Hungary is Now Home to World’s Most Expensive Wine

Called the Tokaji Essencia, a single magnum of the sweet and syrupy wine requires more than 400 pounds of grapes to be harvested by hand.

Only 18 bottles of this 2008 vintage will ever reach buyers, making it a highly prized possession.

“2008 is recognized to be an exceptional vintage, and Essencia is the kind of wine that can age for 100 years or longer,” says Tom Hudson, a director of London-based Farr Vintners, Britain’s largest purveyor of fine wine.

“I think the reason they’re doing this is that they’ve got something that is essentially unique—it’s a very exclusive, limited edition kind of thing.”

Last year a 1945 Romanee-Conti Burgundy Wine became the world’s most expensive bottle of wine to be sold at auction after yielding a record breaking price of $785,000.

Also last year, research by  the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index suggested that art and wine had replaced classic automobiles as the investment of choice across the world.