By Micah Hanks

Andre Terrail, third-generation owner of the famous La Tour d'Argent

The La Tour d’Argent restaurant in Paris plans to auction 18,000 bottles of its finest vintage wines, featuring Cognac, Champagne, Burgundy and Bordeaux, and a variety of other treats to be gathered up by collectors and enthusiasts.

The BBC reported today that close to 1m euros is expected to be raised by the sale, which La Tour d’Argent hopes will help “renew the cellar’s contents and ensure the restaurant keeps its multiple Michelin stars.” Upholding a rigorous claim to their quality and class, the restaurant’s website shares the following about the operation:

Every “Tower” has its legend and, as you can imagine, ours is no exception. Throughout all the vicissitudes of history, for close on a century the Tour d’Argent has maintained its almost sacred attachment to tradition and honor. Indeed, the venerable age of the building and the authentic anecdotes surrounding it count much less than the extraordinary enthusiasm of André Terrail, after him, his son Claude and now, again, André. Time and people may pass and fashions may change, but the table is always set at the Tour d’Argent.

The family-owned restaurant, with locations in both Paris and Tokyo, famously sports a 400 page-long wine list, with 450,000 bottles in the present collection. Newer wines from different parts of France, including the Loire Valley, will be among the new additions to the cellar, according to Andre Terrail, who called the process “a heritage my father contributed to and which I must pass on. We must keep it alive and build on it.”As with so many fine traditions, this is a bit of French heritage and style that continues today, and the wines they’ll be selling will no doubt command a high dollar (or in this case, Euro).

You may learn more about the restaurant and their operations by visiting their website.

Tags: La Tour d'Argent, wine