Panetta wins a 1870 wine in Bin Laden bet

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta received a 1870 bottle of wine after winning a bet with a friend who challenged him to capture Osama Bin Laden, Pentagon sources said.

Ted Balestreri and Panetta, who was still the head of the CIA, made the bet for a bottle of 1870 Chateau Lafite Rothschild during the 2010 New Year ’s Eve in California.

Four months later, Panetta’s wife, Sylvia, called this friend and told him “Ted, get the corkscrew ready,” Balestreti told a local newspaper, the Monterey County Herald. The story was confirmed by an anonymous source of the Pentagon.