Temple of Parisian dining auctions off rare wines

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The illustrious Paris restaurant La Tour d'Argent put up for sale on Monday 18,000 bottles from its vast cellars, offering wine lovers a chance to acquire treasures from one of the world's finest collections.

It is the first time in the restaurant's 427-year history that it parts with some of the wines, champagnes and spirits carefully selected by generations of sommeliers to please the palates of guests from monarchs to movie stars.

"Some people may be buying for collecting, but I hope that a lot of people will buy just to enjoy the wine, to drink it," said David Ridgway, head sommelier at La Tour d'Argent for 28 years, in an interview with Reuters ahead of the auction.

The restaurant by the River Seine, where diners enjoy a dazzling view of Notre Dame cathedral, hopes to raise at least 1 million euros ($1.5 million) from the two-day sale for renovation projects and the purchase of new wines.

That is a very rough estimate, as some of the bottles on offer are so rare that no one knows how much they could fetch.

A few hours into the auction, in a packed hall on the posh Avenue Hoche, the restaurant looked set to outperform its target as most bids were rising well above the original estimates.

This drew grumbles from some aficionados like retired wine trader Bernard Dumort, who was hoping to pick up a bargain.

"The prices are well above market rates. It must be because of the prestige of La Tour d'Argent," he said.

A taste of history

The bidders ranged from experienced collectors to novices like a man who had his heart set on a white Burgundy from the year of his daughter's birth. He got six bottles for 450 euros.

"It will be a gift for her 20th birthday. I wanted something special and this is a unique opportunity," said the man, who did not wish to give his name for fear of spoiling the surprise.

The oldest items on sale, due to be auctioned late on Monday, were three bottles of "Clos du Griffier" cognac dated 1788, at a starting price of 2,500 euros each. Most bottles on sale, however, were much younger and much cheaper.

The sale concerns only a fraction of the immense collection stored in a maze of dark, narrow alleys below the restaurant. The vast cellars are jammed from floor to ceiling with about 450,000 bottles of red and white whines, champagnes and liquors.

Owner Andre Terrail said La Tour d'Argent was not getting rid of any particular wine. The cellars will retain a few bottles of all the wines that are on sale.

"This is a way to adjust our stocks and create space to enrich our collection with new vintages," Terrail told Reuters.

La Tour d'Argent fascinates guests not only with its signature dish of pressed duck served in its blood but also with its colourful past and guest list full of celebrities, from the late U.S. President John Kennedy to Brazil soccer great Ronaldo.

Founded in 1582, it was loved by successive French kings and pillaged during the Revolution. It passed to Napoleon's personal chef in the 1800s before the Terrail family acquired it in 1911.

The father of the current owner, Claude Terrail, famously walled up the cellars during World War Two in order to avoid having to serve fine wines to the Nazi occupiers of Paris.

- The sale catalogue is on www.piasa-latourdargent.fr