The $400k bottle of wine and the friends who finally drank it

Wednesday, 10 June 2026

There’s never a perfect time to open a rare bottle of wine.

Every year you wait it becomes more valuable. Wait too long and the people you meant to share it with might not be there.

Nearly 30 years ago, when a small group of New Zealand friends and winemakers bought a bottle that went on to be worth the sort of house deposit most Kiwis can only dream of, the plan was always to drink it together.

There were many attempts to do so. Time and again the group tried to schedule a dinner worthy of the occasion, but people are busy, life gets in the way, and the plans never came to fruition.

But on Saturday night the “big bottle family” finally popped the cork. Or most of them did.

“They each took a turn with the corkscrew, so it was a special shared moment,” says Jessica Wood, operations manager at Wellington’s Noble Rot Wine Bar.

“Then we had the responsibility of decanting it. There was a bit of nervous energy but being involved in this unfolding of friendship and history was magic.”

There is, of course, another way to tell this story.

You could start with the bottle itself: six litres of 1996 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Échézeaux - one of just 12 ever produced.

Pegasus Bay winemaker Mat Donaldson bought it in 1999 for just $2000 after negotiating a discount because the wax capsule had been damaged.

For the next 27 years it was cared for with almost parental devotion, first resting in Pegasus Bay’s temperature-controlled underground cellar and later lying undisturbed in the dark at Marlborough’s Dog Point Vineyard.

And finally, by the time it was opened in Wellington, some experts believed it could be worth as much as $400,000.

Maciej Zimny, owner of Noble Rot, says that sort of value comes down to a near-perfect combination of rarity, provenance and patience.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is widely regarded as Burgundy’s most prestigious estate, orginating in the 13th Century and producing wines almost exclusively from Grand Cru vineyards.

“Those vineyards have thousands of years of history. Those wines were consumed by monks, by kings and nobility … by the greatest people around the world.

“If you collect a car you would like to have a Ferrari, if you collect wines you will dream to taste a Domaine de la Romanée-Conti at least once in your life.”

Adding to the mystique, the estate only sells its wine on location and in very limited qualities.

“To be able to buy a methuselah - the name of the bottle - from 1996 when only 12 were made makes this wine enormously rare and precious.

“You’re possessing something so unique that only a few people will ever get the privilege of sharing the experience.

“As soon as that last bottle is opened it will be gone. It doesn’t matter how much money you have you can’t buy another.”

But at the end of the day its also just a wine, Zimny says.

“The goal for every producer - even the best ones in the world - is to have their wine be consumed. They’re framers, they want to make the best agricultural product.”

On Saturday night when the friends finally consumed this one it was without two of their original group. Mike Weersing, of Pyramid Valley Vineyards, died in 2020, and James Healy, of Dog Point, died in January this year.

“Opening this bottle, gathering around and talking about those who passed away, that was a moment that will stay forever with them.

“That’s what really counts. Wine is just the medium of conversation and connection - its not the centre of the celebration.

“It could have been any bottle but this one made it more special.”