Fine wine and spirits have been a staple of the alternative investment markets for some time now, and an auction at Sotheby´s in New York this weekend has shown why. A single bottle of 1945 Burgundy sold for a staggering £424,000 to become world’s most expensive wine. It easily eclipsed the previous record of £177,000 for a standard bottle The Romanee-Conti is viewed by many as the finest Burgundy one can drink. The final price paid on Saturday evening was 17 times more than its estimated worth. It smashed the world’s previous high-mark for a standard bottle: an 1869 Chateau Lafite Rothschild which sold for a comparatively inexpensive £177,000 in Hong Kong in 2010. A few minutes after Saturday's sale, another 1945 Romanee-Conti went for £377,000. The wine’s vineyard may help explain its worth. It spans just four acres in the Cote de Nuits region, with no more than 6,000 bottles produced each year. The bottle is one only 600 made before the vines were harvested for rep...