Choices

"She gets to keep the chalet and the Rolls, I want the Montrachet."  -Anonymous, Forbes Magazine, 1996

Montrachet is well known for their spectacular whites and Chardonnays from the Cote de Beaune subregion of Burgundy.  This region is perhaps the most widely respected source for the finest dry white wines in the world.  A Montrachet 2009 vintage is available for $99.  Like something a little older, closer to your graduation year, say 1979?  You'll have to shell out $1,693.  If you'd like something a little more grand, may I recommend the 1970 for a mere $4,367?

However, if you're really in the mood to drop a small fortune, Forbes magazine reports that "the world's most expensive bottle of wine that could actually be drunk today is also the most expensive wine ever sold in America, a Montrachet 1978 from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti that was hammered down at Sotheby's in New York in 2001. The lot of seven bottles fetched $167,500, or $23,929 per bottle. This is an extraordinary price for a white wine, even in the rarified world of wine collecting. What happened was that two avid collectors were bidding against each other and got carried away, each refusing to yield as the price rose through the stratosphere."  So let that be a lesson to us all.  There are many decent white wines available at your local wineshop for well under $20.  Cheers.