Cheers! Diner orders £260 wine – but gets bottle priced £4,500

‘I am going to tease her for this’

AS costly mistakes go, this one was a full-bodied, vintage howler.

A hapless restaurant boss who meant to serve customers a £260 bottle of Bordeaux realised after they’d left that she’d given them one worth £4,500 – 17 times as much.

The manager at the upmarket Hawksmoor restaurant in Manchester city centre is said to be ‘mortified’.

However, perhaps unsurprisingly, the customers did not complain.

In fact, they may not even be aware of their good fortune. The mistake was not spotted until after they left and the restaurant has been unable to trace them.

In a tweet, Hawksmoor made light of the expensive blunder, telling the worker responsible to keep her ‘chin up’ because ‘one-off mistakes happen’.

It added: ‘ 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!’

Explaining the error, Hawksmoor founder Will Beckett told how a waitress was being helped by a manager from another branch who offered to help find the wine, but picked up the wrong bottle.

The customers had ordered a £ 260 bottle of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2001. Instead, they received the Chateau Le Pin of the same vintage, which comes from a winery of just five acres that only produces up to 1,000 cases a year.

Chateau Le Pin features on Hawksmoor’s ‘rarities’ wine list, and Mr Beckett said the diners were lucky to have had ‘something spectacular’. He added: ‘At that level you’re into a rarity, a flavour profile you won’t find anywhere else.’

They enjoyed the wine so much that they ordered a second bottle – but none were left. Mr Beckett refused to criticise the staff member involved, saying: ‘We know she is brilliant. I am going to tease her for this when she stops being so mortified.’ Following the gaffe, TV presenter Piers Morgan tweeted: ‘I’d like to reserve a table for tonight, with the same waiter please.’

Other commentators praised Hawksmoor for not ‘flying off the handle’ with the manager.

Hawksmoor tweeted a photo of the two bottles beside each other, captioned: ‘ They look pretty similar OK?!’

Mr Beckett said: ‘ It’s the most costly mistake in a long while. In 2006 a bartender dropped a bottle of cognac – but that was only worth £700.’

Chateau Le Pin is one of the world’s most sought- after wines. The 2001 vintage, of which only 6,000 bottles were made, is described as ‘ legendary’ and ‘mythical’ by the wine website Vivino.