Las Vegas Weekly

October 22, 2008 · 1:06 PM

Pouring over the details: How to serve wine from the largest, rarest bottle of wine in the world

By Robin Leach

Photo: Ian Merritt

The 27-liter bottle of Charles Krug Cabernet on display at Morton's Steakhouse.

The 27-liter Charles Krug Cabernet on display at Morton’s Steakhouse here is so large they have to build a Rube Goldberg-type invention to lift it, hold it and then pour the 180 glasses all in one serving!!

To understand just how large it is, picture 36 regular wine bottles in a row or three cases of 12 bottles apiece stacked atop each other -– and you get the idea just how much booze is in the bottle! In fact, the glass bottle alone costs $1,500 to make -– although you still only need a regular corkscrew to open it!

An engineering professor from Stanford University assembled a team of graduate design and engineering students as a study project at the request of California winemaker Peter Mondavi Jr. to find the best way to pour it. They designed and created a very elegant pouring device that looks like a Rube Goldberg invention gone wrong. Yes, oenophiles, you could siphon off the 27 liters of fine vintage wine and place into decanters -- but that’s nowhere near as fun or impressive!

The bottle -- known in the business as a “primat” from the Latin words for “most prized -- leader” -- is one of the world’s rarest wine containers. It’s just gone on display at Morton’s The Steakhouse and will remain there through December, when it will be auctioned off with a dinner for eight in your home with Morton’s chefs to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “Guests are in awe when they see it,” commented Daniel Hurst, general manager of the Vegas restaurant on East Flamingo.

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