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World’s ‘most expensive’ Champagne sells for record US$2.5 million

14 July 2022 By Christian Smith

A magnum of Champagne Avenue Foch 2017 has become the world’s most expensive Champagne after selling for an eye-watering US$2.5 million at auction – but there’s an additional aspect to the sale that its buyers see as an even greater investment.

World's most expensive Champagne: Chateau Avenue Foch 2017 magnum — Credit: Shammi Shinh

Introduced to auction by British entrepreneur Shammi Shinh, the newest claimant to the title of world’s most expensive Champagne is enticing for more than just the fizz in the bottle. The magnum of Champagne Avenue Foch 2017 was offered with an NFT that gives the holder the digital art and intellectual property rights to an image of a now-famous Bored Ape Mutant, alongside the other collectible cartoon figures featured on the bottle.

Shammi Shinh hopes the sale will raise awareness of NFTs and help people to understand them. The Champagne bottle was designed in collaboration with the artist Mig.

Its buyers are Italian brothers Giovanni and Piero Buono. The duo are investors involved in the crypto market, as well as the fashion and technology industries.

The sale was reportedly made in dollars, rather than using cryptocurrency. It was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Champagne Avenue Foch is a newly-established brand made from Premier Cru grapes in Champagne grown at the family-owned estate of Allouchery in Chamery.

The sale may well make the Champagne Avenue Foch 2017 the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold, though it comes with the slight caveat of the additional perceived value accrued by the inclusion of the NFT.

If you’re interested in learning more about the most expensive bottles of wine in history, click here to read about five of the most expensive bottles of wine ever sold.