1774 vintage up for auction in Switzerland
A bottle of French wine dating back to 1774 and dubbed "the wine of kings and the king of wines" is expected to fetch between 40,000 and 50,000 Swiss francs (32,000 and 40,000 euros) at auction next month.
The "Vin Jaune" hails from Arbois in the eastern Jura region where it has been stored for generations in a vaulted underground cellar by the Vercel family, said auction house Christie's.
A bottle from the same batch was tasted by wine experts in 1994 who deemed the vintage, with notes of cinnamon, curry and vanilla, as "excellent."
"Nicknamed 'the wine of kings and the king of wines,' this extraordinary bottle is probably the oldest unfortified example of what is to be still an astonishing wine and another true rarity for wine lovers and connoisseurs," said Christie's, which will auction the vintage in Geneva on May 15.
