Jefferson’s Wine Is Sold For $23,000

A bottle of Madeira owned by Thomas Jefferson during his presidency drew a high bid of $23,000 from a Las Vegas casino that plans to serve it up on the Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve 1999 for $100 a taste.

In an auction Friday run by Sotheby’s, Rio Suite Hotel & Casino chief master sommelier Barrie Larvin bought the 197-year-old bottle of wine by a telephone bid.

The sale price was well above the estimated price of $10,000 to $15,000.

The casino also paid $6,000 for an empty Madeira wine bottle that the nation’s third chief of state kept during his 1801-1809 presidency.