What came next was a very rare treat. Not to put too fine a point on it, a once in a lifetime treat. In 1999, Moet & Chandon decided to create a wine that had never been done before. The Esprit du Siecle was a blend of eleven different champagnes from the best years of the 20th century. The combined vintage champagnes from the years 1900, 1914, 1921, 1934, 1943, 1952, 1962, 1976, 1983, 1985 and 1995, and then fermented them for a third time in bottle to give the wine bubbles.The end product was 323 magnums of a unique champagne that very few people have tried. Some were released to charities, others sold to collectors, but the remaining stock was put, behind a big barred gate, in the cellars in Epernay, to sleep until the house’s 300th anniversary in 2043.
Occasionally though, a magnum is opened so the wine can be assessed to see how it is developing, and I was fortunate to be present when a magnum was opened. In a damp cellar, a selection of very experienced wine buffs became as giddy as schoolgirls as the cork was pulled, and we all were astounded.
The Esprit du Siecle is more than a wine, it is a celebration of Moet & Chandon’s history. Although you couldn’t put an accurate figure on it, over a thousand employees will have contributed to this wine being made, with many of them now long gone. It is therefore very difficult to figure out what this wine actually is, as no company has ever done this exercise before, but was summed up perfectly by someone in the group; this wine was the ultimate expression of non vintage.
Trying to describe a wine that was showing elements of a mid nineties champagne, whilst at the same time showing traits of a 109 year old bottle was tricky. No sooner that you picked up on one element, then another would come and go before you had a chance to write it. Having tried the vintages before, it made this job easier as I could recognise certain characters within the Esprit du Siecle, and compare this one wine with the vertical tasting we had just had. It is an unbelievably complex wine, but supremely balanced and utterly delicious, with flavours of lime marmalade, chocolate, hints of aniseed, earth, fresh lemon juice, oyster shell… they all came thick and fast with not one part dominating.
Everyone I have told about the Esprit du Siecle has asked the same question, “how much would it cost and is it worth the money?”. I could reply to the first half easily, it was sold for $25,000 per magnum, but the second part poses a problem. Is any wine worth twenty five grand? If the answer is no, you then have to ask, “but what about a piece of history from one of the great champagne houses, is that worth so much?”
I’ve been thinking about this for a week now and I have finally made up my mind. I certainly couldn’t afford such a wine if Moet & Chandon chose to sell it now, but I’d certainly want one! This is the finest champagne I have ever tried and certainly the most interesting, and in thirty four years time I will be doing everything within my power to reacquaint myself with this wine on it’s forty third birthday, but as a wine, it is not worth $2,084 per glass. As a piece of history though, this is worth every penny. Not as an object to put in a cellar and look at once in a while, but because when you drink the Esprit du Siecle, you experience something you will have never experienced with any wine before, and it is the only tasting note I can write confidently about this outstanding drink, and possibly the only tasting note anyone could ever need.
In the Esprit du Siecle, you can taste the passing of time.
Comments