A one-of-one 10-liter demijohn—“Dame-Jeanne” in traditional French parlance—of extremely old and rare cognacs dating back 100 years from the legendary house of Delamain, in a vessel crafted by a famed Parisian jewelry designer, is expected to fetch up to $200,000 in an online auction that just went live. Dubbed L’Edition Rare du Bicentennaire, it contains the equivalent of approximately a dozen bottles of Delamain’s most precious eaux-de-vie.
One of the most exclusive and expensive cognac offerings ever, the demijohn was created to honor Delamain’s bicentennial by jeweler Goossens, whose clients included some of the most famous designers of the 20th century, including Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Cristóbal Balenciaga. We wouldn’t be surprised to see it go north of $250,000 in the online event running through Dec. 6 (get your bid in here).
The eaux-de-vie that went into the bicentennial blend were selected and nurtured by Delamain Cellar Masters over the last century, and the blending was done by Cellar Masters Dominique Touteau and Charles Braastad, the latter of whom has just passed the reigns to the former after 42 years. Delamain, which was founded in 1824, is known for crafting the most exceptional Grande Champagne cognacs, bar none.
To accompany the debut of the demijohn and further celebrate its bicentennial, Delamain has also created 200 limited-edition bottles of the same blend found in the demijohn for connoisseurs worldwide, the design of which integrates a commemorative medallion also designed by Goossens. The winning bidder of the demijohn will receive one of the bottles as well. “The rare cognac and ornate decoration together pay tribute to the Delamain family’s two-century legacy of artisanal excellence and impassioned curiosity as to the natural world,” the house declares.
Bonhams calls the cognac inside the demijohn, which came from Delamain’s oldest cellars in Jarnac, France, a “liquid manifestation of both the history of the House and a unique accumulation of savoir-faire; inter-generational gifts that over 200 years have left the House uniquely positioned to craft the rarest and most exceptional cognacs.”
They note that Goossens, founded by Robert Goossens in 1950” and now owned by Chanel, is “renowned for its unique heritage and creativity in the field of silversmithing, from jewelry to small and large decorative pieces. On the occasion of its bicentenary, the House of Delamain called on the special expertise of the Goossens team to conceptualize and create a gilded overlay for an exceptional dame-jeanne that embodied the House’s unique history and creative passions.”
Following a visit to Delamain in Cognac, Goossens “sketched out several designs that looked to celebrate these special vineyards and their surrounding biodiversity,” Bonhams says. “Over several months, these began to take life in Goossens’ Paris atelier as the delicate project evolved across seven manufacturing stages and incorporated 245 individually shaped pieces.” Echoing the wicker that encases traditional demijohns, Goossen’s created a woven basketwork motif incorporating both birds and grapevines.
“Using the lost-wax casting technique, the [covering] pieces were painstakingly molded and then chiseled,” Bonhams relates. “Once gold-plated and perfected, they were assembled to form a naturalistic masterpiece whose elegance is derivative of both the human craftsmanship and the natural beauty that inspired it. The result is a one-of-a-kind cognac masterpiece that testifies not only to the spirit of artisanal excellence shared by the two Houses, but also to the House of Delamain’s most treasured legacy of 200 years.”
“Across two centuries and nine generations, the House of Delamain has been obsessed with what is nothing short of a miraculous alchemy [that] can lift the unseen gifts beneath our feet to what are almost unimaginable, sensorial heights,” Delamain declaims. “In a country where relationships with local natural surroundings define national and regional characters, beautiful cognacs are amongst the most powerful manifestations of the French love affair with terroir,” i.e. how a particular region’s climate, soil and terrain affect the taste of the grapes from which cognac is made.
“Avocation and vocation, passion and craft, heart and mind emanating from a single fascination with terroir; and then blending and evolving, across two centuries, into the savoir-faire that defines our cognacs and our House. That savoir-faire is all around us, on the walls, in the grain of the wood on our barrels, in the worn steps leading into our cellars, in the chalk and the wax with which we sign our work. More than anything, however, it is in the beakers and ledgers and samples and observational notes which bear testimony to the curiosity and scientific rigor with which the Delamain family perfected the arts of aging and cellaring” over the past two centuries.
“Striving for excellence at every stage of the lengthy lifecycle, the House of Delamain”—now part of the distinguished Kobrand portfolio—”adopts an artisanal and non-interventionist approach, respectful of natural processes and time, in order to create transcendent cognacs”—none more so than the L’Edition Rare du Bicentennaire, which was unveiled during a one-in-a-lifetime black-tie dinner for VIPs in the very cellar in Jarnac where the precious liquid has been aging for all these years.
Speaking at the event in Jarnac, Eric Le Bouar, Delamain’s dapper Managing Director, pointed out that each generation of the Delamain foamily and its Cellar Masters “have participated in making bold and fundamental choices at each and every step of the crafting process. Of course, the very first one, the very first fundamental choice is the terroir. And you know that is only using grapes from the Grand Champagne terroir, [the] most elegant terroir that we have in this beautiful region.”
The bicentenary was “the perfect occasion to open and taste these precious dames-jeannes and to craft a cognac worthy of its 200-year anniversary,” current Cellar Master Charles Braastad enthuses. “As we tasted these extraordinary spirits, we were deeply moved and felt immense gratitude towards my Cellar-Master ancestors, who did such a fine job of crafting, selecting, maturing and nurturing these eaux-de-vie, preserving them for their descendants, so that today we can bring them together in this extremely rare and exceptional bicentenary cognac.”
Le Bouar notes that the Delamain family and its Cellar Masters “made the choice to only use well-seasoned casks to preserve the fruitiness and the flowers that we have in the flavors of our eaux-de-vie. They have made the choice to take the time, and [we] are talking about several decades. To guide these eaux-de-vie on their very individual journey in our 12 small cellars….. It is this unwavering pursuit of purity and perfection and the everlasting confidence in the power of nature, time, and men who have established Delamain as a house—which some even define as apart and above the world of cognac, nature, time, and men.”
