Comptoir des Millésimes

cave de l'elysée

May 30 and 31, 2013 saw the auction of part of the cave de l'ElyséeThis was the first time in the history of the French presidency that 1,200 bottles were sold straight from the presidential cellar. The cellar, created in 1947 under Vincent Auriol, attracted a large number of enthusiasts and curious onlookers to the Drouot auction room in Paris.

The idea is interesting, but everyone has their own opinion, like Michel-Jack Chasseuil, who wasted no time in writing to the President of the Republic in person to express his indignation (see the RVF article). At the same time, everyone works this way today: theeminent hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants and even pure wine enthusiasts. Selling part of one's cellar, the "fins de loges", in order to be able to buy other bottles is becoming commonplace.

► Cadeau vin : Create your own gift box of grands crus ◄ 

So we went to the sale with all guns blazing, happy to be preserving France's heritage and looking for nuggets. that will delight a few enthusiasts. But we had to face the facts. Apart from a few Parisian enthusiasts, French was not the official language in this hall. Chinese, Americans and Russians dominated the market! A Hong Kong importer even took almost half the sale. We had to make room, find bottles with a story to tell without paying 10 or 20 times the price, as was the case with the first lots (Cognac boxes estimated at 150€, gone for over 2000€! ).

macaron palai de l'elysee

Of course, you don't come here to pick up your red wine for the Sunday barbecue. The first Bordeaux grands crus, Burgundy in all its splendour and even some superb wines Loire such as the famous cuvée des loups "by Jacky Blot were present. The little macaroon " Élysée Palace" affixed to all the bottles in the sale, drove up the price of these .... bottles. The price of rarity, several stories in each bottle, pure madness!

Bottles cave de l'élysée

Rock out our selection and imagine that this bottle of :

FRANCE-KENNEDY-DE GAULLE-1961

Cap de Mourlin 1945 would have been drunk by General de Gaulle when he met with John Fitzgerald Kennedy in May 1961, just after his election. JFK is said to have insisted that he couldn't come to France without drinking a Grand St Emilion from 1945, to celebrate!

Haut-Brion 1970 was drunk on May 10th 1981 (François Mitterrand's victory) by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, he went down to the cellar, furious, and said: "I won't let him have my Haut-Brion 1970 ... Raymond Barre would have helped him by attacking the Haut-Brion White 1976. Legend also has it that Jacques Chirac called Raymond Barre after his victory in 1995, saying: "There's some HBB 1990 left (code name for Haut Brion Blanc), Mitterrand didn't drink it all! And Raymond is said to have taken the keys to the R25 and driven off to theElysée illico!

Ausone 1975 would have been drunk in September 1981 to celebrate the abolition of the death penalty. Mitterrand had warned: A great reform = a great wine in a great year. Not a bad way to motivate the troops!

Mission Haut-Brion 1990 was drunk by Jacques Chirac with Fernando Caroso (President of Brazil) during the third half of the Soccer World Cup final on July 12, 1998. The kind of wine that presidents like to drink with their counterparts, the kind that represents excellence à la Française, in all humility!

Lafite 1986 and Haut Brion 1989. We're talking about the crème de la crème of French wine. Mythical bottles in exceptional vintages, benchmarks in the field. It's hard to imagine the context in which these nuggets were tasted.

What about you? Which event would you have associated with these bottles?

►► Access the complete selection of wines from the Palais de l'Elysée cellar HERE

The complete list of Cave de l'Elysée wines on sale at Comptoir des Millésimes :

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