BRITS have been left stunned by the price of wine in a local shop serving one of London’s most expensive developments with bottles in the store selling for more than £4,000.
Alastair Hilton was in the Battersea General Store, located in the redeveloped Battersea Power Station in central London, when he spotted the pricey wines yesterday.
He shared a snap of the most expensive bottles, along with one of the shop’s entire wine selection, where the cheapest bottle was a mere £99.
Social media users have been quick to chip in with their take on his discovery of the country’s most expensive corner shop wine.
Alistair’s pictures show a close-up of the wine shelves, featuring four bottles of red wine each with price tags in the thousands.
Three of them are Petrus Pomerol, known to be one of the most expensive wine brands in the world.
The shop has the pricey wines on sale for an eye-watering £3,500, £3,999 and £4,250 respectively.
The fourth bottle in the picture, the cheapest of the lot, is priced at a measly £800 in comparison.
However, the most expensive out of the three, a vintage 1979 wine, has an average retail price of just £1,658.
The Battersea General Store sells the 1979 bottle to affluent residents at an eye watering mark up of more than £2,000.
The brand commands such high selling prices due to its limited production and excellent reputation, as well as high demand from wine collectors.
On closer inspection, the bottles on display appear to be empty, likely a measure taken in case of theft.
The Battersea General Store is situated in the redeveloped Battersea Power Station, which has become a community of shops, restaurants, bars, office space and homes.
Some apartments are currently on the market for over £4,000,000, with the most expensive with an asking price of £6,999,995.
A member of staff at the store confirmed that they sell bottles at these prices regularly with residents of the expensive development splashing out on luxury wines from the store.
Alastair shared his astonishment yesterday in a post captioned: “I’m not saying the residents of Battersea Power Station apartments are incredibly rich, but this is the fridge in their corner shop.
“Imagine how embarrassed you’d be asking for the £800 bottle, with the shop assistant looking down their nose that you can’t afford the £4250 bottle.”
His post has since received over 910 likes and more than 120 comments from Brits keen to share their thoughts.
One joked: “Is the rest of the stock like every other corner shop because I’d love to pair a £4,000 bottle with Bird’s Eye potato waffles, a packet of Frazzles and an ice pop.”
Alastair replied with a picture of the rest of the cabinet and said: “Here’s the rest of the cabinet. Cheapest is £99. And those sound like perfect pairings. Especially the Frazzles.”
Another wrote: “Corner shop? I used to work in a wine shop and the most expensive bottle we carried was £150. Not even sure we could special order this level of plonk.”
A third said: “Unless you’re a highly educated wine person, you’re going to struggle to appreciate the difference above maybe £75.
“The really big prices are usually collectors rather than drinkers. It’s all a bit performative and crass really.”
Another commented: “If they were properly swanky they would have their cellar stocked by a consultant led team of wine merchants, not by popping down the offy or corner shop (not even one such as this).”
A fifth added: “A very expensive way of converting money into urine.”
Another quipped: “Do they take Clubcard points, or?”
