An Australian stockbroker has questioned the ethics of drinking an AU$30,000 (£15,700) bottle of Domaine de la Romanée Conti (DRC). The famed red wine from the Burgundy estate comes from 25 hectares of vineyards, all Grand Crus, and which has seen prices increase due to the vanishingly small number of wines produced from the DRC. The stockbroker, Danny Younis, made the comments during an auction of his collection of 5000 bottles of fine wine, which the auction house Langton’s described as its “biggest and most valuable”, with the DRC element making more than AU$1m. Younis told the Australian Financial Review there was an “uncomfortable truth” that he would not live for long enough to enjoy the wines — and he was “finding the idea of drinking a $5000 or $10,000 bottle of wine ethically ‘uncomfortable'”. He told the publication: “Some of the wines that I’ve got in the auction are selling for $30,000 a bottle and there is no way in my world I could ever contemplate drinking that. Even if I were to share it with 10 people it leaves me with a strange ethical dilemma in that the money could probably be better used somewhere else rather than drinking what is effectively just glorified fermented grape juice.” Langton’s head of auctions, Michael Anderson, said Younis was generous with the DRC and was “the kind of guy who will pour you a glass of DRC because you’ve never tried it.” The auction includes a enormous haul of DRC – some 267 bottles
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Fine Wine
