A Russian fine dining eatery in Singapore has come forward to announce that they are the winning bidders behind the record-breaking purchase of the world's oldest shipwrecked champagne. Buyan Russian Haute Cuisine and Caviar Bar, located at Duxton Hill in Singapore, forked out an astonishing S$53,000 for a bottle of 1841 Veuve Clicquot.
The bottle was one of 145 bottles salvaged from a 19th century shipwreck in the Baltic Sea, and are remarkably well preserved as the bottles happened to be lying horizontally 50m deep, tucked away from light and heat. Experts suggest that the bottles were headed for the court of Russia's last czar, Nicholas II, when the ship sank, making the sale of the historically significant bottle to the Russian restaurant all the more fitting.
The owner of Buyan told Singapore's Straits Times that it intends to display the ancient champagne as part of its wine museum, which is open to patrons of the restaurant and which also boasts of other rare specimens, including an 1821 Chateau-Chalon Vin Jaune. The $5 million collection houses other oenophilic treasures, like an 1877 Chateau Margaux, 1854 Chateau Lafite Rothschild and a 1907 Heidsieck & Co. champagne, which retails for $88,888 a pop. source