Macau Billionaire Stanley Ho to prolong life, of his wine, that is...

French experts are recorking 500 bottles of vintage Bordeaux this week in the cellars of Macau casino boss Stanley Ho, a delicate operation designed to prolong its life. Some of Mr Ho's bottles of wine, worth $2,000 to $2,600 apiece, are already 44 years old. He bought the 1961 Chateau Palmer wine - a classic vintage - in 1997 through a London wine merchant, who acquired it from a Bordeaux wholesaler. The tycoon has it stashed beneath the Hotel Lisboa, the flagship of his gambling empire in the former Portuguese enclave. The Chateau Palmer vineyard in the Margaux region in south-west France is owned by 22 shareholders, who are all members of the Bordeaux wine aristocracy. It comprises just 52 hectares. The weather in 1961 was temperamental, resulting in the production of only 35,000 bottles - hardly a third of normal production. Thomas Duroux, the chateau's general manager, said: 'The 1961 vintage was of exceptional quality. 'It is one of the 20th century's classic vintages, along with those of 1900, 1928, 1945 ... '" more