Wine – you either love it or you hate it.

I fall on the love side of the spectrum, although if I’m totally honest, I probably couldn’t tell you the difference between a very expensive and mid-range bottle.

Safety first – buy a bottle of Anthonij Rupert Wyne and you’re always guaranteed quality.

That’s a pro-tip for all you love-it-but-know-nothing-about-it wine drinkers out there.

This brings us to Manchester in the UK, where one lucky diner unknowingly drank a £4 500 (around R82 000) bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol wine, reports The Guardian.

A manager at the Manchester branch of Hawksmoor, an upmarket chain specialising in steaks and seafood with nine sites across the UK, apparently picked up the luxury wine unknowingly in what the restaurant management described as a “one-off mistake”.

A tweet posted on the Hawksmoor Manchester Twitter account read: “To the customer who accidentally got given a bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol 2001, which is £4,500 on our menu, last night – hope you enjoyed your evening!”

The tweet also sought to reassure the person responsible for the costly faux pas: “To the member of staff who accidentally gave it away, chin up! One-off mistakes happen and we love you anyway,” the tweet read.

At least nobody was fired.

The bottle of wine that the customer actually ordered was a Bordeaux of the same vintage, coming in at £260.

Will Beckett, 41, a co-founder of Hawksmoor, said: “I think they were a walk-in at the bar, the waitress just asked a manager to get that wine they chose, and she picked up a bottle of something that looked to her like it was the wine they had ordered.”

“Some time later another member of staff said: ‘ooh, someone is drinking a very impressive wine, and at the bar!’ That’s when we realised. They ordered a second bottle and the manager tactfully suggested they order a different one, without letting them know what had happened.”

Tastefully handled.

Very British.

[source:guardian]