To mark Moët & Chandon‘s 270th anniversary, hundreds of bottles of Champagne that represent the past century are set to go under the hammer at a special auction hosted by Sotheby’s.
Chef de cave, Benoît Gouez has hand picked every single one of the 270 bottles, 174 magnums and three jeroboams from Moët’s Grand Vintage Collection, located at its cellars in Epernay which span for around 28km.
The vintages in the auction will range from 2004 right the way back to 1914, said the Champagne house, which is part of French billionaire Bernard Arnaud’s LVMH luxury goods empire. ‘There are some incredible wines in this auction,’ said Gouez. Some of the wines, including those from 1914 and the ‘20s, ‘50s and ‘60s, were only disgorged earlier this year.
The six bottles from 1914 are expected to receive up to £6,000 each at the auction; Michael Edwards, Champagne judge at the 2013 Decanter World Wine Awards said:
‘The vintage has a special poignancy, as it was picked by women, their men being at the front [for World War One].’ Edwards, who is also author of The Finest Wines of Champagne, said the 1914 was in ‘fine shape’ with good fruit and no signs of oxidation when he last tasted it, in 1968. ‘After another half a century, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t still be goodish,’ he said, adding that ‘the fact that it has lain on its lees in Epernay until disgorged is a very good sign’.
Sotheby’s Worldwide head of wines, Serena Sutcliffe MW, said, ‘I tasted the legendary 1914 with Benoît [Gouez] earlier this year and it is superlative’. There are plenty of other renowned vintages to feature too, including two bottles of the 1921 and one bottle of 1928, expected to fetch up to £5,200 and £2,400 respectively.
The sale is to take place in London on November 13th.
By Connell Green
Google
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