An Australian winemaker Friday put on the market a red so posh it comes in a sealed hand-blown glass ampoule rather than an ordinary corked bottle.

Penfold's trumpets the 2004 vintage of its Kalimna Block 42 as a "truly memorable experiential and sensory engagement" rather than just a top-shelf cabernet sauvignon.

And if you need to ask the price - 168,000 Australian dollars (171,000 US dollars) a bottle - you almost certainly cannot afford it.

Only a dozen bottles are on offer and with two already spoken for, the Adelaide-based company is expecting to be out of stock soon.

To justify 750 millilitres of fermented grape juice at the price of an entry-level Porsche Boxster, Penfold's promises expert help with the pouring.

A senior manager will arrive anywhere in the world with a "specially designed, tungsten-tipped, sterling silver scribe-snap," a tool to snap the glass container, to do the opening.