'Mythical' $78,000 Romanee-Conti 1945 set to star at Christie's wine auction

A bottle of Romanée-Conti 1945 will feature prominently at Christie's Fine Wines sale in Geneva on May 17.

The legendary vintage of the bottle is sure to have many wine investors interested, and its estimate of $56,000 to $78,000 is evidence of the esteem in which it is held.

Bought by the present owner at a Christie's charity auction in May 2007, just 600 bottles of 1945 were produced, making the specimen a much coveted rarity.

The 1945 Burgundy achieved its distinctive flavour due to the hot, dry summer of that year, which produced a small crop of very high quality grapes.

Sotheby's states that this bottle "will remain mythical for many decades" due to "its vintage, which marked the end of a terrible war [and] its contents, the last of the great wine from the prephyloxera (ungrafted) vines which covered the 1.85 hectares of Romanee-Conti."

Romanée-Conti is hugely popular with investors

The contents display an excellent colour and level although the label is "bin-soiled".

A 1945 vintage bottle sold for $32,900 at Christie's Beverly Hills sale in 2006, while another specimen made $26,798 at a London auction in 2007.