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Liquid Refreshment

29

Apr

Champagne Bucks Downturn

Jacob Gaffney  in Sparkling Wines, Champagne, News , , ,

The recent lock in the financial markets is beginning to spill over into other sectors. A friend in private equity recently said that the damage to the average retail shop on the high street is expected to be huge.

Even some luxury markets are expected to take a hit. In an interview with Fitch Ratings, a spokewoman there said she believed the sale of high-end autos, such as Bentley, etc., were also likely to see some sort of crunch in line with a downturn in consumer spending.

However, a recent press release that came across InterWined’s desk, show a strong return on proper Champagne investments, especially if the lot comes with historical value:

The contents of a singular wine cellar were placed on auction by a private collector and featured some of the most exquisite Dom Perignon vintages. This included such lots as bottles of Dom Perignon Vintage 1928 (1 magnum, estimated 8.000-12,000 dollars, sold at 12,705 dollars), magnums from the 1950s onwards, or the vintage 1961 for Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding celebration (12 bottles, estimated 14,000-18,000 dollars, sold at 19,360 dollars).

Yet, the most impressive lot presented for the first time to the public was a never commercially released vintage of Dom Perignon Rose; the vintage 1959. These two mythical “rarer than rare” bottles, estimated at 5,000-7,000 US Dollars, were acquired for 84,700 dollars by an anonymous
wine collector.

A bit of background: the first bottles of such glamourous quality, considered “the jewel of Dom Perignon”, were first set on lees in the Dom Perignon cellars in 1959, with only 306 bottles released. The vintage was later presented in 1971 at the sumptuous celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great, and thus served to the select few of international luminaries in attendance. A certain pedigree that again was present for such a historic moment as last night’s auction.

We know Dom Perignon as the first “Maison” to have launched ultra luxury collectors editions, such as the White Gold Jeroboam in 2005, which established Dom Perignon as the most expensive champagne in the world.

Another platform to validate the credibility of the wine’s true luxury are vintage champagne auctions. Dom Perignon is thus known for attaining equally remarkable prices, never previously seen in champagne auctions in the past, such as the Dom Perignon Vintage 1921 from the Doris Duke Collection which sold at an auction at Christie’s New York for 24,675 dollars in 2004. This exemplifies the extraordinary aging potential of Dom Perignon, making it a valuable long term investment for the world’s most distinguished champagne collectors.

This new record attained last night for the Dom Perignon Rose Vintage 1959 is definitely making Dom Perignon Rose one of the greatest contemporary luxury icons of this new century … And far beyond: as Richard Geoffroy, Dom Perignon Chef de Cave says: “Dom Perignon Rose Vintage 1959 is a rare, superlative, mythical vintage. Powerful and solar, its light will inspire the creation of Dom Perignon Rose forever.”

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