On November 3rd, 1916, two years into the First World War, a ship called the Jonkoping was on its way to Finland, carrying wines bound for Tsar Nicolas II in St Petersburg. On this fateful night it was sunken by a German submarine and came to rest at the bottom of the ocean just off the coast of Finland.
The wreck and its contents lay largely forgotten until it was discovered by a team of divers in 1997. The following year the wreck was lifted and it was found that its expensive cargo of Burgundy wines and Cognac had not survived eighty-two years of submersion. The champagne it was carrying however, had survived.
Two-thousand bottles of Piper Heidsieck Monopole 1907 were recovered, and tasters found that the champagne had been beautifully preserved and was of exceptional quality. A quantity of the bottles were quickly purchased by the Ritz Carlton hotel in Moscow which proudly announced on its website that ten of them were available to purchase from August 2008.
Misconceptions About the Price of the Piper Heidsieck Monopole 1907
This champagne has appeared on many blogs and "Top Ten Most Expensive Wine Lists" on the internet and in the press. Some of them claim that a bottle of the champagne is being sold for $275,000 but the Ritz Carlton's Director of Public Relations has confirmed that this is incorrect.
In correspondence with the author, Sergey Logvinov confirms the price for sale is 880,000 RUB (approximately 35,000 USD) and dismisses the $275,000 price claim as "inaccurate" and the "result of some miscommunication outside of our hotel". He adds that there are still a few bottles available for purchase.
Can a Bottle of Champagne Ever be Worth 35,000 USD?
Some people will question the value of the once-shipwrecked bottles of Piper Heidsieck Monopole. But to many others, their legend far outstrips the price. People buy into the history of the bottles. They enjoy stories of the sinking of the ship and that these bottles lay undisturbed on the floor of the cold ocean for some eighty years. They lay there through two World Wars, the advent of the Rock n' Roll era and the invention of the Internet. And when they were retreived from their icy depths, the champagne was not just "drinkable", but was found to have matured fully.
The bottles of champagne represent a piece of history - a taste of 1907. And there are few people who would quibble over the price of that experience.
To find out more about the 1907 Heidsieck Monopole champagne click here. The author gives thanks to Sergey Logvinov, the Ritz Carlton's Director of Public Relations for his assistance and co-operation.
Jo Romero - Jo is a Freelance Food Writer, Food Blogger and Restaurant Reviewer, based in the UK. Visit her profile to find out more.
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