Burgundy, France
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In the non-public eating room of a Michelin-listed restaurant in east-central France, a small group of the world’s foremost wine authorities gathered reverently round a somewhat scruffy bottle, glasses on the prepared.
The object of their need — encased in a closely weathered label and lead capsule — was an 1899 Romanée-Conti wine, from one of Burgundy’s most revered vineyards, the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC).
Once the protect of European aristocracy, the Romanée-Conti is now sought out by multi-millionaires at public sale. For an concept of its nearly legendary standing amongst wine connoisseurs, a 1945 Romanée-Conti grew to become the most costly single bottle of wine bought at public sale when it fetched $558,000 at Sotheby’s in 2018.
Now, specialists on the Auprés du Clocher restaurant described the vintage bottle earlier than them as a “unicorn.” Its 127-year lineage was verified by the pristine ‘1899’ cork marking, extremely nonetheless seen via the glass — bearing the similar, historic font of the Domaine itself.
It’s the sort of legendary bottle that’s often traded — not tasted. Unless the proprietor occurs to be Singaporean businessman and wine investor Soo Hoo Khoon Peng, who on a crisp winter’s day in January opted to uncork and share the prized bottle, 12 months after he bought it for his fiftieth birthday.
“Too many great bottles are never opened,” Soo Hoo instructed NCS. “This isn’t about status, it’s about learning and human connection.”
Based on provenance alone, Régis Cimmati, effective wines director at Maison Pion, a key distributor of DRC, estimated the 1899 bottle to be price €100,000 ($118,000).
In comparability, different DRC vintages from the final 5 years trade for between roughly €17,000 to €23,000 ($20,000 to $27,100). All the extra exceptional then, that the 1899 lay forgotten for years in a cellar, earlier than ultimately ending up on Soo Hoo’s desk.
The 1899 was initially bought instantly from DRC by the French noble household de Brou de Laurière, proprietors of Bordeaux supplier Seignouret, defined Cimmati. Its strip label, bearing the partially pale “SEIGN***ET,” was the primary clue to its prestigious origin. “Famous producers used to add their distributor’s name,” he stated.
For a long time, the bottle lay undisturbed within the household cellar till 2011, following the demise of descendant Patrick de Brou de Laurière. “The story is amazing because the label was damaged, and auction experts failed to recognize it,” Cimmati provides. “Hidden in a mixed case titled ‘19th-century red wines,’ it was sold for a few dozen euros at a local auction.”
Rescued by an astute purchaser, it reached Soo Hoo early final 12 months via Maison Pion.
“This bottle was not sold publicly,” stated Cimmati. “It was offered to a handful of knowledgeable drinkers,” he stated, together with Soo Hoo, who insisted on opening it with Aubert de Villaine, the 86-year-old co-owner of DRC.
Soo Hoo has change into a revered authority within the worldwide wine scene. Along with co-owning vineyards in Burgundy, he additionally co-owns Australia’s Bass Phillip, broadly dubbed the “DRC of the southern hemisphere,” and distributes legendary champagne Salon and cult Californian wine Screaming Eagle. His varied enterprise ventures additionally helped pave the best way for the Michelin Guide’s 2016 Southeast Asian debut in Singapore. If anybody was going to put their palms on a uncommon Romanée-Conti, Soo Hoo had the connections to make it occur.
A organic relic, the 1899 captures a vanished world. It was produced from ungrafted, own-rooted Pinot Noir vines — a follow later devastated by the arrival of the North American phylloxera insect within the late nineteenth century. While neighboring vineyards resorted to grafting their vines onto pest-resistant American roots, DRC used varied intensive methods to maintain its unique European vines intact, a minimum of till the Forties.
The bottle’s survival via two World Wars, the Great Depression and a century buried in a cellar is phenomenal. “Only wines of the highest quality and aging potential can last this long,” defined Cimmati. “It requires impeccable, undisturbed cellaring.”
Critical markers confirmed its situation: the wine retained a “promising, bright light red” colour, a key signal of life, stated Cimmati. “Ullage (the air gap) drops about 0.5 to 1 centimeter per decade. At 6 centimeters after 127 years, the conditions are very good,” he famous.
Moreover, the bottle had solely ever moved between Burgundy and Bordeaux, a driving distance of roughly 300 miles.
And as for the style?
“Opening an 1899 Romanée-Conti is a landmark event for the wine world,” stated Cimmati, one of the assembled company for the highly-anticipated second of reality. “These pre-war, ungrafted bottles are the pinnacle of the craft —they aren’t even supposed to exist anymore.”
Even the winter solar appeared to acknowledge the gravity of the second, breaking via the clouds to light up the non-public eating room for everything of that historic afternoon. Its glow fell upon the choose gathering, personally assembled by Soo Hoo — amongst them, founder of the Vivino wine app, Heini Zachariassen, licensed Master of Wine and commentator Ned Goodwin and editor-in-chief of The Wine Advocate, William Kelley.
Seated beside Soo Hoo was DRC co-owner Villaine, a dwelling hyperlink to the DRC’s 1869 proprietor, Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet. Incredibly, the 1899 predates even the oldest bottle within the DRC’s non-public reserve — a 1911 Richebourg.
So, what does a 127-year-old wine style like? Glowing with a luminous amber hue edged in orange, the wine was heat with developed notes of dried flowers, tea and preserved plum, but animated by a delicate freshness.
“The very fact that the wine is still alive is a relief,” stated Soo Hoo, his satisfaction evident.
“At 127 years, the primary fruit is gone,” noticed Kelley, who drew the cork. “What remains is the wine’s heady vinosity, which was almost spiritous.”
“The purity and elegance are beyond comprehension,” added Olivier Pion of Maison Pion. “It is a miracle.”
In a time the place fabled bottles are traded and shelved as trophies, Soo Hoo’s resolution to open this one is radical. Cimmati referred to as it the last word act of generosity: “Purchasing a relic of this magnitude simply to share it with peers proves his passion. He truly belongs among the top 100 figures in the global industry.”
“I don’t believe in speculation,” Soo Hoo stated. “Opening such a bottle is not an act of extravagance, but of respect for the vineyard, the people behind it, and the moment shared. Ownership is temporary; experience is lasting.”