The Rib Room Bar, London, has scored the first of only six UK-bound bottles of the 153-year-old Cognac Croizet Cuvee Leonie 1858 – an extremely rare drop.
The other five are destined for the wealthy off-trade, available through Dedicated Wines with an asking price of €100,000 each.
Produced from the grape harvest of 1858 – pre-phyloxera devastation of 1875, the rare spirit was part of a dowry given in 1892 to Leonie Croizet – great granddaughter of Leon Croizet, who founded the firm in 1805 – by her father. Aged in tiercon (old-oak) barrels, the bounty has remained in the company’s vaults ever since.
“On the nose it is very lively, surprising for Cognac so old,” says Cognac Croizet cellar master Jean-Emmanuel Roy. “Floral notes of dried roses and poppies, fruity notes of coconut, passionflower, and quince combined with woody notes of sandalwood and cedar. Exceptional length, magnificent elegance, very distinct.”
A bottle of the Cognac was recently auctioned in China for 1 million yuan (£100,000), believed to be a record price for the French spirit in an unadorned bottle.