Christian Vanneque is the owner of the most expensive bottle of white wine ever sold, an 1811 Chateau d’Yquem. Although not the oldest vintage in existence, things must be put in perspective: When the grapes were being harvested, France was under Napolean’s rule, the US was still a young nation with only its fourth president, and Beethoven had just composed his seventh symphony. Electricity, in the form that we know today, did not yet exist, and neither did aeroplanes.

That the wine, a Sauternes or sweet wine, considered one of the world’s most exquisite with no less than The Wine Advocate’s Robert Parker awarding 100 points during a tasting in 1995, is still drinkable 200 years after it was bottled, goes in part to explain why Vanneque paid US$117,000 ($141,410) for it. An elaborate handover ceremony was held in London in July, an affair that was “charged with a lot of emotion”, he says.

 

“I’d bought it in January but I’ve never held the bottle in my hand. The handover was very emotional. When I touched the bottle, I felt its history. I already knew that I had Napolean’s height, and now I have something from his reign. It’s very humbling!” jokes the French-born American citizen, during a recent stopover in Singapore en route to Bali, where he now resides.

 

The sprightly 62-year-old has been a resident of the island since 2001. There, in the fashionable enclave of Seminyak, he runs SIP Wine Bar and the just-opened SIP Sunset Grill, which features the largest and most comprehensive wine cellar in Indonesia with 10,000 bottles. The centrepiece of the restaurant is, of course, the bottle of Yquem, displayed in a bespoke, bulletproof, temperature and humidity-controlled 60cm x 50cm x 40cm showcase.

 

“I wanted a bottle of wine to be the focal point of the restaurant. I wanted SIP to be known as a wine destination, and to enhance the curiosity of potential guests in the long term. It was the association of these two things that made me think of purchasing a Yquem,” he explains. “I started searching for this bottle in November last year. I wanted the vintage to be very old, rare and, if possible, drinkable, which is fairly easy with a Sauternes. I searched and found one but, unfortunately, that bottle didn’t have a certificate of authenticity. So, I turned to one of the most reputable wine merchants in England, The Antique Wine Co. They had a bottle of 1811, bought from a collector in 2010. It had a certificate of authenticity and a record of inspection from the château. Because the wine was properly cellared and collected by a very renowned person in the US, it gave me the confidence to make the purchase.”

 

A key figure in the wine industry, Vanneque became France’s youngest Head Sommelier in 1970, overseeing the 250,000- bottle wine cellar of the three Michelin-star La Tour d’Argent in Paris. He was also most notably a judge at the historic Paris Wine Tasting in May 1976, where nine French judges shocked the industry by choosing unknown Californian wines over France’s best in a blind tasting. Interestingly enough, SIP Sunset Grill boasts a wine list brimming with New World varietals, though this is mostly due to circumstance rather than choice. He says, “It is harder to find good French wines in Indonesia than it is to find good ones from Australia, South Africa or the US. And they are outrageously expensive because of the tax.” Wine connoisseurs heading to Bali can take heart, however, because the restaurant stocks a few bottles

of Cheval Blanc 1993 and Lafite Rothschild 2000.

 

Vanneque’s childhood is as colourful as they come. Born to a ballerina mother and a trumpet player/conductor father in the only French circus at the time, he led a nomadic existence until the age of 10. “My most vivid memory, aside from playing with the clowns and the animals, was how I would go to sleep in the caravan at night and wake up in another city in the morning. It was fascinating,” he says.

 

In his early teens, Vanneque went to live with his grandparents, who ran a country inn. His weekends were spent waiting on tables, but he grew to love the hospitality business. Encouraged to learn the ropes at the highest level possible, Vanneque packed his bags and set off for Paris, landing a job as assistant cellar master at La Tour d’Argent, the only position available. Gradually, he worked his way up to the post of sommelier, where he had the enviable job of tasting wines before serving them to customers, to make sure they were not flawed. “My fellow sommeliers and I had this extraordinary opportunity to taste, almost on a daily basis, phenomenal wines from the late 1800s and early 1900s,” he says.

 

This experience had a profound impact on Vanneque’s life and career. It was during those formative years that he developed a taste for fine wines. He says, “It was my Harvard. I had the classic foundation, as far as knowledge of food, wine and service was concerned. It was a great schooling. Staying for 10 years at La Tour d’Argent at that level allowed me to open anything I wanted after that. It could be a bistro or a fine-dining restaurant. You’re very well equipped to do anything you want.”

 

And so he did. After his departure from La Tour d’Argent, he went on to co-own two restaurants, Le Moulin de Village and Brasserie Gus, in Paris, before moving on to top Californian establishments such as the Four Seasons Beverly Hills, L’Orangerie, Helena’s (Jack Nicholson’s private club in Los Angeles) and the Givenchy Resort & Spa in Palm Springs. In the mid-1990s, he opened La Palette in New York City’s Upper East Side.

 

Bali came about purely by chance: Vanneque’s brother had been living there for 19 years. While visiting his sibling, it struck him that the island offered much potential. Fresh from a divorce, and with no children to hold him back, it was the perfect opportunity to start afresh.

 

As for the bottle of 1811, Vanneque is adamant that it will remain in his possession. “Even if, tomorrow, a collector comes and offers me US$300,000, I will not sell it. But I will drink it. And that will be — I can tell you — in six years, when I will have dinner at La Tour d’Argent. I already know which dishes I’m going to have. My wife, my brother and two of my best friends, including Mr Steven Williams of The Antique Wine Co, will be in attendance. Why in six years? Because it will mark 50 years since I started at the restaurant. Hopefully, I’ll still be alive!”

 

{jcomments on}