale for a staggering £109,000 – making the cost of just one small 150ml glass of this rare tipple a bank-breaking £21,000.

Australian winery Penfolds has released 12 special bottles of the 2004 Block 42’ Cabernet Sauvignon – a rare single-vineyard wine which is only released in stellar vintages.

The Block 42 vines were transported from France to Australia in the 1830s and are now located in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, northeast of Adelaide.

Penfolds said the vines are thought to be the oldest continuously producing Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world.

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

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

The rare vintage has been encased in specially-designed hand-blown ‘ampoule’ by famous Australian glass artist Nick Mount. The ampoule has no cork or screw cap, and can only be opened by a trained wine expert.

Apart from Mount, scientific glassblower Ray Leake was employed to fashion the ampoule, while silversmith Hendrik Forster added the silver bands and cap to the ornament and cabinet maker Andrew Bartlett designed and made the accompanying jarrah wood cabinet.

The ampoule is designed to provide the ideal environment for the wine – and even the most cavalier of millionaires cannot just whip the top off the bottle and quaff the contents.

Penfolds’ chief winemaker Peter Gago said that if any buyer wished to drink the exclusive wine, an expert would travel to wherever the buyer was in the world and open and decant the ampoule using bespoke equipment in a special ceremony.

He said: ‘The Ampoule Project is typical of the pioneering philosophy behind Penfolds’ winemaking evolution.

‘The collaboration with South Australia’s finest artists has been a fitting tribute for one of South Australia’s finest wines.’