Daily writing prompt

What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?

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It wasn’t even a meal and yet it was worth every penny. It was a gift and simply a bottle of wine. I was stationed in Germany and knew little of wines beyond what an Auslese, a Spaetlese, an Eiswein, or a Kabinett tasted like. It was right before my parents were coming to visit. My mother had always wanted to travel to Europe but could only talk my father into it after I was stationed there.

I was in the base store and saw that they had some wines. I thought to buy one for my mother but I didn’t know what to get. I decided to purchase the most expensive wine on the shelf. At 70 USD in 1989, that was very pricey for my airman’s pay. It was from France, a Pauillac, I wasn’t familiar with the type but I decided that it must be nice to cost that much. My mother really liked red wines.

A month later they arrived and I presented her with the Mother’s Day gift. I hadn’t wrapped it. She looked at the label and nearly fell back into a chair. She was a bit more graceful than that though and simply sat very quickly. After looking back and forth between me and the bottle, she slowly read off the name on the label. In a soft voice, she said “Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1987”.