The world’s most expensive champagne, popping the records at €4 166 (about R53 500) for a personalised bottle of bubbly, goes on sale on Thursday targeting a ”super-rich” global elite.
The limited-edition, 12-bottle box sets of Perrier-Jouet champagne will be priced at €50 000, according to French drink firm Pernod-Ricard.
Sales will be limited to a ”community of super-rich” consumers in the United States, Britain, Japan, China, Russia, Switzerland and France.
”We are going to sell these box sets to 100 people around the world who will have a chance to customise their own champagne, the ultimate luxury,” said Perrier Olivier Cavil, head of communications at Perrier-Jouet.
”Each buyer will come to Epernay [in eastern France] for a one-on-one meeting with our cellar master, Herve Deschamps, and will personally add a ‘liqueur’ to personalise the bottles,” he said.
A combination of sugar and wines from different years, the liqueur will put the finishing touch on bottles of Perrier-Jouet’s 2000 Belle Epoque champagne.
Buyers will also be offered a storage nest in Perrier-Jouet’s cellars, to hold the bottles for another eight months.
The previous price record was held by a limited edition of Dom Perignon champagne, which went on sale in 2005 for €12 000 per three-litre bottle.
Pernod Ricard, which owns the champagne brands Mumm and Perrier-Jouet, is the fourth player in a booming global market.
Champagne producers exported 150-million bottles last year, a 7,3% jump from 2006, in addition to 188-million guzzled in France, according to industry figures. — Sapa-AFP