Record-breaking auction to restore Florence baptistery doors - Bolgheri's Tenuta dell Ornellaia celebrated their twentieth year with a bang in New York City following the sale of a bottle of Salmanazar for $33,600 (400 times its market value) at a Christie's auction. The one-of-a-kind nine-litre bottle featured a pure gold silkscreen in place of a label.
The winners were a Seattle couple that had gone to the auction with the intention of bidding on Lot Number 8 - the only bottle of Italian wine on the docket. The 2005 Ornellaia won't hit shelves until May 2008, thereby giving the buyers a unique preview of this prestigious wine.
"We were the only Italian product in an auction containing more than 200 wines and champagnes," said estate general manager, Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja.
The newest feature was the bottle's never-before-seen shape and size, which was made expressly for this occasion".
Proceeds from the sale were donated to American non-profit association, Friends of Florence, and will be used to restore Giovanni Francesco Rustici's statues on the doors of the Baptistery of Florence.
