When Peter Hofer was looking through his late father's wine shelves, he came across a sensation: Dom Perignon Rosé 1959, of which there were only 306 bottles, all of which were bought by the Shah of Persia. Alexander Lupersböck explains why the champagne is stored there.
Alexander Lupersböck
I walk down the cellar stairs in a normal apartment block in the neighbourhood of Vienna. My host Peter Hofer (name known to the editors), who works in logistics and as a Christmas tree salesman, unlocks his inconspicuous cellar compartment. He carefully takes a bottle from a crate and shows it to me. In his hand is the rarest champagne in the world: Dom Pérignon Rosé 1959. "The bottle was part of my father's wine collection. After he died, I moved into his flat. I knew there were some of his bottles there, but I was never really interested in them. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I took a closer look. That's when I discovered them."
How did it come into the possession of Hofer's father? The family lived in Germany in the early 1980s. They became friends with a couple there. The woman had fled Iran after the end of Shah Reza Pahlavi's rule. And according to Hofer's mother, the Iranian friend gave her husband the bottle for his birthday in either 1983 or 1984 because he was interested in wine. "He probably wanted to open it for a special occasion, but kept putting it off. I don't know if he had any idea how rare this champagne is." The finder, who does not describe himself as a wine lover, was at least aware that Dom Pérignon is one of the top champagnes. A quick internet search quickly made him realise what a treasure he had stumbled across.
Everything pointed to the fact that the find was an original bottle.
Gerhard HammerThe Dom Pèrignon Rosé 1959 is no ordinary champagne. It was the first rosé produced by Dom Pérignon, and only 306 bottles were made. All of these went to Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Persia (now Iran). Most of them were probably served at the 2,500th anniversary celebrations of the Persian Empire in 1971, which was also referred to as "the biggest party on earth" at the time. After the Islamic revolution in 1979 and the expulsion of the Shah and his government, a few bottles apparently ended up abroad. How many still exist today is unknown. Experts assume that no more than a tenth of the original quantity is still in existence. They are in the cellars of collectors. In 2008, a double magnum was sold at Sotheby's for the record price of around 58,000 euros at the time. Today, the price is around 20,000 euros per bottle.
Hofer tried to obtain a professional appraisal from experts. This is how wein.plus became aware of the find. The story sounds coherent: It is likely that bottles from the 2,500th anniversary celebration came into the possession of senior officials of the Shah's regime, who later took them with them from Iran. This one is in good condition. Comparisons with original photos suggest that it is a genuine bottle. It also seems very unlikely that counterfeits were made, as there was never a market for them due to the small number.
Hofer says: "My father attached great importance to good storage, he had an extra room for his wines. When he moved to the flat where I now live, he took some particularly valuable bottles with him and put them in this box." Opening them is out of the question for him, even though he "quite enjoys a glass of wine". He plans to sell it in a serious way: "As it is an heirloom from my father, it belongs to the whole family and we will share the proceeds."