Tasting The World’s Most Expensive Wine

At the end of November members of Oeno’s fine wine team sat down with Loic Pasquet, the winemaker behind one of the world’s most expensive wines, for a sumptuous dinner at private members’ club 67 Pall Mall.

On the menu were four stunning vintages of Loic’s iconic Liber Pater wine, the 2007, 2010, 2011, and the legendary 2015. Loic produced just 550 bottles of the 2015 and plans to sell just 240 of these. The rarity of this bottling plus Loic’s meticulous care and attention in the vineyard and winery have made the Liber Pater 2015 one of the most expensive wines in the world with a release price of €30,000 per bottle.

The lofty price-tag also reflects Loic’s reputation as a bit of a maverick who has dedicated his life to rediscovering the original taste of Bordeaux. He’s trying to turn back the clock to before the arrival of the devastating phylloxera pest which destroyed much of France’s vineyards in the 19th century.

Following this destruction grape growers replanted using American rootstock which was resistant to the phylloxera grape, but many old varieties were forgotten and not replanted. In the words of Loic, “Bordeaux today is like a soup because it’s all mixed up and you cannot recognise the varieties being used”.

The Liber Pater 2015 is Loic’s first vintage to use traditional grape varieties that Loic has rescued from the dustbin of history including Petite Vidure, Tarnay, Castets and St-Macaire. Remarkably, Loic cannot label his wine “Bordeaux” as these varieties are not permitted to be used by the governing body who oversees the appellation, so the 2015 vintage is simply labelled “Vin de France”.

Loic also decided to make and mature the wine in big clay vessels called amphorae which were traditionally used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. He describes the resulting wine as “a pure wine with honesty, finesse and elegance, like the old taste of Bordeaux pre-phylloxera. It has a delicate nose with floral aromas and hints of crunchy black forest fruits, with silky tannins and long fine finish.”

Due to the very limited production of Liber Pater, these wines are sold on an allocation-only basis. To learn more please get in touch with our account managers by emailing info@oenofuture.com

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