Haute enology: limited editions to uncork, give as a gift or collect

There is a moment, in the world of wine, when oenology turns into haute couture or haute jewellery. It happens when great maisons express their essence in a limited edition: bottles that become collectors' items, not mere containers of a great wine. Behind every number engraved on the fibreglass of a Jéroboam or on a precious wooden box there is a tale of exclusivity that speaks as much to the connoisseur as to the investor. Because in most cases these are bottles that will never be uncorked, but will be contested at auctions.

In history, few have reached the mythical aura of Screaming Eagle Cabernet 1992 (fetched half a million dollars) or, for spirits, of Henri IV Dudognon Heritage Cognac, a solid gold and platinum bottle valued at over two million. But the luxury is not in the price: it is rather the idea of unrepeatability, the privilege of owning something that exists in only a handful of examples in the world.

Una delle dodici Penfolds Ampoule, realizzate dall’omonima casa vinicola australiana.

One of the earliest iconic series in memory is Château Mouton Rothschild 1945 'V for Victory', which celebrated the end of the Second World War. Then the house continued with artist labels: Dalí in 1958, Chagall in 1970, Picasso in 1973, Warhol in 1975. In the year 2000, the new millennium was celebrated with an edition in the Nabuchodonosor format, 15 litres kept in a gilded case, later sold at auction for over 300 thousand dollars. Blown glass and a case made of a special wood essence for the Penfolds Ampoule, made in only twelve examples, at a cost of $168,000 each, each sealed by the Australian winery in the presence of the purchaser. Château d'Yquem for the Liquid Gold Collection chose Baccarat crystal decanters taken from period models created for the Romanov court. Krug, with its Grande Cuvée 170ème Édition project, on the other hand, has begun to link champagne to music, designing special box sets that include exclusive audio recordings, commissioned from well-known artists.

Henri IV Dudognon Heritage Cognac in oro massiccio e platino, valutata oltre due milioni.

Sometimes great wines become linked in the imagination to immortal figures from the world of entertainment. Such is the case with Dom Pérignon 1953 - Marilyn Monroe's favourite vintage - which features in Bert Stern's legendary photo shoot of the diva. In 1974, another photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe, immortalised Dom Pérignon Vintage 1968 in a Polaroid, later turned into a New Year's greetings card. The bottle also appears in his Champagne triptych (1975). Over the past two decades, the Maison has continued its collaborations with influential cultural figures, spanning fashion, music, film, art and design. Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Karl Lagerfeld, Jeff Koons, David Lynch, Lenny Kravitz, to name but a few. The latest chapter, explored this year, involved seven contemporary protagonists: actress, director and producer Zoë Kravitz, chef Clare Smyth, actress Tilda Swinton, dancer and choreographer Alexander Ekman, music icon Iggy Pop, producer and director Anderson Paak and artist Takashi Murakami.

The latter signs the two limited editions Dom Pérignon Vintage 2015 and Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2010, as well as an Uber piece. "I was once invited to the home of a wine collector," he recounts. 'I was shown his wine cellar, as big as a gymnasium. Inside I found several Japanese labels with notes attached. When I asked the owner what they were, he replied that they were wines collected by a friend: from this selection, in his opinion, you could really understand his character. As I watched him remember his friend with tears in my eyes, I thought that wine, just like art, is a time machine'. This is why the artist has clad the bottles and coffrets with the exuberance of flowers symbolising his superflat aesthetic, which become almost dreamlike figures of a nature in constant and vibrant bloom, in a poetic balance between simplicity and sophistication. "One day I will no longer be here and neither will my children, but I hope that the people of the future, when they see this aged label, can imagine what 2025 was like," he concludes. The principles guiding the Japanese artist are not far removed from those of the art of assemblage described by the chef de cave Vincent Chaperon: just as in Superflat, one works by subtraction and the result is not minimalism, so the harmony sought in wine is "a form of fullness, which privileges emotion".