The most expensive red wine ever sold is a single 750 ml bottle of 1945 Romanée-Conti from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), which fetched $812,500 at Acker’s La Paulée auction in New York in March 2026. It beat the previous record of $558,000, set for the same bottle in 2018. The rest of this top ten is a mix of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Napa, with big formats and a charity lot among them.
We rank the price paid per lot, as of October 2026, and say what each lot was: a single bottle, a magnum, or a crate. Where the lot is larger than 75 cl, we also give a per-bottle figure (the lot divided into 75 cl bottles) so the comparison is fair.
| Rank | Item | Price (USD) | Date | Sold at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 1945 (75 cl) | $812,500 | Mar 2026 | Acker, New York |
| 2 | The earlier 1945 record (75 cl) | $558,000 | 2018 | Sotheby’s New York (reported) |
| 3 | Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 (6 L) | $500,000 | 2000 | Napa Valley Wine Auction (charity) |
| 4 | A second bottle of the 1945 (75 cl) | $496,000 | 2018 | Auction, 2018 |
| 5 | Domaine Leroy Musigny 1991 (9 L case of 12) | $460,650 | 2021 | Acker |
| 6 | La Tâche 1971 (6 L) | $325,000 | 2026 (reported) | Auction, house not stated |
| 7 | Château Mouton-Rothschild 1945 (4.5 L jeroboam) | $310,700 | 2007 | Sotheby’s consignment |
| 8 | Château Cheval-Blanc 1947 (6 L imperial) | $304,375 | 2010 | Christie’s |
| 9 | Château Lafite Rothschild 1869 (75 cl) | $233,972 | Oct 2010 | Sotheby’s Hong Kong |
| 10 | Romanée-Conti 2006 (6 L) | $192,375 | 2026 (reported) | Auction, house not stated |
1. Romanée-Conti 1945, 75 cl: $812,500
Burgundy does not get more precious than this. The 1945 was the last vintage the domaine made before replanting its oldest vines, and bottles are almost never offered. This one came from the personal cellar of Robert Drouhin and sold at Acker’s La Paulée auction, held March 26 to 28, 2026. The price includes the buyer’s premium.
It is the highest price ever paid for a bottle of wine at auction, ahead of the 2018 record by about $250,000.
Our figure rests on the auction house’s own announcement.
2. The same wine in 2018: $558,000
The $812,500 bottle was itself the record holder, at $558,000, in 2018. We list that sale separately because it set the standard for eight years.
Reports describe it as a Sotheby’s New York sale. We treat the venue as reported rather than confirmed.
3. Screaming Eagle 1992, six litres: $500,000
A six-litre bottle of the cult Napa Cabernet, sold at a charity auction in 2000. That works out to about $62,500 a bottle. Charity lots attract bids that have little to do with what a cellar would pay, so the number is high by design.
We count it as a disclosed sale, flagged as charity.
4. A second bottle of the 1945: $496,000
Another bottle of the 1945 sold the same year for $496,000. Together the two sales show that the vintage trades at a level no other 75 cl bottle reaches.
The figure comes from published lists of record wine sales; the house was not stated in the sources we opened.
5. Domaine Leroy Musigny 1991, case: $460,650
A case of twelve bottles from Lalou Bize-Leroy’s estate, sold in 2021. That is about $38,400 a bottle. A second 1991 case and a 1993 Musigny case sold for nearly $450,000 each in the same sale.
The number is the auction’s reported all-in total.
6. La Tâche 1971, six litres: $325,000
A six-litre bottle of a Burgundy that sits one step below Romanée-Conti in the domaine’s lineup. At roughly $40,600 a bottle, it is a bargain compared to the 1945.
One market review lists it among the top results of 2026. The house and exact date were not given, so we leave them open.
7. Mouton-Rothschild 1945, jeroboam: $310,700
Mouton’s 1945 label commemorated the end of the war, and the vintage is regarded as one of the greatest Bordeaux of the century. The 4.5-litre jeroboam sold for $310,700 in 2007, about $51,800 a bottle.
We use the price as reported in published record lists.
8. Cheval-Blanc 1947, imperial: $304,375
Saint-Emilion’s best-known 1947 sold as a six-litre imperial at Christie’s in 2010, equal to about $38,000 a bottle. It is the only Cheval-Blanc on the list and the second Bordeaux.
The figure is the auction result as reported.
9. Lafite 1869: $233,972
On 29 October 2010 Sotheby’s Hong Kong sold three bottles of 1869 Lafite for HK$1.8 million each, about $233,972 a bottle, setting a record for a standard bottle of wine at the time. The market was hot for Bordeaux in Asia that year.
It is the oldest wine on the list by vintage.
The price is the all-in result per bottle.
10. Romanée-Conti 2006, six litres: $192,375
A modern vintage in a big bottle. At about $24,000 a bottle, it shows how much a large format adds even for a wine made in this century.
As with the La Tâche, a 2026 review reports the price without the house.
Records set in 2025 and 2026
The only record in 2025 and 2026 we verified is the big one: the $812,500 for the 1945 bottle at Acker in March 2026. The same three-day sale totalled more than $25 million and set 460 new world records for individual wines, led by Domaine Dujac and DRC, according to the auction house.
A note on reading the table: a case, a magnum and a single bottle are different animals, so the per-bottle figures in each entry are the fairer comparison. On that basis the 1945 is still far ahead of everything else, at well above any other wine here. A note on charity lots: a six-litre 2019 Napa Cabernet reportedly sold for $1 million at a 2021 fundraiser. We left it out because charity bids follow the cause, not the cellar, and kept only the Screaming Eagle as a flagged exception. One review of the 2026 market reports that DRC took 18 of the top 20 auction results, and that 16 of those 20 were formats larger than a standard bottle.
What drives these prices
A few patterns show up when you line the lots up side by side.
- Burgundy beats Bordeaux. Production of the best Burgundy is tiny, so the top of the list is owned by a single domaine.
- Format multiplies price. Large bottles are rare and age slowly, so bidders pay more than the volume alone would suggest.
- Provenance counts. A bottle from a famous producer’s own cellar, such as the Drouhin lot, sells at a premium.
- Charity lots distort. A $500,000 bottle at a fundraiser does not tell you what the wine is worth to a collector.
FAQ
What is the most expensive red wine ever sold?
A single bottle of 1945 DRC Romanée-Conti sold for $812,500 at Acker’s La Paulée auction in New York in March 2026.
What was the previous record?
$558,000 for the same wine in 2018.
What is the most expensive red wine you can actually buy today?
Current releases from the same vineyard trade in the tens of thousands of dollars a bottle on the secondary market. Exact prices vary by vintage and condition, so check current listings.
Why are large bottles worth more per litre?
They are scarce and age more slowly. Several lots in this list work out to more per bottle than standard bottles of the same wine.
What is the most expensive Bordeaux sold?
On our list, the Mouton-Rothschild 1945 jeroboam at $310,700 and the Lafite 1869 at $233,972 a bottle are the highest verified Bordeaux sales.
Are there more expensive wines that are not red?
Yes. A 1907 Heidsieck Monopole champagne recovered from a shipwreck sold for a reported $275,000, but it is not a red wine.
How we put this list together
We ranked each entry by its verified sale price, using auction results and disclosed sales compiled in an internal valuation model. Prices are approximate and change over time.
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Last updated: October 2026.
