The 10 most expensive cognacs in the world
Prices from 2 million to a modest 5,000 dollars per bottle, these are the jewel cognac sto store in a safe: Prestigious bottles for a very long ageing
By Donatella Cinelli Colombini
The most expensive is Henri IV Dudognon He
ritage Cognac Grande Champagne costing 2 million and is, deservedly, in the list of the most costly in the world. It has been produced since 1776 by the direct descendants of the King and it ages in barrel for more than 100 years The bottle is covered in 24 carat gold and with 6.500 diamonds.
The question is who will drink such a bottle? And most of all will they be able to enjoy it considering the value of each single drop?
However this type of example increases the myth around prestigious French distilled spirits. Cognac comes mainly (95%) from the Charente (where the city of Cognac is) and Charente-Maritime departments situated in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Cognac can’t be produced off its officially delimited lands. Here the calcareous soils make the wines not so pleasant because of the lively acidity. Because of a stroke of luck in the 17th century the producers discovered that distilling their simple white wines they obtained liqueurs of extraordinary finesse. So Cognac gets its name from the area of the main production, a distilled product that remains in oak barriques from two years to nearly a century and has consequently quality levels and prices that vary enourmously.
Let us come down the list of the extortionately priced Cognacs and we find Hennessy Beaute du Siecle Cognac with a price tag saying 200.000 Dollars. The bottle is by Baccarat and is enclosed in an aluminum and mirror chest while the precious liquid is obtained through blends aged in barrel for 47 – 100 years.
Slightly less expensive but still very dear is the Remy Martin Louis XIII Black Pearl limited edition. This is obtained through the blending of more than 1.200spirits aged between 40 and 100 years. This was made for the first time in 2008, it costs 34.000 Dollars but some also sell it at 55.000 $. 750 ml of amber coloured liquid, in a Baccarat crystal bottle, with a heady floral, fruit and spice aroma, specifically ginger, cinnamon and Cuban cigars.
The spirits that follow in the 10 most expensive Cognacs in the world are however out of this world but affordable by any normal millionaire:
4-12.000 Dollars for a Hardy Perfection aged 140 years, who boasts in being the longest aged Cognac in the world.
5-7.900 $ Le Voyage de Delamain, only 500 bottles in a refined box shaped like a fan
6 -7.500 $ Martell Creation Cognac in a handmade Baccarat bottle reproducing one from the 19th century
7- 6.400 $ Frapin Cuvée 1888 with a gold stopper
8-6.000 $ Hine Triomphe Talent de Thomas Hine the Baccarat bottle is presented in an ivory c
igar box with humidifier
9- 5.500 $ Jenssen Arcana aged 98 years in barrel and prepared upon request
10 – 5.000 $ – Courvoisier L’Esprit Decanter N°10 obtained from a complex blend including Cognacs from the times of Napoleon Ist.