What's the most expensive bottle you ever dropped?

[2roost]

'81 Chateau Margaux, on my kitchen floor (tile).

Eight months later when we redid the kitchen I replaced the tile with cork, the flooring change hadn't been in the budget prior to l'affaire Margaux but I couldn't bear the thought of something similar happening again.

[Mark Sommelier]

When I worked at the Watergate Hotel some years ago, I managed to break a magnum of 1934 Clos Fourtet St. Emilion. I actually got down and sniffed the bouquet off the floor.

[morela]

When I worked at the Watergate Hotel some years ago, I managed to break a magnum of 1934 Clos Fourtet St. Emilion.  I actually got down and sniffed the bouquet off the floor.

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Aye, morbid. I can just hear the plectra plucking...

[Brad Ballinger]

Like Gordon, I've been blessed to not have it happen to me. Yet. All you can do is say "grab a straw."

[docsconz]

1986 Chateau Lafite Rothschild on my garage floor as I was taking it out of the car after I purchased it. The tears are welling up in my eyes even now.

[Really Nice!]

I'm still having difficulty coming to terms for this stupid act... totally beating myself up for it... it was an early '80s Pétrus.

[petite tête de chou]

I dropped a whole case of Langes Pinot Noir when I was a wine "specialist" (read: drink for free, essentially) for Made in Oregon in the early to mid 1990's.

Each bottle was about 30 bucks and I broke 6. -sigh- At least it wasn't the half case of Domain Drouhin, so said my manager.

[jayt90]

1997 Penfolds Grange. 

Didn't even get out of the wine shop with it; slipped out of my grasp as I attemped to transferred my purchase into the satchel. After having everyone around me turn crimson following my tirade, they offered me a discount on my next purchase as a consolation prize.

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I think the LCBO (Ontario) policy is to replace anything broken inside the store.

One of the few benefits of the government owned monopoly!

[Vaughan]

A bottle of 1998 Turley Hayne V. Petite Syrah (I think, I know it was a Turley but I've tried to put it out of my mind). Also a 1996 Chablis that I forget the producer of, AND the Turley slid out from the BOTTOM bin of my wine cellar while I was rearranging. Slid in slo-mo (it seemed, why does that happen?) and "poof." Both in 2004 and the only wines I've ever dropped (touch side of my head).

Which brings me to a question, does anyone have any tips for cellaring those odd shapes, Turley comes to mind, as does some burgundies, Alsace & German whites and even Champagne. I have a low-tech approach with some alsace/Germans, ie a piece of 2/3 under the front of the bottles lifting them up. Cellar is 14/14" "cube" shaped bins on 3 walls and one "show wall" of stuff lying one deep on their sides.

Thanks,

Vaughan

[jayt90]

I haven't broken anything of great value, and I've been mightily impressed by how much the bottles can take.

But wine glasses are a different story! I have busted Riedel, and Waterfords, usually by dropping something on them, always when inebriated...

[Carolyn Tillie]

In walks the new girl with empty bottle in hand - she had seen the citrus segments in a large bowl on the table and decided to help out my making the sangria.............

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So, the first question -- what did YOU do and second question -- is your friend still with this chick?

[hathor]

At least it wasn't me that did the dropping. I had just finished picking out about 8 cases of wine and champagne for a very large party for my husband's 50th. The nice man at the wine store then proceeded to pile all 8 cases onto the hand truck...you see where this is going, right? All 8 cases...gone. The owner of the store just told us to leave...they would deliver the replacement. And they did. Bad day for the wine store.

A few years ago, our wine cellar racks had become precarious. As in really, really unsteady. My husband walked into the cellar and simultaneously 4 Turleys ejected themselves from the shelf. Dear husband pulled a W.C. Fields and caught all the bottles! I figure I had gotten a one-time pass from the Wine God, so I quickly did a major overhaul on the racking.

[wattacetti]

I think the LCBO (Ontario) policy is to replace anything broken inside the store.

One of the few benefits of the government owned monopoly!

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I was in Calgary. Great selection, but it's your responsibility once you take possession of the bottle.

[winesonoma]

I was moving wine that we had just bottled into my cellar when I noticed a wet corner (wine is put in cork down) Found the bottle. My "friends" had managed to foil it with out a cork and put it in one of my cases. Still 7/8 full when I found it 2 days later. Foils do serve a purpose.

[andiesenji]

A bottle of 1998 Turley Hayne V. Petite Syrah (I think, I know it was a Turley but I've tried to put it out of my mind). Also a 1996 Chablis that I forget the producer of, AND the Turley slid out from the BOTTOM bin of my wine cellar while I was rearranging. Slid in slo-mo (it seemed, why does that happen?) and "poof." Both in 2004 and the only wines I've ever dropped (touch side of my head).

Which brings me to a question, does anyone have any tips for cellaring those odd shapes, Turley comes to mind, as does some burgundies, Alsace & German whites and even Champagne. I have a low-tech approach with some alsace/Germans, ie  a piece of 2/3 under the front of the bottles lifting them up. Cellar is 14/14" "cube" shaped bins on 3 walls and one "show wall" of stuff lying one deep on their sides.

Thanks,

Vaughan

←

After the '94 earthquake and the loss of several odd-shaped bottles that shook out of the "tinker-toy" type wine racks I had, I decided to try an idea I had seen in one of the shows on Food TV when they had the wine tasting show.

For long-term storage, I bought some solid wood doors, drilled holes in them at an angle with a 1 1/2 inch hole saw, fixed the bottom of the door to the floor about a foot from the wall with a line cleat (marine hardware, won't rust) screwed into the concrete with a lead anchor, and leaned the top against the wall and fastened it to the wall with a cleat. I insert the neck of the bottled into the holes and they are held at an angle with the top down. I don't have a "cellar" but have a double wall concrete block storage room with triple insulation in the roof (tile) and it stays cool in there even in summer. I don't have access to it right at the moment because I have been having some work done in the garage and there is a pile of material that was moved into the garage when it began raining and is still there.

[Vaughan]

A bottle of 1998 Turley Hayne V. Petite Syrah (I think, I know it was a Turley but I've tried to put it out of my mind). Also a 1996 Chablis that I forget the producer of, AND the Turley slid out from the BOTTOM bin of my wine cellar while I was rearranging. Slid in slo-mo (it seemed, why does that happen?) and "poof." Both in 2004 and the only wines I've ever dropped (touch side of my head).

Which brings me to a question, does anyone have any tips for cellaring those odd shapes, Turley comes to mind, as does some burgundies, Alsace & German whites and even Champagne. I have a low-tech approach with some alsace/Germans, ie  a piece of 2/3 under the front of the bottles lifting them up. Cellar is 14/14" "cube" shaped bins on 3 walls and one "show wall" of stuff lying one deep on their sides.

Thanks,

Vaughan

←

After the '94 earthquake and the loss of several odd-shaped bottles that shook out of the "tinker-toy" type wine racks I had, I decided to try an idea I had seen in one of the shows on Food TV when they had the wine tasting show.

For long-term storage, I bought some solid wood doors, drilled holes in them at an angle with a 1 1/2 inch hole saw, fixed the bottom of the door to the floor about a foot from the wall with a line cleat (marine hardware, won't rust) screwed into the concrete with a lead anchor, and leaned the top against the wall and fastened it to the wall with a cleat. I insert the neck of the bottled into the holes and they are held at an angle with the top down. I don't have a "cellar" but have a double wall concrete block storage room with triple insulation in the roof (tile) and it stays cool in there even in summer. I don't have access to it right at the moment because I have been having some work done in the garage and there is a pile of material that was moved into the garage when it began raining and is still there.

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Actually 2/3 should've read 2 X 3, as in 2" X 3", and I too am dreading an earthquake, and some of the replies remind me that one of my bottles was replaced by VISA, anything bought with VISA is refundable regardless of how you lost/broke/etc it. I was kind of blown away, call them, send in a form and you get a credit back in a week or so. Felt kind of guilty, esp. when my own fault.

V

[TarteTatin]

We knew someone about 15-20 years ago that bought a bottle of Napoleanic madeira at Christie's in London. He had paid twelve hundred pounds for it and was taking it back through Waterloo when the bag it was in slipped out of his hand. It hit the pavement and broke. At least half of the wine was savable and he poured it into an empty Burgundy bottle he had with him. He then recorked the bottle, salvaged the broken bits and proceeded to Gatwick. When they tried to stop him with the broken bits of the bottle....He told them what it was, from Napolean's time, they said, "Very good, Sir" and let him continue on his way!!!!

[ctgm]

Fortunately never broken a bottle but I tipped over a whole bottle of 1985 Ausone but fortunately saved 1/2 of it.

However...

When i was working in a cellar in Bordeaux, me and another chap, built a 4 high stack of barrels. we only usually did 3 high but were running out of space. looked really nice but in the morning things weren't quite how they were when we left them.

fortunately it was a small barrel cellar and the bottom row probably only had 10 barrles on it. Unfortunately the collapsed stack of barrels took out the next door row as well. All in all I think we lost about 1200-1500 litres worth of red. Ooops!

[Adam Balic]

1990 Trimbach, Clos St. Hune, on my wine rack taking out several other bottles. I sucked a few drops out of the broken neck of the St. Hune. No tasting notes though, to busy crying.

[Lan4Dawg]

Several years ago I was working in a large restaurant with a wine cellar where we held dinner parties. Many of the bottles were in open shelves along the walls but the really expensive stuff was in locked cages. For some reason people were always fascinated w/ the wine in the cages and although you could clearly read the labels of the wine people still felt the need to try and reach through the bars and touch the bottles. The bars were so close that the most any one could do is get a finger or two through but that still did not stop people fr/ trying.

I was waiting on a party in the room when some moron managed to get his hands in to one of the cages and maneuver a bottle around "to get a closer look". He had already been asked by the sommelier not to touch the bottles "as it would disturb the sediment" but it did not deter him. How he did it I will never know but he managed to tilt the bottle out of its cradle and before any one realized what was happening there was a crash and a late 70's Bordeaux bottle was in pieces on the bottom of the cage and the room smelled really wonderful. The host of the party was mortified and immediately came running up to me and apologized and offered to pay for the bottle. I do not think she realized that it was on our wine list for about $350.00. I got the manager when I delivered the check in case there was a problem but she paid it & even tipped me on the broken bottle. To this day I wonder if the idiot who broke the bottle wound up paying for it or if he still had a job the next day.

in loving memory of Mr. Squirt (1998-2004)--the best cat ever.

[SBonner]

Bollinger 1979... what a shame and what amess. Dropped it while preparing for a Valentines dinner for my wife.

Stephen

Vancouver

[Hopleaf]

Ok, this wasn't a bottle, but for all intents and purposes it amounted to as much. I was in culinary school at Kendall College in Evanston, IL in my fine service class. There was a 17-top reservation, a wine tasting group headed by a poly sci prof from Northwestern. Our instructor asked who wanted the big table? I didn't even look up so much as raise my hand, but I guess that was everyone else's response as well. She gave it to me. Fine, no problem.

Turned out it was a great table. Laying on my charm and staying on top of the flights was no problem. They were working through an assorted case and a half of Chardonnay, worst first, best for last. The apps and entrées fit right in with the wine service. It was going along just swell.

Well, that last bottle, a good three hours from the first...I'd poured the entire flight at our little bar and was about to bring out the first tray (the second sat ready next to the first). By that time, my arms, wrists must've been tired. I saw one glass start to waver and could do nothing to stop the horrible domino effect before my very eyes, a domino effect that would not limit itself to one tray, but insisted on taking out two. The ensuing sickening sound of glass breaking and liquid hitting the floor made the entire dining room hush. I felt my entire body blush scalding red and a feverish sweat break out on my forehead...and just sort of stood there not believing what had just happened. Their best bottle. It just had to be their best bottle.

I did manage to save one poured glass from doom, towards the end of that interminable mass wine suicide, grabbing one of the few remaining glasses before they all fell.

I don't have a clue what bottle it was, what the vintage or anything was. All I know was that the poly sci prof was very, very, very forgiving (bless him). And despite a few glum faces, the entire table passed the one glass I saved and each took a small sip. I think of that professor when people, my kids, anyone make a mistake or have a bad thing happen as a result of an accident.

[Capaneus]

Never dropped anything worth remembering myself. But I once shared the purchase of a bottle of '93 Royal Tokaji Wine Company tokay essencia with a friend. He cellared it. About a week later, I got a call from him: would I please come over; he'd dropped the bottle, and we would want to drink the salvaged third soonest. Delicious.

Edited February 9, 2005 by Capaneus (log)

[Schneier]

At a winetasting some years ago, I sat next to a reseller of old wines. He told the story about a magnum of Bordeaux from, I think, the 1920s.

That beats any story I can hope to have.

[eipi10]

I haven't broken anything of great value, and I've been mightily impressed by how much the bottles can take.

But wine glasses are a different story!  I have busted Riedel, and Waterfords, usually by dropping something on them, always when inebriated...

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As a student I have to watch what I purchase. So after busting twelve (seriously) glasses by myself in the past two years, I am currently drinking pretty decent wines out of little green party cups. They weren't Riedels, but they were probably the equivalent on my budget. Amazingly, I've never managed to break a bottle of wine or any other alcoholic beverage, as far as I can remember.