French Restaurant Auctioning Famous Wines

PARIS, Dec. 7, 2009 — -- Looking for a nice bottle of wine for Christmas?

Try Paris' oldest and most storied restaurant, La Tour d'Argent.

Today and tomorrow, the famous restaurant is auctioning a fraction of its legendary wine and spirits collection. Home to one of the most extensive restaurant cellars in the world, with close to 10,000 square feet spread over two subterranean floors, La Tour d'Argent has selected 18,000 bottles from a stock of close to 500,000 bottles. The oldest bottle up for grabs: a Cognac, dating back to 1788, a year before the French revolution. It is expected to fetch between $6,000 and $15,000.

"The 1788 cognac is very drinkable. It's still amazingly young the last time I tried it," David Ridgway, Chief Sommelier at La Tour d'Argent for the past 28 years, told ABC News. "It's always a shame to see them go but again, wine and spirits are made to be drunk, they're not meant to be hold, so they've got to go one day," he added.

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Ridgway, an Englishman, is the high priest of French wine in this shrine of French cuisine. He chose which wines - all of them French except for several dozen types of port - to sell from the restaurant's 400-page wine list.

Wine lovers will also be able to claim bottles of inexpensive wine, for as little as $15 a bottle.

"The sale is very mixed. You've got prestigious wines. But also, you've got more everyday wines," Ridgway explained. "Obviously, whatever wine is in the sale, it's been chosen as the best example of the wine produced in that region. If some regions are less expensive than others, it's may be because they're less famous. Maybe less well known. And this gives an occasion through the sale for people to know about these lesser regions of France's great wine."

"This is a prestigious sale and I find the prices to be more than reasonable. We're close to the Christmas and New Year celebrations and it will be a good occasion to taste these wines with the family," Jean Francois Cavagni told France 3 TV, as he bought 12 bottles of Sauternes and Pavillon Blanc at the auction for a little over $1,000.

Making Space for Liquid Assets

The 427-year-old restaurant has played host to kings and presidents and has survived every conflict from the 16th century Wars of Religion through World War II.

In 1940, the restaurant's then-owner, Claude Terrail, father of the present owner, André, hid most of his cave from the Nazi occupiers of Paris. Only the second-rate bottles were left in the outer part of the cellars to satisfy the thirst of the German officers.

The restaurant hopes to make at least $1.5 million from the sale, liquidity it will use to modernize and make space for its other liquid assets.

"It's always very sad to see bottles go, but then, you say bottles are going to make place for new ones. Nothing is going to be finish[ed]. It's just a way of renewing the stock and making a little bit of space for new wines to come in," Ridgway concluded, adding that the 2009 Bordeaux, which is predicted to be outstanding, would find a place in the cellar.