November 10, 2006

Swanky Wine Friday: Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque

Leave it to the French to make wine even more expensive. Pernod Ricard has announced that it will be releasing a Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque that retails for just under $1,300 per bottle (we're pretty sure it's not the bottling we've got pictured here, but at least the bottle says the right name, right?). We can't even imagine spending that much for a bottle of wine...that amount of money would let us buy like 65 to 130 of the bottles we usually drink, and can the "quality" or "rarity" of the wine be worth it?

A spokeswoman for the company and a British wine buyer had something to say about that, and we translate it as "no, the wine's not really that much better, but we're not making many bottles of it to drive the price up." Go team France.

"There is a global trend to develop more and more premium and ultra-premium brands," she said.
"I am sure they will have buyers for it because people have money to spend and they want exclusivity," said Ronan Sayburn, head of wine at Gordon Ramsay's restaurants in London. "But there is a trade-off point where the price and the actual flavor of the wine begin to split," he said.
"What you are getting after that is exclusivity, rarity."

via United Press International