The most expensive wine in the world is made at the AurumRed wineries , located in Las Pedroñeras (Cuenca). A bottle of the silver series costs 1,250 euros, the gold series amounts to 25,000 euros , but without a doubt, the star product is the single-edition 16-liter bottle that already exceeds 340,000 euros.
Who Invented AurumRed?
The architect of this miracle of oenology is Hilario García , the only one who knows the secrets behind one of the most exclusive wines in the world.
Hilario García worked in a consulting firm until an illness left him bedridden. After an unsuccessful journey by several doctors, he finally found his own miracle: “In one of the clinics I met a man who treated this type of disease with ozone. The pain went away, I walked again and began to investigate ozone on my own , because I saw it as very effective but underdeveloped. “
García wondered if the benefits of ozone could be transferred to another type of living being, plants: “I started applying it to onions with great results and later to vineyards, also with success. And taking into account that wine is also a being alive, I also started applying it. And so I came to AurumRed, something totally different. “
Ozone is just one of the more than one hundred treatments applied to the AurumRed. The result, García explains, is “a wine that does not turn sour once it has been opened and has different aromas and flavors depending on whether the glass is turned one way or the other.” The final destination is the consumer, who “experiences a magical moment when he takes a moment of his time to enjoy this wine.”
Centennial Undrafted Vines
Another of the secrets of this wine is found in the roots of the centennial vines of the cencibel (tempranillo) variety not grafted. This detail, insignificant for those unfamiliar with viticulture, is extremely important. 150 years ago an aphid called phylloxera entered Europe and practically destroyed all the vines that existed. The farmers found a solution: use a rootstock with a variety immune to phylloxera. Since then, all the vines have grown on the base and roots of the resistant variety where the type of grape to be grown is grafted.
The AurumRed strains are the original ones, they do not carry rootstocks and have never succumbed to phylloxera. From there comes a production of 300 bottles , those of the gold series, whose price amounts to 25,000 euros per unit. From the silver range (1,250 euros) a maximum of 6,000 bottles of new vines grafted with centenary vines are manufactured. This wine matures in French oak barrels , specially chosen by Hilario García: “The woods must be tested. The highest quality is requested and everything is evaluated: from which valley the wood comes, how it is dried and how it is treated”, explains García .
All factors that influence the quality of the wine are closely monitored. Also the type of bottle, which in the case of the crown jewel, the 16-liter container, is a beautiful work of art designed by Alberto Rodríguez. Its price already exceeds 340,000 euros , although until its auction of the sealed envelope at the first price ends, we will not be able to know what value it finally reaches.
