One million yen. That is what a single bunch of grapes went for at a wholesale auction in Japan this week. Convert it and you get about $8,200, spread across 26 grapes weighing 700 grams total. Quick math says each grape ran roughly $315. You would want to eat these slowly. Very slowly.
They are called Ruby Roman, and they grow in exactly one place: Ishikawa prefecture, western Japan. Growers tinkered with the variety for 14 years before the first crop ever reached shelves in 2008. Exclusive barely covers it, the whole annual harvest gets counted in the hundreds of bunches.
Bidding wars over the first auction of the season are tradition there. This number just set a new ceiling. The buyer stayed anonymous. Smart move, honestly. Would you have raised a paddle?
[ Via: WSJ ]
