价值70,155美元的干邑

Rémy Martin

“路易十三大香槟区顶级酒酿”（Louis XIII Grande Champagne Tres Vieille Age Inconnu）

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月 12日，一瓶名为“路易十三大香槟区顶级酒酿”（Louis XIII Grande Champagne Tres Vieille Age Inconnu）的人头马干邑（Remy Martin）以五万欧元（70,155美元）的价格卖出，创下了人头马产品售价的最高纪录。

买 家的身份未见披露，天价产生的场合则是一次名为“烈酒名匠”（Master of Spirits）的酒类展销会。这是新加坡有史以来第一次凭请柬参加的酒类展销会，主办方是总部位于香港的DFS环球免税店。DFS的消费市场副总裁林恩 ?阿尔刻（Lynn A. Arce）说，公司还计划举办更多的此类展销会。

人头马是法国酒厂人头马君度集团（Remy Cointreau）旗下的品牌。除了这瓶路易十三之外，展销会上还有其他的一些名酒，其中之一是一瓶皇家礼炮“荣誉之樽”威士卡（Royal Salut Tribute to Honour），以278,000新加坡元（219,964美元）的价格售出。

人头马公司全球行销总 监奥古斯丁?第帕顿（Augustin Depardon）说，公司之所以决定为此次新加坡展会打开自己的传世窖藏——这个珍罕的窖藏中有一批“年份最长、品质最佳”的水果白兰地——原因在于新 加坡是“一个国际化的大都市，历来是热情藏家的聚集之所”。除了2005年的一次上海展会之外，人头马君度集团在亚洲出售传世窖藏白兰地的事情只发生过这 么一次。

他向我们解释了这瓶人头马路易十三价值五万欧元的原因。

真正 干邑：在酒饮的世界之中，只有一种用白葡萄酿制的特殊白兰地可以享有“干邑”的称号。常住法国的第帕顿说，“干邑”指的是产于法国干邑地区 （Cognac）、用法国雪伦特地区（Charente）出产的铜制蒸馏器蒸馏过两次、然后又经过调酒大师调制的白兰地。干邑必须经过至少两年半的成熟 期，酒精含量不得低于40%。与此相对照，普通白兰地的成熟期通常以半年为底线，酒精含量也只有36%。

身份高贵、年份长久：按照广告的 说法，这瓶人头马干邑“容纳了一个世纪的历史”：1938年，法国在奢华的凡尔赛宫（Chateau de Versailles）举办皇家宴会款待英王乔治六世（King George VI）和伊莉莎白王后（Queen Elizabeth），这对夫妇就是当今英国女王的父母。人头马公司为此酿制了一批干邑，这瓶干邑就是其中之一。第帕顿指出，调制这批特制干邑的时候，人 头马公司用上了一些产于十九世纪中叶的“生命之水”（eaux-de-vie，即白兰地）。

因缘际会：第帕顿说，在他看来，这瓶干邑刚好 赶在影片《国王的演讲》（The King's Speech）于2月底赢得奥斯卡最佳电影奖之后不久售出，实在是一个“幸运的巧合”。影片之中，口吃的乔治六世由科林?费斯（Colin Firth）饰演，后者凭藉自己的精彩演出赢得了奥斯卡最佳男演员奖。人头马公司的行销部门高调宣传这瓶干邑与影片之间的联系，即便如此，宣传材料当中的 说法——这种干邑“兴许就是令乔治六世沉醉忘言的那样东西”——还是显得有点儿离谱。

珍罕难求：第帕顿说，如此高价体现了这瓶干邑的“稀 缺价值”。路易十三品牌于1874年问世，人头马公司的传世窖藏收纳了该品牌产品之中“最珍罕、最美妙的一些‘生命之水’”。传世窖藏里的路易十三所剩无 多，DFS展会上售出的这瓶干邑便是其中之一。不过，第帕顿拒绝透露公司的传世窖藏当中还有多少瓶路易十三。

包装：干邑所用的水晶玻璃瓶 也拥有不少故事。第帕顿说，玻璃瓶的设计灵感来自一个十六世纪的金属瓶子，1850年，一名葡萄种植者在干邑——也就是为这种酒提供名字的那个法国小镇 ——附近的一个古战场上找到了它。为了这次展会，人头马公司把玻璃瓶装进了一个珠宝盒，盒子的材质是上漆红木和压有鸵鸟皮纹的真皮。

原 料：为了调制这种干邑，当年的调酒师用了超过1,200种白兰地。酿制这些白兰地所用的白玉霓（ugni blanc）、鸽笼白（colombard）和白福尔（folle blanc）葡萄都产自大香槟区（Grande Champagne）。按照第帕顿的说法，大香槟区拥有整个干邑地区“最上乘的”葡萄园。

Two weeks ago, a bottle of Rémy Martin cognac — called the Louis XIII Grande Champagne Très Vieille Age Inconnu — sold for 50,000 euros (US$70,155); it was the highest price ever paid for a Rémy Martin.

The buyer was unidentified, but the bottle fetched its list price at a first-ever invite-only sales exhibition of alcohol in Singapore, 'Master of Spirits,' organized by DFS, the Hong Kong-based duty-free retailer. Lynn A. Arce, a DFS consumer-marketing vice president, said the company plans to hold more such sales exhibits in the future.

The Rémy Martin cognac, a brand owned by French winemaker Rémy Cointreau, was on display alongside other fine spirits and wines such as a bottle of Royal Salut Tribute to Honour whiskey, which went for 278,000 Singapore dollars (US$219,964).

Augustin Depardon, a global marketing director at Rémy Martin, says that the company decided to open its heritage cellars — a rare cache of its 'oldest and most refined' eaux-de-vie (fruit brandies) — for the Singapore sale because it is 'a cosmopolitan city known for attracting passionate collectors.' Apart from a 2005 exhibition in Shanghai, this is the only time that Rémy Cointreau has sold a heritage-cellar bottle of brandy in Asia.

He tells us why the Louis XIII de Rémy-Martin was valued at 50,000 euros.

A true cognac: In the world of alcoholic spirits, only a specific kind of brandy, which is made from white grapes, can be called cognac. Mr. Depardon, who is based in France, says the term refers to brandy from the French region of Cognac that has been distilled twice in copper stills made in the French region of Charente and is then blended by a cellar master. It must be aged for at least two and a half years and possess an alcoholic content of at least 40%. Regular brandy is typically aged for at least six months and contains 36% alcohol.

Provenance and age: The Rémy Martin cognac was marketed as consisting of 'a century in a bottle': It was one of a series of cognacs bottled for a 1938 royal banquet at the opulent Chateau de Versailles that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth attended (parents of the current Queen of England). Mr. Depardon notes that some of the eaux-de-vie blended to form this particular cognac date back to the middle of the 19th century.

Timeliness: Mr. Depardon says he thinks it was a 'fortunate coincidence' that the cognac went on sale shortly after the movie 'The King's Speech' won Best Picture at the Oscars in late February. Rémy-Martin's marketing department played up the cognac's link to the movie, which starred Colin Firth as the stammer-prone King George VI (the actor won Academy Award Best Actor for his performance). Even so, it is a stretch to suggest — as the press materials did — that the cognac 'may have been what left George VI speechless.'

Exclusivity: Mr. Depardon says that the price reflects the cognac's 'value of rarity.' The carafe of cognac sold at the DFS exhibit was one of the few remaining in Rémy-Martin's heritage cellars, which holds the 'rarest and most delicate eaux-de-vie' in the brand's collection since it was first bottled in 1874. He declined to reveal how many bottles remain in the heritage cellars.

Packaging: The crystal carafe of cognac comes with some history. It is based on the design of a 16th-century metal flask, says Mr. Depardon, discovered by a vine grower in 1850 in a battlefield near Cognac, the French town from which the spirit draws its name. For the sale, the decanter was placed in a jewelry box made from lacquered rosewood and leather embossed with an ostrich-skin pattern.

Ingredients: More than 1,200 brandies were blended to form this cognac. The ugni blanc, colombard and folle blanc grapes used to make them were harvested in the Grande Champagne area, which Mr. Depardon says possesses the 'most prestigious' vineyards in Cognac.