UPDATED March 15, 12:20 p.m. ET: As of Saturday, March 13, the bottle sold for $52,500 at close. The sale marks the first time ever that a bottle of D’USSE Cognac has been sold at auction.
See original story from 2/25/2021 below.
Jay-Z is linking up with Sotheby’s to auction off an extremely rare D’Ussé bottle, with proceeds going to charity.
As announced on Thursday, the auction will reveal the inaugural bottle of D’Ussé’s small collection of rare Grande Champagne Cognac from a single barrel. The aging process spanned decades and took place at the Château de Cognac, one of the oldest Cognac houses in France.
All 285 of the bottles are numbered with an inscription on the topper denoting their place in the batch, with a 12-cut crystal diamond decanter design that’s encased in a leather box decorated with opulent accents.
The donated Bottle No. 1, meanwhile, boasts an estimated value between $25,000 and $75,000. Whoever ends up scoring this rare piece will also note the presence on the bottle’s neck of 24-karat gold foil, as well as a signature from part-owner Jay-Z.
“When our Cellar Master, Michel Casavecchia, discovered the aged liquid at the Château de Cognac and explained how truly one of a kind it is, it was important to me to honor it by doing something that would celebrate its singularity,” Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter said in a press release. “Once that barrel is emptied, there’s no way the liquid can be recreated. The whole process behind the 1969 Anniversaire collection reminded me why I got involved in the spirits industry in the first place–to create something that will stand the test of time. It means a lot that we’re finally able to share the D’Ussé 1969 Anniversaire Limited Edition with the rest of the world, and we’re proud to auction the first bottle in the collection with Sotheby’s to benefit the Shawn Carter Foundation.”
The bidding for Bottle No. 1 launches via the Sotheby’s site on March 1 at 9 a.m. ET. The highest bid will be announced on March 13 as part of Sotheby’s Finest & Rarest Spirits sale. Proceeds go toward the Shawn Carter Foundation, which will use the funds in the support of professional development and entrepreneurship workshops for college alumni.
The remaining bottles in the collection will hit retail in select cities for $10,000 each this summer.
