Six bottles of the Montrachet 1985, a white wine from Burgundy, have seen top bids at Bonhams' Fine & Rare Wines auction, held in San Francisco on July 27.
 The Montrachet vineyard can trace its history back until at least the Middle Ages |
The bottles, all with lightly scuffed labels, sold for $13,090, seeing off competition from top reds, such as Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
White wine is rarely seen at the top of an auction, due to red wine's overwhelming popularity on the market. However, Montrachet is considered one of the finest dry whites in the world, produced from Chardonnay grapes in the Cote de Beaune subregion of Burgundy.
 Some of the world's most famous artists have designed labels for Chateau Mouton Rothschild |
Hot on the heels of the Montrachet lot was a 12-bottle case of Chateau Mouton Rothschild, the illustrious Bordeaux favourite. Bearing an art label designed by American film director John Huston, the lot brought $11,900.
A vertical lot of California's Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon also fared well in the sale, with 22 bottles spanning 1974-1981 selling for $7,140.
Established in 1968, Diamond Creek is California's first exclusively Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard, with wine critic Pierre DuMont commenting: "You could easily make the case that Diamond Creek is the finest producer of Cabernet Sauvignon in America."
Burgundy's top whites were well represented in the sale, with a horizontal lot of the 1985 vintage from Chablis bringing $7,140. It contained two bottles of Blanchot, three Clos, five Montee de Tonnerre and two Valmur.
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