The Most Expensive Wines You Should Try At Least Once

Thirsting for wine knowledge? Here's the good news: In the interest of education, most experts would agree, there isn't a bottle in the world you shouldn't try at least once. Even your average porch pounder affords the opportunity to sniff, swirl, sip, and analyze what you've just sniffed and sipped with an eye toward a greater understanding of the grape.

Here's the bad news: If you seek not mere sensory training but heavens-opening, angels-singing vinous enlightenment, you will inevitably have to cough up the big bucks. (We're talking $100 and up — way up — with some exceptions in the $50–90 range that might get you as far as the outskirts of nirvana, if not quite to the main square.) The following wines aren't the only world-class investments you could make to that end; some German Rieslings, Spanish Tempranillos, and Australian Shirazes, for example, can also hit the heights of both quality and price. But you've got to start the bucket list somewhere.

Bubbly is a process, not a place; superb versions are produced all over the globe, from the Franciacorta appellation in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, to New Mexico, to England. But only one place has remained synonymous with sparkling wine for centuries: Champagne.  

Pinot Noir and Chardonnay predominate here, supplemented by Pinot Meunier (along, sometimes, with trace amounts of a few other permitted grapes). As in Burgundy, terroir matters: The cool climate in this part of northern France dictates Champagne's fresh acidity, the chalky soils its fine minerality. And as with Burgundy, the good stuff is gonna cost you. In Champagne, however, high price isn't necessarily a reflection of limited yield: after all, the best-known luxury houses, such as Krug and Moët & Chandon, produce hundreds of thousands of bottles annually. More to the point is the method of production, which is extremely time- and labor-intensive. (You didn't think Champagne was simply carbonated like soda pop, did you?)

Of course, you may also also paying for name recognition: There's prestige in popping the cork on a magnum of Dom Pérignon or Cristal. Conversely, there's great value to be found in "farmer fizz," to use the cheeky term for bubbly made by the grape grower, rather than by a négociant or purchaser, as is common here. But with its rise in status, even grower Champagne can now fetch three figures. So be it — it's only fitting that the price of drinking stars would be astronomical.

Especially compared to the aforementioned regions, there are great bargains to be found across this southwestern stretch of France. Then again, if it's a bargain you want, you're reading the wrong article. So let's get straight to the superlatives.

Though it also includes some mighty fine whites made from Viognier, Northern Rhône wine does its best work through the Syrah (or Shiraz). Here, two appellations in particular have the reputations to show for their price tags. One is Côte-Rôtie, where the steep terrain both curtails and complicates vine cultivation: Low production plus high effort equals dollar signs. But it also yields a profound sensory experience, apparent in this wine writer's words of "black raspberry, black currant, violet, and chocolate along with savory hints of olive, bacon fat, white pepper, and powerful charcoal smoke." (Sounds pretty good, right?) The other is the even-smaller Hermitage, which builds its big, heady Syrahs to last for decades; in fact, they're not even ready to drink until years after their release, according to the Wine Cellar Insider. Low production plus long life also equals dollar signs.

Meanwhile, the star of the Southern Rhône is Châteauneuf-du-Pape — a Grenache-dominant red blend boasting its own eclectic profile of dark fruit, meat, earth, spices, and herbs as well as what critic Robert Parker calls a "rich and round, sumptuous and opulent" texture that's "virtually unmatched by most of the wines in the world." And yep, you bet high praise from Parker equals dollar signs too.

Super Tuscans may sound like Italian comic-book heroes, but they're simply red wines that, back in the 1970s, didn't meet the requirements for appellation status in their namesake region of Italy. Their earliest champions, however, are viewed as superheroes indeed for breaking industry rules that, most now agree, needed breaking.

While their California brethren were attracting notice for their freewheeling ways, these visionaries had begun to feel so hamstrung by the regulations of Chianti production that they decided they were better off declassifying their wine. They would make it with the grapes they chose, where they chose — even if that meant branding it with the scarlet letter that was the lowly vino da tavola label designation.

As Wine Enthusiast's Monica Larner explains, the results were game-changing. In fact, they were law-changing. With brands such as Tinganello, Sassicaia, Solaia, and Ornellaia — all Bordeaux-inspired blends, some incorporating the traditional Sangiovese — receiving international acclaim, the government eventually revamped the classification system to account for their likes.

Unfortunately, some less-scrupulous (and/or less-talented) producers took advantage of the relaxed guidelines to release "Super Tuscans" that were really sub Tuscans, which brings us to the moral of the story: Ask a trusted retailer or sommelier for recommendations. These days, the best "Super Tuscans" might actually be appellation wines such as Bolgheri or Suvereto — or even Chianti Classicos that, under the old guidelines, would have been declassified.

From the home of Romeo and Juliet, Verona, comes a wine that exudes romance — and not just because its name resembles the Italian word for love, amore. Actually, amarone loosely translates to "bitter." But this red wine made from Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara, and other local varieties is so far from bitter as to be unabashedly sensuous. As Eater explains, Amarones are "rich, full-bodied, frequently high-alcohol wines with very unique, raisinated characters." They come by that raisin-like savor honestly, as the grapes that go into them are — you guessed it — partly dried.

The drying process, called appassimento, takes time, and time is money. So is decreased volume: You need a lot more shriveled grapes than ripe ones to make the same amount of wine. But there may be no better investment for wine novices: Because Amarone is anything but subtle, conveying sweetness while remaining dry, it's perhaps easier to understand and appreciate than many of the other entries on this list, making for a fine stepping stone to their more challenging pleasures.

Like Sauternes (see: Bordeaux), this Hungarian sweet wine has had associations with nobility throughout history — and we're not just talking about the classes who drank it. We're also talking about the grapes that go into it, mainly Furmint and Hárslevelü, which are prone to a disease called noble rot.

That may sound like something that should come at a deep discount rather than a premium, but Botrytis cinerea (to use the scientific name of the fungus) actually concentrates the sugars in the affected berries, which must be picked by hand, as Wine Enthusiast explains. The more botrytized content in the final product, the sweeter — and, of course, pricier — it is.

Tokaji Aszú of at least six puttonyos tends toward the "ambrosial," says The New York Times' Eric Asimov, combining notes of ripe and preserved yellow stone fruit with flowers and honey. But an even sweeter version, called Eszencia, exists. Because it's "almost excruciatingly intense, wildly expensive, and rarely seen," in Asimov's words, you can't just pick it up at your local bottle shop on a whim. But you can occasionally find it at special-occasion restaurants like Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado, where it's served per tradition by the crystal spoonful for $54 — practically a steal.