A Rare Bottle Of Jay-Z’s D’Ussé Cognac Is Going Up For Auction

Get the online paddles ready.

Just days after announcing a historic deal with LVMH for Armand de Brignac Champagne, rapper-mogul Jay-Z, who is also part-owner of D’Ussé cognac, is putting some rare liquid up for auction.

A limited edition bottle of D’Ussé 1969 Anniversaire, dubbed “Bottle No. 1” debuts online at Sotheby’s on March 1. This is the first bottle of a small “ultra-rare” Grand Champagne cognac bottling, made from a single barrel aged at famed cognac house, the Château de Cognac. The run of the collection tops out at just 285 bottles, delivered in diamond-faceted crystal decanters and a luxury leather case.

Jay-Z himself already owns a special bottling of Anniversaire, which was presented to him in December 2019 as a surprise 50th present from D’Ussé cellar master Michel Casavecchia.

The liquid was deemed too special to keep in house and is now being sold to cognac fans. “Now bright gold with shiny reflections, the cognac in each bottle of the 1969 Anniversaire Limited Edition has rich aromas of fresh walnut, hazelnut, and candied apple, and a flavor profile that reveals an incomparable potency—woody at the start, with a long finish of stewed fruits, a touch of leather, and cigar box,” Casavecchia said in a statement. The maison doesn’t specify precisely how old the liquid itself is, except to say that it’s been aged over 30 years. (The “1969” in the name refers to Jay-Z’s birth year.)

Bottles designed for auctions typically arrive decked out in splashy gear and this is no different; Bottle No. 1 wears 24-karat gold foil around its neck and has an engraved signature from rap legend turned empresario Jay-Z. The top of the bottle is stamped with “No. 1”, in recognition that it is the first bottle made for this collection.

Can you afford to own this collector’s bottle of D’Ussé? There is no reserve for bids in this auction lot, so bids for Bottle No. 1 open at just $1.

Bidding opens at 9 a.m. ET on March 1 on Sotheby’s Rare Wines and Spirits; the winning bid will be announced on Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 9 a.m. ET. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Shawn Carter Foundation, which supports college students with grants, scholarships and entrepreneurial workshops.

While the opening entry is low, Sotheby’s execs are hopeful that bids will leap into the thousands. The auction house is cautiously optimistic that some collectors will cough up between $25,000 to $75,000 for this particular collector’s item.

They may be right.

Cognac typically features a blend on young and old spirits, which combine to lend layers of texture and aromas. Single barrel cognacs are rare in the industry, in part because the older cognac gets, the more valuable it becomes. The scarcity of this style of liquid makes the Anniversaire rare by definition.

Additionally, cognac collectors, like whisky collectors, are a loyal lot. At elite cognac galas like La Part de Anges, for example, collectors drop as much as $40,000 for one-of-a-kind trophies such as rare Hennessy, Martell and Remy Martin bottlings. At the La Part de Anges gala in 2018, collectors spent a combined $340,000 in one night.

For collectors who can’t nab Bottle No. 1, there will be an additional (unsigned) 284 Anniversaire bottles that will hit the market in May for $10,000. As is usual with super-premium spirits, these bottles will be doled out across elite vendors in key markets. (If you know, you know, as they say.)

As for Jay-Z, in a statement, he says this of the special liquid: “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.”