The world's most expensive white wine will reside in Asia for the next 6 years, until it is opened and drunk at a special meal to celebrate the buyer's 50th anniversary in the wine business.
Christian Vanneque, former head sommelier at the Michelin starred La Tour d'Argent restaurant in Paris, bought the wine for £75,000 ($150,000) last week at London's Ritz hotel, dropping by Raffles, Singapore on Thursday, with the 1811 vintageChâteau d'Yquem in tow.
Pint-sized Christian posed for photographs with the 75 cl bottle and quipped that he was attracted to a wine made during Napoleon's reign because they both shared a lack of height. In reality it was the wine's stature amongst peers that persuaded Christian to part with the equivalent of a 75 night stay in the Ritz's Trafalgar Suite.
The 1811 is considered by some to be the best ever vintage of Château d'Yquem, a wine dubbed 'liquid gold' even in less iconic years due to it's price, unique balance of sweetness and acidity, and it's potential for longevity.
It hails from the year of Flaugergues' famous comet, an event documented in art and fiction by Blake and Tolstoy, and seen as a portent of Napoleon's invasion of Russia and the war of 1812.
'Comet Vintages' also appear to provide excellent conditions for wine production, with the 1811 vintage marking a reversal of fortune for the regions of Bordeaux, Cognac and Champagne, that were previously blighted by a run of not-so-stellar vintages.
Robert Parker was star stuck by the vintage when he was asked to rate one of the few remaining bottles of the 1811 vintage in 1996. He gave the wine a perfect 100 point score, remarking that the flavour was like 'liquified crème brulee'.
Before Christian gets to see if Parker's assessment is right, the bottle will find a home in the ex-sommelier's SIP Sunset Grill in Bali. It will be protected in an air-conditioned, bullet proof case until it finds it's final resting place on the table of La Tour d'Argent at a family meal, 6 years from now.
Let's hope he is over the moon when he opens the world-record-breaking wine, and that it provides the perfect finish to this celebratory meal and his lifetime in the wine business.
