1. Domaine de la Romanee-Conti – Romanee-Conti Grand Cru – Burgundy, France
Average price per bottle: £11,793
Most expensive vintage: 1990, £15,702 per bottle
Romanee-Conti is one of two monopoles owned by the world renowned Domaine de La Romanée Conti – often abbreviated to DRC – and is widely regarded as the most sought after wine in the world.
Production levels vary from 5,000-5,500 bottles per year from the 1.8 hectare vineyard.
Wines from the DRC stable have an excellent track record for growth, and over the past 10-15 years have been the best performing wines from Burgundy. The Burgundy 150 Index is up 298pc over the last 15 years and has proven to be the most consistent wine index across this period.
2. Egon Muller – Scharzhofberger Riesling – Trockenbeerenauslese – Mosel, Germany
Average price per bottle: £8,183
Most expensive vintage: 2003, £13,110 per bottle
Egon Müller is a German winemaker and owner of the wine producer Weingut Egon Müller, Scharzhof, located just outside Wiltingen.
Since the 1900s the slopes of the Scharzhofberger have been well known for the quality of their wine, but it was the Müller family that affirmed the estate’s reputation for producing some of the best white wines in the world, with an unrivalled ability to produce great sweet wines in years when other estates fail.
The winery's most prized wine is the Scharzhofberger Riesling.
3. Domaine Leroy – Musigny Grand Cru – Cote de Nuits, France
Average price per bottle £5,824
Most expensive vintage: 2012, £10,684 per bottle
Previously a co-owner of Domaine de la Romanee Conti (with a 50pc stake purchased by her father Henri Leroy back in 1942), Madame Leroy is a pioneer of biodynamic means of production. She parted ways with DRC in 1992 as her side business of Domaine Leroy quickly became a direct rival.
It is widely noted that Madame Leroy makes her best wines in Musigny, and the sense of exclusivity surrounding the wines makes the price palatable for those consumers wealthy enough to consider buying them. Production levels for Musigny are estimated to be as low as 600-700 bottles per year.
4. Domaine Leflaive – Montrachet Grand Cru – Cote de Beaune, France
Average price per bottle: £5,201
Most expensive vintage: 2014, £8,885 per bottle
The late Anne Claude Leflaive, sometimes described as the Grande Dame of Burgundy, is recognised as the most famous producer in Puligny-Montrachet.
Domaine Leflaive’s holdings represent some of the most precious terroirs in the world for Chardonnay, including the legendary Grand Cru vineyard Le Montrachet itself, which, most will agree, produces the greatest white Burgundy. Production levels are – as you would expect – miniscule, given that there are only 0.0821 hectares of Le Montrachet.
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