$833.33 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Bottle!

That was the top price tag at Premiere Napa Valley midwinter barrel auction.
This year's fundraiser brought in a record $2.16 million for 1,215 cases of wine, the highest figure in its 11-year history and a jump of 15.5 percent over 2006. The biggest single bid came from V.J. Jazirvar, executive vice president of the Petroleum Club of Oklahoma City, who ponied up $50,000 for five 12-bottle cases of 2005 Rombauer Vineyards Stice Lane Block D Cabernet Sauvignon, which will go to members and will be added to the club's 600-bottle wine list at a modest $15 markup.
Unless you get an invite to Oklahoma, don't expect to taste it. Like most wines at Premiere, it was made specifically for the event. Don't expect to find the 2004 either, which was last year's top lot. Jazirvar bought that one too -- for an even steeper $85,000. At more than $1,400 a bottle, every drop was claimed by club members.
"I bought a bargain this year," he says.