Hitler’s bottle of Bordeaux auctioned for US$2,500

An “impossibly rare” and “undrinkable” wine from Adolf Hitler’s personal cellar was sold yesterday by Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland, United States.

A 1934 St Emilion wine from Adolf Hitler’s wine cellar in his Berghof mountain home went under the hammer yesterday, 10 September 2025, fetching US$2,500. The sum was considerably less than the $5,000-$7,000 sale estimate set by the auction house.

Bill Panagopulos, president of Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland, described the wine as “an impossibly rare item to obtain, a bottle of wine from Adolf Hitler’s personal wine cellar at his mountain retreat, the Berghof.”

The Berghof was Hitler’s home in Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, Germany. He established the residence in the 1920s and he and other members of the Nazi party lived and frequently conducted party business there. During the Third Reich, the site was expanded with various buildings, including other residences for Nazi leaders, air-raid shelters, and a large bunker, but the complex was largely destroyed in April, 1945, when Allied forces launched a devastating bombing raid on Obersalzberg. After the war, the US military decided to destroy the ruins to prevent it from becoming a Nazi pilgrimage site.

Sales held by Alexander Historical Auctions have previously featured items squirrelled away from the Berghof by the US soldiers sent to destroy the property. Details of yesterday’s buyer have not been released, though the sale raises concerns over individuals seeking Hitler memorabilia to idolise the Nazi leader, especially given that the wine itself is undrinkable due to a damaged cork, making it a less attractive option for genuine wine collectors.

Slight leakage

The bottle of Bordeaux was estimated to sell for US$5,000 to US$7,0000, but only fetched $2,500, which according to the Washington Examiner was offered before the auction even opened. According to the auction house, the wine’s seller was “one of America’s most noted collectors of German military documents…with more than 50 years experience.”

The bottle, described as “half-full and certainly not drinkable”, likely came from ‘Frankenreich’, or German-occupied France, according to the lot’s listing. The bottle is held by a wire cage holding it at a slight tilt, which may have been added later. “As there was slight leakage, the bottle has been re-corked but remnants of the original cork are included,” the listing confirms.

Berghof provenance

The wine’s Berghof provenance can allegedly be guaranteed by an accompanying copy of a 1975 catalogue from military dealers Mohawk Arms, which describes the organisation’s ten-year search for Hitler-owned items. The catalogue states:

“In 1945 a team of US Army demolition experts were dispatched to the Berghof to completely destroy the Hitler summer residence. One of the G.Is placed one of the bottles from the cellar in his jacket before the entire building was completely destroyed (with its contents). He then smuggled the bottle home…’.

There is also a copy of Mohawk’s 1975 letter to the purchaser (the American collector), along with an invoice.

For context, other bottles of Bordeaux from the 1934 vintage have fetched less than the $2,500 sum paid for Hitler’s wine. A 1934 Château Lafite-Rothschild sold for $1,931 earlier this month (September 2025), while iDealwine currently estimates a bottle of Château Margaux 1er Grand Cru Classé 1934 to be worth €551 (US$643) and a 1934 Château Haut-Bailly Cru Classé de Graves to be worth about €211 (US$246).

In 2022, Italian winery Vini Lunardelli was forced to discontinue its range of wines featuring Hitler’s face on the labels, sold in more than 50 retailers across Italy. Vini Lunardelli claimed that the wines, which had names including “Mein Führer” and “Sieg Heil”, were not “political”, but rather a method to “remember” history. Responding, Germany’s Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Antisemitism issued a statement saying:

“The marketing strategy is disrespectful to all victims of the Nazi regime and their descendants”.

 

 

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