Rare wine 'destined' for Napoleon, Grand Constance 1821, fetches £21k decanter.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from decanter.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The 200-year old wine is the sweet and nectar-like Grand Constance 1821
An incredibly rare bottle of wine, once destined to be enjoyed by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, is to go under the hammer at Christie’s later this month as part of the Cape Fine + Rare auction. The 200-year old wine is the sweet and nectar-like Grand Constance 1821, made in Constantia near Cape Town.
Napoleon was fabled to drink a bottle of the stuff every day and after his death in May 1821, his allocation was liberated for general sale. It’s thought that fewer than a dozen bottles of this vintage still exist and, with a reserve price of £5,000, this lot is expected to attract considerable interest.
Shanken News Daily: Exclusive news and research on the wine, spirits and beer business shankennewsdaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from shankennewsdaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Baby vines at Klein Constantia in Cape Town
Credit: Leisa Tyler/Getty
R.E.M. had such an uncomfortable relationship with their hit song Shiny Happy People that for years they refused to play it live. If you looked for a wine equivalent of that exuberant but polarising track, you’d probably alight upon sauvignon blanc, a grape capable of being so noisily, vacuously cheerful that for some it’s depressing.
Sauvignon blanc is popular but (unless it’s from the Loire in France, Sancerre-country, or from Bordeaux) it also draws flack, especially from fine-wine-o-philes. The grape makes wines that are quintessentially summery but it can also be shrill. Rather than casting it aside, a growing number of ambitious winemakers around the world are seeking to make sauvignon blanc that is still mouth-wateringly refreshing but also more sophisticated.