At $34k per bottle, the world’s most expensive wine features an aroma of controversy

The vineyard Liber Pater announced that its 2015 vintage will sell for $34k per bottle.

Liber Pater, one of the world’s most (in)famous wineries, announced that its 2015 vintage will hit the shelves with a price tag of $34k per bottle. 

At $34k per bottle, the world’s most expensive wine features an aroma of controversy

No, that wasn’t a drunken typo — a 6 pack of the world’s most expensive adult grape juice costs more than a new Lamborghini.

A new vintage from the world’s wackiest winemaker

Loïc Pasquet, the winemaking wizard behind Liber Pater, is known for using ancient techniques such as cultivating ancient grape varietals and ditching oak barrels to age his wine in amphorae (which look like they could have been excavated from Pompeii).

But Pasquet’s also known as a convicted fraudster: Several years ago, he was found guilty of falsifying receipts to obtain more than $600k worth of grants from the EU.

A complex Bordeaux with notes of sabotage

The world of high-end wine is filled with intrigue: Pasquet has been sued several times for violating winemaking rules (and appealed most of these lawsuits, sometimes successfully) and wine-y enemies destroyed 500 of his vines in 2016.

Liber Pater will produce only 550 bottles of this 2015 vintage. There will be no 2016 vintage (due to vine vandals) and no 2017 vintage (due to frost damage). 

But the vineyard’s 2018 vintage is expected to sell for an even higher price than the current wine.

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