Sommeliers devise £640,000 wine guide

As many as 48 top sommeliers from around the world are meeting inLondon to devise a list of the 100 greatest vineyards for a limitededition wine guide which will retail for £640,000.

Buyers of the book will also receive a case of wine from each selected producer.

The book, like its price tag, will be massive, measuring 1.5 square metres, containing 850 pages and weighing over 30kg. It is the brainchild of publishing entrepreneur Karl Fowler, who runs the Opus Media Group.

Explaining the rationale for the project he said, “Whoever buys the books will instantly have an incredible wine collection. Some wineries we expect to be included have waiting lists of 16,000 people for some wines. This is a chance to jump that queue.”

Fowler is gathering the chosen sommeliers for three days and will turn their decisions into the guide. Only 100 books will be printed and eight books have apparently already been ordered.

Click here for more information on Opus Media.

Patrick Schmitt, 16.07.09