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Bollinger to auction 1914 vintage fizz
Bollinger is to auction a 102-year-old bottle of 1914 Champagne at Sotheby’s in New York, part of a 600-strong collection of vintage cuvées discovered in a secret room within its labyrinth of cellars.
Around 600 bottles of vintage cuvées were discovered in a secret room in Bollinger’s cellars in 2010
In 2010 Bollinger staff were clearing out their cellars in Aÿ when a rack of wines was removed from a darkened arch. Behind it the team was astonished to find a hidden room which had remained untouched and hidden for decades, containing around 600 cuvées. The youngest was from the 1939 vintage, the beginning of World War II, and the oldest from 1830.
It is believed that the bottles were stashed in secret at the beginning of World War II to avoid German pillaging, with the location, for whatever reason, never passed on to future staff.
This bottle of 1914 Bollinger was among the wines discovered, and will go on sale at Sotheby’s finest and rarest auction in New York on 19 November, with bids starting at US$10,000. It will be the first time any of the bottles discovered in 2010 have been made available to an auction in the US.
Historically, the 1914 vintage is significant as it was the year that World War I was declared by Germany. By the September harvest in September, many men were already on the battlefields, leaving the women to tend harvest and vinify the wines.
According to Bloomberg, the winning bidder will also will win a trip to the Champagne house’s cellars to visit its Galerie 1829 Champagne library, which contains many of the rare bottles, a private tasting of the 1914 vintage with Bollinger Cellar Master Gilles Descôtes and dinner with the president of Champagne Bollinger, Jérôme Philipon.
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The auction will also include six rare lots of Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises ranging from 1988 to 2002 and a range of eight-year-old Bollinger R.D. Special Cuvée and nonvintage Special Cuvée.
In 2013 a two-bottle lot of Moët & Chandon 1914 sold for $16,620. Last year Krug auction a bottle of 1915 Champagne and tasting experience, which sold for for $116,375.
While the starting bid on this bottle of 1914 Bollinger is $10,000, it’s likely to go for a much higher figure.