Louis XIII Cognac smashed in NZ quake

The damage continues to mount up after Sunday’s earthquake in New Zealand, with a high-price bottle of Louis XIII Cognac being the latest victim.

Earlier this week db reported that several wineries were affected by the 6.5 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 5.09pm on Sunday, was registered 12 miles east of Seddon in the Awatere Valley.

But it has emerged that there was another high-price victim of the earthquake, this time at the Regional Wine and Spirits shop in Wellington, where a NZ$3780 (£1960) bottle of Cognac smashed.

General manager Alastair Morris said that a cabinet had fallen over during the quake and that he was reluctant to look underneath the toppled cabinet, for fear of the expensive breakages he would find. When he moved the cabinet Morris found a shattered 700ml bottle of Louis XIII de Remy Martin cognac, which was the priciest victim of the fall, along with a smaller bottle of the same drop value at $500.

Morris said: “I was like, ‘oh no’. It’s pretty good stuff. We lost about 10 to 12 good Cognacs and vodka.”

The manager said that a high insurance excess means the business will probably have to pay to replace the Cognac and the other 40 bottles that were broken in the quake.

But it was not all bad news for Morris, who said: “It is amazing what fell and didn’t break, interestingly, no Scotch was harmed.”

The sturdier bottles included a bottle of 2003 Chatêau d’Yquem, which survived the earthquake and cabinet fall.

Morris added: “I’d have been more stunned it we had lost the Yquem.”

Just last week we revealed some of the biggest booze breakages captured on camera, so it remains to be seen if Regional Wines will release any CCTV of this tragic cabinet fall.