Few people led a more over-the-top wine life than the late collector Steven Verlin, a founding partner of New York’s Veritas restaurant. He liked to serve 1990 Cristal champagne with truffle-oil laced popcorn and once cooked 40 lobsters in two cases of Chateau d’Yquem, one of the world’s most expensive wines.

Next week, part of his 30,000-bottle cellar will be auctioned off, for an estimated $4 million to $6 million, by Hart Davis Hart at a May 4-5 sale at Tru Restaurant in Chicago. It’s a rousing opener to eight other U.S. wine auctions packed into May before well-heeled buyers retreat to their beach houses. Bloomberg.com

Posted: 04|26|07 at 10:19 am. Filed under: US News.