$100,000 for a Bottle of Wine! Just, Why?

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

I was poking around the app and got curious to find out what the most expensive bottle of wine that Celebrity had listed on their app.  To my surprise, I found a "Liber Pater 'Bordeaux'" for $100,000.  I found it in the Luminae wine menu, 🙄 figures.  It's crazy to think that there's even the potential to have folks onboard that have that kind of money to drop $100k on a single bottle of wine.  You'd be hard pressed to find a Celebrity cruise where you'd pay over $100k for the topmost suite.

 

This left me thinking, do they automatically tack gratuity on the bottle so then it becomes a $120k bottle of wine?  That would be a very nice tip 😅  But along the same lines, I would feel ashamed spending that kind of money on a single bottle of wine knowing how little the onboard staff get paid to provide the service during the cruise.  It's like taking a $100,000 bill and burning it right in front of them just because you can.  To me, that's insensible, but maybe I'm being unnecessarily empathetic. 

 

[annandme]

It could be worse.  The ship's markup for a bottle of their "2-buck-chuck" brings its price much higher than that!

[jelayne]

You could buy a bottle ($35K +) and bring it on board.  No corkage fee with a beverage package 😉

[Silkroad]

Holy cow! I enjoy fine wines, but for 100k I’d expect to receive a home with indoor plumbing🤣

Edited July 14, 2023 by Silkroad

[markeb]

12 minutes ago, jelayne said:

You could buy a bottle ($35K +) and bring it on board.  No corkage fee with a beverage package 😉

 

That was the release price 4 years ago. Couldn't find a current price (saw £36,000 on one review, which would be $47,000). There were only about 500 bottles produced, and one story I saw said they only released about half of that. The fact that Celebrity even has ONE bottle in the fleet is crazy.

 

Which ship?

 

The "Bordeaux" in quotes is apparently because it's not traditional Bordeaux varietals, and if I'm reading it right his vineyards were stripped of their designations so it's sold as a French Table Wine "Vin de France" (which would be a pretty big insult in the French system, if he weren't selling it for such a crazy price). Only did a cursory look, so not sure anyone has actually tasted it...

Edited July 14, 2023 by markeb

[mom says]

If you could afford a $100K bottle of wine, why would you be sailing on a Celebrity cruise? Slumming?

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

4 minutes ago, markeb said:

Which ship?

Found it on the Apex Luminae menu

[markeb]

3 minutes ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Found it on the Apex Luminae menu

 

Equinox doesn't have the "rare wines" section. They're shooting for another Wine Spectator award and Apex is their platform. They don't need, or probably even want, to sell it. They can offer it. I'd be amazed if they even have 6-pack, which would be somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000 at retail.

 

Robert Parker would be simply gushing at the notion...

[Bo1953]

59 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

Holy cow! I enjoy fine wines, but for 100k I’d expect to receive a home with indoor plumbing🤣

Well, were we on one of The Edge Class of ships, the Iconic Suites offer that.... LOL

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[Bo1953]

49 minutes ago, mom says said:

If you could afford a $100K bottle of wine, why would you be sailing on a Celebrity cruise? Slumming?

Because you can and possibly X offers amenities at such a level which is passable for its' price point...

 

Besides, one could have it served in their suite.... 

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Wonder if they would charge the $34.99 + gratuity if you ordered this bottle of wine.😁

[Silkroad]

5 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Well, were we on one of The Edge Class of ships, the Iconic Suites offer that.... LOL

 

I should have also said I’d want the title to the property😜 

[jwlane]

Do I still get my 20% Elite discount?

[Bo1953]

2 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

I should have also said I’d want the title to the property😜 

Well, instead of sailing on X right away, one could take the same amount of money and purchase the stock, then you would have clear title and staff aboard would know, too... LOL

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[Bo1953]

2 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Do I still get my 20% Elite discount?

Yes, let us not forget about that... LOL

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[dlh015]

1 hour ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

I was poking around the app and got curious to find out what the most expensive bottle of wine that Celebrity had listed on their app.  To my surprise, I found a "Liber Pater 'Bordeaux'" for $100,000.  I found it in the Luminae wine menu, 🙄 figures.  It's crazy to think that there's even the potential to have folks onboard that have that kind of money to drop $100k on a single bottle of wine.  You'd be hard pressed to find a Celebrity cruise where you'd pay over $100k for the topmost suite.

 

This left me thinking, do they automatically tack gratuity on the bottle so then it becomes a $120k bottle of wine?  That would be a very nice tip 😅  But along the same lines, I would feel ashamed spending that kind of money on a single bottle of wine knowing how little the onboard staff get paid to provide the service during the cruise.  It's like taking a $100,000 bill and burning it right in front of them just because you can.  To me, that's insensible, but maybe I'm being unnecessarily empathetic. 

 

What do you mean? I order one of those every time I cruise X....

 

No, seriously, I just wanted to thank you again for putting together that google spreadsheet to view excursions, etc w/o booking.  Super useful...nicely done!!

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

Just now, dlh015 said:

I just wanted to thank you again for putting together that google spreadsheet to view excursions, etc w/o booking.  Super useful...nicely done!!

Of course!  I'm glad it's working well for everyone.  People on the Royal Caribbean boards seem to be appreciating it as well.

[dlh015]

20 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Besides, one could have it served in their suite....

Oh, no, no, no...if I'm buying it, I want *everyone* to know it and see me drinking it. In fact, I would demand that it be announced over the ship's system...lol...

[Bo1953]

2 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

Oh, no, no, no...if I'm buying it, I want *everyone* to know it and see me drinking it. In fact, I would demand that it be announced over the ship's system...lol...

Sheepishly, NOT - how do I get a lottery ticket to join you????

 

LOL

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[Silkroad]

5 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Well, instead of sailing on X right away, one could take the same amount of money and purchase the stock, then you would have clear title and staff aboard would know, too... LOL

 

Good idea, but no. I can’t imagine booking one of those enormous suites unless I had a much larger travel budget, and I intended to host a wild party😈 In that eventually you - of course - shall receive an invitation😎 

[broberts]

https://worldoffinewine.com/homepage-featured-articles/liber-pater-most-expensive-wine-world

[Pinboy]

Holy Cow-- It's a misprint --

When someone was typing up the menus they got all mixed up and wrote $ 100,000 instead of $ 100 and nobody proof-read it prior to sending for print.

I'll bet, at every table someone asks the Sommelier :

" How many of the $100K bottles of wine have you sold " ? 

LOL--the answer --- " On the last cruise we sold 3 , but none on this cruise so far ".

Who's going to spend that kind of money on a bottle of wine ? 

( It's ok, I get it--- It's none of my business how anyone spends their money )

I doubt Ralph Kramden , winner of the " Safest Bus Driver " award would have spent that much on a bottle of wine or even stayed in a suite.

 

 

[mayleeman]

🎶  $100,000 bottle of wine on the wall,

$100,000 bottle of wine!  🍷 

 

🎵Take it down and pass it around...

 

Hey, WAIT!!!

[micruiser2002]

I would love to know what finance guy approved this purchase.  Sorry but I find it hard to believe that they would even sell 1 in a year.  What a waste of sitting inventory.

[markeb]

This is great fun, of course, but welcome to the world of highly allocated luxury products.

 

You want to go on the waiting list for a GT3 RS? How many 911's have you bought from us in the last decade?

 

You want a stainless steel Daytona? How much have you spent on jewelry? How many gold and diamond Datejusts have you bought?

 

You'd like a bottle of 25 year old Pappy Van Winkle? (Actually I don't know how you get on that list...)

 

The interesting (unanswerable) question here is if there's a reverse allocation at work. Did buying the 2015 at $40,000 or so give you access to the other wines at a mere $6K (probably less than $2K wholesale)? And it's for show for their wine awards. Because actually opening an 8 year old Grand Cru Bordeaux (which this would be if he'd used the traditional grapes of Bordeaux) would be criminal! It probably needs at least 12 more years to think about peaking.

 

Don't think of it as inventory; it's marketing and advertising...