The world's priciest wine lists

(Stuff) - 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 apologised 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 NZ$13,000 and a 2010 for NZ$14,190 (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 NZ$62 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 NZ$12,000 for a bottle of burgundy? I inquire. "I'll sell four or five $370 to $600 bottles every night," said Lorenz. "Above $600, a couple of bottles per month. For wines $1,240 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."

One winner, Bern's Steak House in Tampa, Fla., boasts a whopping 6,800 labels and 500,000 bottles.

At the Plaza-Athenee Paris Hotel, the Michelin three-star Alain Ducasse restaurant stocks 1,000 labels and 35,000 bottles. Its sommelier Laurent Roucayrol, just crowned Best Sommelier of the Year by L'Academie Internationale de la Gastronomie, concurs that the Russians and Chinese are less concerned with the cost of a bottle.