The wine that beat Burgundy: Montelena under the hammer
Collectors have the chance to acquire a very rare and historic wine this month, when the winner of the 1976 "Judgement of Paris" goes under the hammer.
A single bottle of ex-cellar chateau Montelena Chardonnay 1973, which is notable for beating four Burgundy wines in the whites category of the famous tasting contest, will be auctioned on July 18th.
All proceeds from the sale will be donated to Friends of the Orphans, a charity that helps children bereaved in the Haiti earthquake.
"I can think of no better way to use this wine than to put it up for auction with the proceeds to help alleviate the suffering of the poor people of Haiti," chateau Montelena owner Jim Barrett told decanter.com.
Online bidding has already begun for the bottle, which is going for $1,600 (£1,050) as of today (July 14th), although prices are expected to climb much higher due to the historical significance attached to the wine.
The Judgement of Paris was a blind tasting that controversially ranked Californian reds and whites above their French counterparts. Other wines used in the event included chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1970 and Leoville Las Cases 1971.