UNUSUAL: new price record for a bottle of champagne sold for more than 250,000 euros<

A champagne house in Reims sold a bottle of champagne and its unique box for more than 250,000 euros on November 30 in London.

The king of wines has shown once again that he knows how to pulverize his prices at the end of 2021, when champagne is experiencing a surge in shipments. Jean-Baptiste Prevost, the director of Carbon champagne based in Reims, is still amazed. He has just sold on November 27, 2021 in London, a 15-liter bottle of champagne, a 2000 vintage Nebuchadnezzar and its box, at a stratospheric price: “more than 250,000 euros” (300,000 dollars according to another source). He does not want to reveal more about the exact amount, nor will he say who bought it, "a businessman", but he certifies that the luxury item was paid ruby ​​on the nail. "I received the bank transfer the next day, Monday November 29".

To get there, to this record champagne sale, we have to go back to the genesis of this extraordinary "black bottle", linked to Bugatti's Black Car, one of the most expensive cars in the world, (just after the Rolls- Royce Boat Tail sold for $28 million) from the Alsatian automobile brand based in Molsheim. "This is a project that dates back to a year ago, it required innovative technical skills", explains the director of Carbon. It is also an alliance of two brands based in the Grand Est. One in Alsace, the other in the Marne. The fruit of this alliance gave rise to this record, reaching an unequaled price for a bottle of champagne.

Previous price records

Other champagne houses have already offered themselves the luxury of an exorbitant price, but never above 200,000 euros. Thus, on March 3, 2018, a customer of the Oko Club in La Garde (Var) ordered a Melchizedech (30 liters) Carte d'Or, a huge 52 kg bottle of Champagne Drappier (Aube). In 2015, a 1915 bottle of Krug champagne sold at auction for $116,375 in New York. In 2011, a bottle of Veuve-Clicquot 1841 was acquired for 30,000 euros, in 2008, the house of Acker Merrall & Condit sold two bottles of Dom Pérignon Rosé from 1959 in New York for 84,700 dollars. This time the cork jumped higher.

In March 2019, at. Geneva, the Bugatti brand had revealed that it had sold its famous black car for around 16.7 million euros to Ferdinand Piëch, former boss of a German car brand, and collector. The champagne house of Reims, official partner, wanted to engage. "We thought internally and we proposed to the brand to create an object linked to this car: the 15-litre Black Bottle of champagne. We worked with them to create a box, a case and a refrigerated system identical to the one of the car, a technology close to that of satellites, with small engines, everything is complex in this box set. We innovated. And we presented the whole thing last weekend in a palace in London with the car and the bottle side by side", in front of a restricted circle.

The characteristics of this XXL luxury case are close to the car that enthusiasts dream of. A meticulous work resulting from many technologies. The result of 150 hours of craftsmanship comprising 37 steps. "The cabinet itself is a masterpiece of engineering featuring 314 individual sheets of carbon fibre, exactly like the materials used in Bugatti's top range. With 14 premium fans circulating cool air through the interior".

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A theatrical display

The official description of the item itself is a poem. "The box opens and closes by pressing a stainless steel button bathed in soft blue light. The leaves are decorated with a laser-cut piece of aluminum imitating the central crest of the Type 57 SC Atlantic. While the flaps slowly open, another automatic system releases the neck of the bottle, which remains secure as long as the box is closed".

The interior, like that of the Black Car, is lined with refined Havana Brown full-grain leather, in "a theatrical display that highlights the bottle and its contents". Great art. Summit of luxury and inaccessible to ordinary mortals.

This bottle sold for a price of more than 250,000 euros in London the very evening of its presentation, at the end of November 2021 after discussion with the owner's banker, who we imagine happy, and the Reims champagne house. "It's another world, smiles Jean-Baptiste Prevost back from the United Kingdom. Some buy luxury items like us a contactless baguette. It's fantastic, it will help us continue to innovate. In the end, it is a virtuous whole".

For Bugatti, cars have long been more than just vehicles, "they are works of art, executed to perfection down to the smallest detail. Champagne Carbon and IXO show the same spirit in their work", greets the director of the Alsatian brand.

This famous Black Bottle will be delivered to its rich owner in two months, in the first quarter of 2022. "This bottle is unique. But as with the Black Car, there may be different versions, a new version of the Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic is being studied and we will accompany these cars", announces the director of partner champagne.

Between five and six engineers worked in conjunction with the Bugatti team, around fifteen people in all, for the design of this work of art. "With craftsmen in the sector, the Black Bottle was dressed in carbon, here in Reims, adds Jean-Baptiste Prevost. This requires skills from everywhere. In 2012, we invested in research to innovate in the world of champagne. Since the end of 2018, we have become an official partner of Bugatti, we have settled into this positioning as a French brand of excellence. In terms of visibility, it is not nothing, it shows that despite our small size, we are doing good things too. Even if we remain a family home".

As for the content of this bottle, the Carbon team thought about several vintages, "this one seemed exceptional to us, we had the idea of ​​the date, of the new millennium, of the year 2000. We wanted it to be the bottle of the 21st century in its exceptional, modern and innovative case". This champagne is made from 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir, from grapes from the 2002 vintage harvested from the greatest terroirs of the appellation.

A very protected bottle, on the way from London to Reims, on December 1st by specific carrier, to finalize the box, to personalize it, at the request of the purchaser. Impossible to see it, the owner will have the scoop. As for knowing if he will drink the bottle, or expose it, mystery too. All that remains is to find a good opportunity.