Business Insider reported the story of a California man who had bought a bottle of wine in the 1970s for $250.
The man kept the bottle of wine in his basement and literally forgot about it. Fast forward a few decades and the man decided to list it for auction.
It was expected to sell for $80,000 but it sold for much more at $106,250.
Mark Paulson was the man who purchased the bottle of wine. The wine was a 1971 bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche.
The wine was one of a limited number of three liter bottles that La Tache produced. When Paulson purchased the wine, it was considered to be an expensive wine even in 1971.
Adjusted for inflation, Business Insider reports that $250 in 1971 would be equivalent to $1889 today.
Paulson kept the bottle sitting downstairs in his basement for decades. He claimed that he had forgotten all about it.
Paulson had always been interested in rare and collectible wines. In the 1970s, he had joined a wine tasting group and a friend had convinced him to purchase the La Tache bottle because it would be a "once in a lifetime thing."
For one, the quality of the wine was considered to be exceptional and there were very few 3 liter bottles of the wine made.
In 2022, Paulson discovered that another bottle of La Tache wine had sold for $81,250. He became excited and pulled up his own La Tache bottle which had been sitting in the basement.
He decided to have the auction house Bonhams Skinner handle the sale of his La Tache wine. He also had other vintage wine bottles listed for sale.
The auction took place from 16 - 26 April 2023. By the close of the auction, Paulson's bottle of wine had sold for $106,250.
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