Billionaire spends 250,000 on 27 bottles of Burgundy

The London based Antique Wine Company told Reuters the anonymous Beijing entrepreneur bought a mix of vintages of the Burgundian Romanee Conti for just over 250,000.

Only 450 cases of the wine are produced each year. The unnamed man bought 12 bottles of Romanee Conti 1978, two bottles of the 1961, 1966, 1996 and 2003 and single bottles of the 1981, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2002.

Stephen Williams, Antique Wine Company managing director, said: "It is the highest price that has ever been achieved for a single lot.

"In the past, the Chinese have been drawn to the magnificent but simplistic qualities of the wines from the great chateaux of Bordeaux.

"Now, our leap in sales of Domaine de la Romanee Conti to mainland China this year in particular is indicating a broadening of their fine wine education and appreciation to the more complex wines of Burgundy."