Chinese Businessmen Keep $10,000 Wines on Restaurant Menu

(Bloomberg) - While perusing the 1,800-selection wine list at New York’s Aureole restaurant, my wife nudged me at about number 785 and said, “Pssst. I’m still here.” I apologized for being so distracted, but I was completely awed by the breadth of offerings, such as 18 vintages of Domaine Leflaive and 10 from the hard-to-get Harlan Estate.

The list teems with great rarities, including a 2009 Romanee-Conti for $10,500 and a 2010 for $11,450 (which is actually something of a bargain, since those same wines sell in wine shops for more).

Aureole also lists scores of wines even connoisseurs are unlikely to seek out, including a $50 Alsatian chasselas. I asked wine director Justin Lorenz when did he last actually serve a chasselas? “As a matter of fact,” he said, “just last weekend. A guest wanted to try something he’d never had before at around that price, so I recommended it.”

Who wants to pay $10,000 for a bottle of burgundy I inquire. “I’ll sell four or five $300 to $500 bottles every night,” said Lorenz. “Above $500, a couple of bottles per month. For wines $1,000 and up, Americans don’t order many, but some of our South American and Chinese clientele do.”

Many restaurants create huge “trophy” wine lists for prestige, hoping to join the 75 restaurants holding Wine Spectator’s Grand Award for cellars that “generally offer 1,500 or more selections, with superior breadth and depth in many of the world’s classic wine-producing regions.”