elBulli wine cellar up for auction at Sotheby's

Ferran Adrià's elBulli is to auction off part of its wine cellar at Sotheby's this year. Around 1,600 different wines from a cellar of approximately 10,000 bottles will be included in the sale. Estimates price the value of the entire lot at one million US dollars. 

The list is one of the more eclectic to be attached to a Michelin three-star restaurant -  the result of pairing wine with Adrià's complex, extended menus. Top-flight Burgundy, Bordeaux, as well as cult Spain and Californian wines played a prominent role but there were plenty back-vintage regional wines from Italy (older wines made from grapes like barbera and aglianico) and France (including at least 12, 15- year-old wines from the Languedoc and Roussillon) that could make for surprising auction lots on the lower end. The highest priced wine on the original elBulli list topped out at 5,350 Euros for a bottle of 1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée Conti. Think of the story you can tell as you open it at your next dinner party. . .