Magnums make for costly celebration

Chelsea and England football captain John Terry shelled out £20,000 on Dom Pérignon at London nightclub Whisky Mist last week as part of a birthday celebration for team-mate Salomon Kalou.

The £20,000 bought Terry 30 magnums of Dom Pérignon at £650. However, had he stuck to single bottles, at £240 each, he could have bought 83 in total, an extra 17,250ml worth of Champagne, or 23 bottles.

While magnums do tend to contain an older vintage than the equivalent 750ml current release, the story serves to highlight the high cost of large format prestige cuvées.

The price differential in other top end nightclubs is similar to Whisky Mist. For example, at Mayfair’s Movida, a bottle of Dom Pérignon is £220, while a magnum (98 vintage) is £520.

It is also interesting to note that at this lower price, Terry would have been able to treat Kalou a further eight magnums had he partied in Movida.

Marginally cheaper still is nightclub Aura, on St James’s, Piccadilly, where a magnum of Dom Pérignon is £500, which is £50 less costly than nearby restaurant Aspleys, in The Lanesborough hotel, where the same Champagne is £550.

The most expensive magnum db discovered was at Mayfair’s Maddox club, where Dom Pérignon in this format is "around £700".

Meanwhile, a magnum of Dom Pérignon in upmarket department store Fortnum & Mason is £275 (2000 vintage). Had Terry entertained the Chelsea team at home, he could have served 72 bottles of this large format, or 181 750ml bottles at £110 each.

Patrick Schmitt, 13.08.2009