As reported by the BBC, a single bottle of red wine sold recently, would take someone earning the average UK wage more than five years to save up for. Even after tax, Prime Minister David Cameron could not afford it with his annual salary and in many parts of the UK it is possible to buy a house for less.

The six-litre (imperiale) bottle of 1961 Chateau Latour was sold in Hong Kong by London-based Christie’s auction house for an amazing €163,000. The red Chateau Latour, from the Pauillac region of the Haut Medoc, just north of Bordeaux in France, is one of five first growths listed in the Medoc’s 1855 classification. As for the vintage, 1961 was arguably the finest vintage of the 20 th Century in that particular region.

The fine wine market has been booming in London despite the economic slowdown and it has been driven partly by an explosion of interest in fine wine from growing economies in the Far East – particularly in China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The amount bid, by a Chinese bidder, was more than three times the expected price. Wine experts said the bottle was of “perfect provenance”.

The founder of London-based fine wine merchant Bordeaux Index, said: “The prices were encouraging but not surprising and shows how important the provenance is and how essential it is to buy from trusted and immaculate sources. Traditionally Asian buyers don’t go for big bottles so it’s clear that there were many collectors on the phones bidding.”

The Bordeaux imperiale is equivalent to 8 x 75cl bottles of wine, so by my reckoning that would price the six–litre bottle at approx €20,375.00 per 75cl bottle or €3,395.00 a glass, or about €850.00 a sip; so I guess no spittoon will be required when the bottle is eventually opened!