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Perrier-Jouët’s cellars, resides a collec-
tion of champagne second to none on
Earth. Since the earlier part of the 19th
Century, the prestigious champagne
house has saved and stored bottles
of wine from its greatest vintages. In
the third month of 2009, twelve of the
world’s top wine tasters were invited to
a very special tasting session. Twenty
bottles from different vintages were
taken from the cellar and opened in a
once in a lifetime event. One of these
bottles was the oldest drinkable wine
on Earth, the 1825 Perrier-Jouët. At the
time there were only three bottles of
this vintage in existence, of all which
resided in the same cellar. Once the
cork had been popped by cellar
master Hervé Deschamps, the
legendary tasters which included
such distinguished wine per-
sonalities as Michel Bettane,
advised the wine had lost
most of its fizz but was
still a very enjoyable
beverage, with a
distinctive flavor
of truffles and
caramel. Other
vintages at the
tasting were
the 1846
and 1874,
the latter
of which
was still
very
spark-
ly.
1893 Veuve
Clicquot
In July
of
2008, while
hir-
ing a
locksmith
to
cut a key
and
open an
antique
piece of
furniture
in the
Scottish
resi-
dence of
Torosay
Castle,
owner
Chris James
discovered a
treasure chest
of alcoholic
delights. The
crown jewel of
this discovery
was a bottle
of 1893 Veuve
Clicquot in near
perfect condi-
tion, including
the famous
hallmark
yellow
label.
After
also finding a bottle of
claret, brandy and a port
decanter, it became fairly
obvious that the aged
sideboard was a per-
sonal drinks cabinet that
had been locked since
the late 19th Century.
Upon contacting
the Grand Marque
Champagne
house directly,
Mr. James was
informed it was
the
only known
such
bottle in
existence.
It is
considered
by
many
to be
price-
less
and
is now
on
display
at
the
Veuve
Clicquot
visitor
centre in
Reims,
France.
Ulti-
mately,
cham-
pagne
is all
about
exclusiv-
ity, and
by that
meas-
ure as
there is
only one
example
in exist-
ence, this
bottle of
1893 Veuve
Clicquot
is the most
exclusive
champagne in
the world.
S