News

Château d’Esclans and BlockBar sell NFT barrel

14 May 2024 By James Evison

Producer Château d’Esclans and blockchain marketplace BlockBar are selling an Non-fungible token (NFT) barrel of Garrus rosé through an online auction.

The single barrel of Garrus 2023 is divided into four quarters and will be available through BlockBar’s new leaderboard technology. Once the wine is reading for bottling, each owner of the quarter-barrel — around 150 litres — will chose for the liquid to be bottled in either a regular size, Magnums, Jeroboams and even a six-litre Methuselah.

Purchasers will have the right to resell their share in the wine until 21 June on BlockBar’s marketplace with the potential owners also having to submit bottling requests by this date.

If owners opt to send their bottles to BlockBar’s storage facility, their quarter barrel NFT will be converted into NFTs representing ownership of the requested bottle sizes and quantities, the producer said.

Experience

All four owners of the barrel will also receive invitations to bring three additional guests for a day with Château d’Esclans founder Sacha Lichine in Provence during the autumn harvest season.

This experience includes a VIP tour of the winery and vineyards as well as a tasting with the winemaker. Each owner’s name will also be personalised on the barrel alongside a photo in the barrel room.

Premiumisation

Château d’Esclans founder Sacha Lichine said about the move that the producer was happy to “demonstrate the more noble side to rosè with Garrus” and the premiumisation of the rosé category was “just beginning”.

He said: “The innovation of auctioning a barrel of our finest rosé for the first time on BlockBar is very exciting,” he added.

BlockBar’s Jamie Ritchie said that Sacha Lichine had created “a global rosé revolution that has reverberated around the world”.

He said: “At Château d’Esclans, he reimagined the definition of world class rosé, from the ubiquitous Whispering Angel to Garrus, the most exclusive and serious rosé ever produced.

“It will be offered on BlockBar in a new leaderboard auction, which brings a fun and interesting pricing mechanic to the sale, making it another first of its kind.”

In 2020, db editor-in-chief Patrick Schmitt assessed Garrus in a series of videos on the producer.