The presidential palace is opening up its wine cellar and selling off a tenth of its private stash.
Hundreds turned out Thursday night for the first of two days of auctions, paying as much as four times the opening price for the right to own something from the presidential reserve.
The auction house says the bottles up for sale do indeed include some very rare vintages.
"Well for us this is worth about 2,200 euros, probably it will be more expensive than that because of its rarity," wine expert Jean Carlos Casas said."
The starting price is about $2,800 U.S. dollars for that bottle!
Not all the bottles are that expensive, however; bidding on some starts at about $20.
What makes these bottles particularly valuable is a sticker that verifies they come from the president's stock.
The first round took in just about $400,000 U.S. dollars.
It's a tiny bit of income to help the government's dismal financial picture. But certainly every little bit helps.
