Acker Merrall sells 'Shah's Champagne' April 29, 2008
Howard G Goldberg in New York
Acker Merrall & Condit has auctioned two bottles of 1959 Dom
Pérignon rosé Champagne that were never released for commercial sale
and that went straight to the Shah of Iran.
The bottles were part of large cache amassed by the Champagne-loving real estate executive Robert A. Rosania. They were bought by an anonymous bidder for $84,700 (£43,000) on 25 April.
Moët et Chandon made 306 bottles of the vintage rosé, all of which went to the Shah of Iran for his celebration, in 1971, of the 2,500th anniversary of Cyrus the Great's founding of the Persian Empire.
Rosania said he had acquired six bottles in France 'at a hysterically high price.'
Richard Geoffroy, Dom Pérignon chef de cave, has said the wine is 'a rare, superlative, mythical vintage. Powerful and solar, its light will inspire the creation of Dom Pérignon rosé forever.'
The sale also included a vertical collection of Krug Clos du Mesnil (various vintages from 1979-1996), which went for $29,040 (£14,750). One bottle of 1914 Pol Roger Extra Cuvée de Réserve fetched $19,360 (£9,832), while an 1892 version of the same wine brought $11,495 (£5,838)
A magnum of 1949 Pommery rosé was bought for $7,865 (£3,994), and six bottles of 1989 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises brought $9,075 (£4,609).
Acker Merrall realised $6.2m (£3.1m) from the sale, just shy of the $6.7m (£3.4m) high estimate for the catalogue.
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I did not think Vinegar was so expensive in Britain.
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I did not think Vinegar was so expensive in Britain.
