Penfolds achieves record price

A bottle of 1951 Penfolds Bin 1 Grange has sold for a record price of AUS $54000 (£25,000) at the annual Penfolds wine auction, the highest price ever achieved for a bottle of Australian wine. The auction was held in Melbourne by Langton’s who say prices for Australia’s top-tier wines have never been stronger with price for bottles over $500 doubling over the past few years.

The 1951 Grange was made by Penfolds’ chief winemaker at the time Max Schubert and was never commercially released. Only 160 cases were made using Shiraz grapes from Magill and Morphett Vale in the Adelaide district of South Australia. The seller and the owner weren’t named but the bottle will remain in Australia.