Ein, Zwei, Dry

Each year a closely followed auction takes place in the historic German city of Trier, where once the ruling prince-archbishops helped elect Holy Roman Emperors. These days, however, the bidding is not about princes and powers but about wine.

And the big story at the most recent auction last September was that a limited first release of 1994 Trockenbeerenauslese from the Scharzhofberger vineyard of Egon Mller in the Saar fetched a pre-tax price equivalent to $42,120 a case. Not even the most sought-after white wines from Burgundy and Bordeaux can match that money. At a Christie's auction in New...