(WP) - Not every wine needs a story, but here’s one with a doozy to tell. It’s called Ao Yun, it’s produced near Shangri-La in remote southwestern China, and it’s amazingly good. When it’s released in the United States in September, it will cost $300 a bottle. Maybe more.

If you just spat out your morning coffee with a howl of laughter, no matter. This wine is not for everybody. Only 500 of the 2,300 cases produced will be allocated to the American market, and initially it will be available only through four retailers: Calvert Woodley in Washington, Sherry-Lehmann in New York, K&L Wine Merchants in San Francisco and Wally’s Wine & Spirits in Los Angeles.

“The idea is to give collectors in the U.S. and Europe a chance to buy it before it becomes available in China,” says Jean-Guillaume Prats, president of the wine division of Moët Hennessy, part of the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton conglomerate of luxury brands. “There is already great speculative demand for this wine in China.”

Sometimes wine’s allure is not so much its flavor or its alcohol as a sense of ad­ven­ture — a uniqueness that promises an experience only a few willing people can share. Ao Yun is that kind of wine.