Expert: Paul Wagner - 1/26/2006

Question
I read another answer you gave about old Brandy, how about this. My father has a bottle of Remy Martin Grande Champagne, original bottle ribbon and wax sealed, hand written label. He purchased it in the middle east in 1970 when he was told then it was over 150 years old - I have been trying for years to get it valued, any ideas?

Answer
Hi Andy:

Actually, what you have is a very nice Brandy.  And you are not the first person to ask this question.  Here is the answer provided on the Remy Martin website, under their FAQs:

Grande Champagne Very Old, Age Unknown is a rare bottle of Rémy Martin Cognac. This blend is the ancestor of our most prestigious cognac Louis XIII de Rémy Martin Grande Champagne Cognac.

Today, we sell this cognac in the same hand blown Baccarat Crystal decanter. It was its pure Renaissance style, that inspired the name Louis XIII. It is known across the world as the King of Cognacs, the Cognac of Kings. It must be said that the investment market for fine cognacs varies from time to time. The eternal qualities of Rémy Martin cognacs will not alter over the years and consequently the market value of such rare bottles should increase.

Grande Champagne Very Old, Age unknown, do come up in auctions. Over the last 20 years we have had records of transactions between 500 to 1500 $ for such rare bottles.

I hope that you can understand however that it is difficult for us to give a precise value to this bottle, or to tell you how its price will evolve.

PAul Wagner