Gold Magazine December 2013 - January 2014, Issue 33 | Page 81

The typical timeframe for investment in Champagne to mature is between

seven to ten years

quality. For example, it took Dom Perignon
nine years before they were happy to release
their 2002 vintage.” Investors, likewise,
must not be in a rush. Assemakis continues:
“The typical timeframe for investment in
Champagne to mature is between seven to
ten years.” With numbers having already
been creeping steadily up, the suggestion
from the experts seems to indicate
that Champagne’s investment story
is wilfully budding, but has yet to come
into full, prosperous bloom: an exciting
prospect.
Nurturing this flowering is the image that
Champagne holds within society. Gibbs
explains: “Champagne is what is drunk
in the casinos of the world, on the yachts
of oligarchs and by footballers’ wives, so
there is an element of flash money about
it.” Aggressive branding has associated
Champagne with success, celebratory occasions, and unremitting recreation. Thus, no
matter how deep the volume of production
and wide the distribution may be (Moet et
Chandon alone produces almost 30 million bottles annually), Champagne gets
drunk and quickly. Gibbs elaborates as to
the consequences of the immediacy with
which Champagne is consumed: “As a result, a vintage can become scarce within a
couple of years of being released by the producer. As the supply of the highest-quality
Champagnes declines, the price quickly
rises.”
With stocks already considered diminished, the stress on supply is further aggravated by the widening of markets setting
their sights upon this special sparkling wine.
Assemakis notes that European Fine
Wines has seen a solid spike in demand for
top quality Champagne from across Asia
– particularly from China and Singapore
– endeavouring to expand horizons profitably. Indeed, Sotheby’s hosted an auction
in Hong Kong in January of 2013, selling
vintage magnums (a bottle with capacity
of 1.5 litres) from 1921, 1929 and 1947,
raising some HKD 239,000, the equivalent
of about €22,800. Further auctions have,
unsurprisingly, been scheduled.
Indeed, closer to Champagne’s home, one
of the grandest of the Grand Marques, Moet
et Chandon, made history with its Sotheby’s
collaboration, resulting in November 2013’s
Moet Grand Vintage Auction.
In celebration of its 270th anniversary,
the marque’s Chef de Cave, Benoit Gouez,

personally selected 270 bottles of Blanc and
Rose Champagnes to commemorate each
active year since the house was founded in
1743. Vintages spanned a century, ranging
from the latest 2004 release all the way back to
1914. Furthermore, 174 magnums and three
jeroboams were put forward for auction to
honour the founding date. The 74 lots came to
auction direct from Moet et Chandon’s 28km
of cellars located in Epernay, Champagne.
Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Wines,

trasts (combining late frosts and poor flowering
with a warm and dry period prior to picking),
and a consequential 30% decrease in yield,
the grapes picked nevertheless possessed a fine
balance between sugar and acid that has been
described as not only exceptional, but rare.
So, the overriding message in Champagne’s
bottle? Perhaps, in the end, the New Year may
be better celebrated by carefully storing that
vintage bottle of Champagne bought for the
occasion, and toasting, instead, with a glass of
fizzy lemonade!

A special poignancy is
embodied in the 1914
vintage, due to it being
the last one picked
before the full onset of
World War I
Serena Sutcliffe, said of the occasion: “We have
never before held an auction of this scale, with
such a selection of rare and fine Champagnes
from one producer.”
So, how did the auction fare? Surprising
even the experts, the vintage bottles consistently outshone their designated high estimates.
Three two-bottle lots of the 1921 vintage averaged a selling price of £8,813 versus a top estimate of £5,200 per lot. Likewise, three lots of
one bottle of the 1928 vintage commanded an
impressive £5,400 each, despite their top-price
estimate of £2,400 per bottle.
Perhaps most impressive of all, however,
were the three lot sales of two 1914 vintages,
which collectively sold for almost £25,000.
Industry insiders explain that a special poignancy is embodied in the 1914 vintage, due to
it being the last vintage picked before the full
onset of World War I.
In total, the Moet Grand Vintage Auction
amassed £147,333 over two days. More gainful
than money, however, is the metamorphosing
appreciation of Champagne’s place in a collector’s portfolio. Of this, Gouez insightfully
commented: “I want to show that great vintage
Champagnes are also great wines and the fact
that there has been so much interest in this
auction shows that more and more collectors
understand this.”
And the positivity does not end here.
Respected experts, such as Charles
Philipponnat of Krug, suggest that the 2012
growing season is poised to create a luminous
vintage, rivalling even the most celebrated predecessors. Despite being a year of weather con-

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