Mouton Rothschild 1945 Broke a World Record Twice in One Night

Last month, a bottle of wine from 1945 set a world record in Singapore. Then, being a proper overachiever, the very next bottle broke the record again, minutes later.

Both were the same wine, Château Mouton Rothschild 1945. The wine is legendary, but the label is the better story, so let’s start there.

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Quick Facts

• Wine: Château Mouton Rothschild 1945, a Bordeaux whose label is built around a V for Victory
• When and where: 4 October 2026, at The Laurus, Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore
• Event: the Grand Cellar Auction, part of Singapore Wine Week 2026
• First sale: lot 286, one 750 ml bottle, SGD 80,000 before buyer’s premium
• Second sale: lot 287, one 750 ml bottle, SGD 100,000 before buyer’s premium, about €70,000
• The catch: the record claim comes from the organisers, and the prices leave out the premium

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Why Is the 1945 So Special?

Because of the year. The war in Europe ended in 1945, and Baron Philippe de Rothschild marked the vintage with a label built around a V for Victory. According to Luxury.it, it was designed by a then-unknown young artist, Philippe Jullian.

Most wine labels tell you the grape and the year. This one told the world the war was over. I love that.

It also began the château’s tradition of an artist designing each year’s label. Later names include Miró, Chagall, Picasso, Dalí, Francis Bacon and Jeff Koons. The château had tried an artist label once before, in 1924 with Jean Carlu. So 1945 didn’t invent the idea, but it started the habit.

There’s a plot twist for the estate itself. Mouton wasn’t among the First Growths in the famous 1855 classification. It was only ranked a Premier Cru Classé in 1973, almost thirty years after this vintage.

Critics have been generous with the wine, too. According to Bordeaux Index, Robert Parker gave it 100 points. So did Neal Martin of the Wine Advocate (tasted September 2005) and Lisa Perrotti-Brown (October 2019).

What Happened in Singapore?

The Grand Cellar Auction was presented by Impeccable APAC and Park90. Lot 286, a single bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild 1945, sold for SGD 80,000 before buyer’s premium. Lot 287, another single bottle of the same wine, sold for SGD 100,000. The organisers say the second price broke the record set by the first only minutes earlier.

For a sense of scale, Luxury.it converts SGD 100,000 to about €69,900 at the ECB rate of 12 October, or roughly US$78,100.

Who bought them? The buyers haven’t been named, and the organisers’ release doesn’t name the auctioneer or give a total for the sale. It only says the auction also offered rare bottles from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne and the New World.

What Does “World Record” Mean Here?

It’s a narrow record. It covers a single standard 750 ml bottle of the 1945 Mouton Rothschild, measured by hammer price. Bigger bottles are a different race. According to Luxury.it, a jeroboam, which is a large bottle holding several standard ones, sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2007 for US$310,700. The château called that a record for the most valuable bottle in any format. Big bottles can fetch big money for good causes too, like the 9-litre bottle in my post on 50 Cent’s $175,000 losing bid.

The organisers use a different benchmark. It’s a 10-bottle lot of the same wine from the cellar of Bill Koch, sold at Sotheby’s New York in May 2016 for US$343,000. Wine Spectator says that beat a presale estimate of US$120,000, in a sale that made US$21.9 million overall.

Here’s the sum. US$343,000 divided by 10 bottles is US$34,300 a bottle. SGD 100,000 is about US$78,100, so the second Singapore bottle went for roughly 2.3 times that average. The first went for roughly 1.8 times (my own sums).

A fair warning: the Singapore prices leave out the buyer’s premium, and I couldn’t tell whether the 2016 figure includes it, so the real gap may be smaller. The record claim also comes from the organisers’ own press release, which other outlets repeated, and I found no independent confirmation from a wine-trade publication.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much did the 1945 Mouton Rothschild sell for in Singapore? One bottle sold for SGD 80,000 and the next for SGD 100,000, both before buyer’s premium. The second is about €69,900.

Is this the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold? No. In October 2018, a bottle of 1945 Romanée-Conti sold at Sotheby’s for US$558,000. CNBC reported it as the most expensive bottle ever sold at auction at that time. The Mouton record only covers a standard 750 ml bottle of this one vintage. For some earlier headline sales, see my Top 5 expensive wines in the world.

Why is the 1945 Mouton Rothschild label special? It was built around a V for Victory to mark the end of the war, and it began the château’s tradition of artist-designed labels.

Who bought the record-breaking bottles? The buyers haven’t been named, and I couldn’t find their identities anywhere.

Is the record confirmed? It comes from the organisers’ press release. I found no independent confirmation from a wine-trade outlet.

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One Last Thing

My honest view is that nobody pays SGD 100,000 for a drink. They pay for a story with a cork in it, and 1945 has one of the best stories in Bordeaux. I’d rather spend that money on a hundred good bottles and the friends to share them with. But I’m glad somebody keeps a story like this alive.

If you wonder whether bottles like these are worth buying, I looked at that in Can You Really Make Money Collecting Italian Wine?

Would you open a bottle like this, or keep it on the shelf forever? Tell me which team you’re on.

— Kelly 🍷

#WineAuction #MoutonRothschild #WineFacts #WineHistory

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Continue Reading

• Can You Really Make Money Collecting Italian Wine?
• Top 5 Expensive Wines In The World
• 50 Cent Loses $175,000 Bid on a Bottle of Wine

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Sources

• PR Newswire APAC: Singapore Wine Week 2026 Grand Cellar Auction Sets Two Consecutive World Records
• Luxury.it: Mouton Rothschild 1945, SGD 100,000 for a Single Bottle
• Wine Spectator: Sotheby’s Scores Big With Bill Koch’s $21.9 Million Wine Auction
• Bordeaux Index: Mouton Rothschild 1945 tasting notes and scores
• CNBC: Bottle of wine sells for record-breaking $558,000

Information checked in November 2026. Exchange rates and auction results can change, so confirm figures with the auction organisers.