Another bottle of Dom Pérignon Rosé from the vintage 1959 has appeared in Frankfurt am Main. It is considered the rarest champagne in the world, with an estimated stock of probably less than 30 bottles worldwide. The owner of this bottle, Wolfgang Müller (name changed), contacted the wein.plus editorial team due to the report in December 2024 about a find near Vienna.

The champagne "with good fill level and slightly damaged label" has come to Frankfurt as an inheritance, just like the find in Vienna, Müller reports. It was in the possession of his brother-in-law for decades. The former restaurateur last lived south of Munich and passed away in the autumn of 2024. In his house, the champagne was stored in the wine cellar along with top wines such as Biondi Santi, Tignanello, and others.

The former owner of the bottle operated the "Wirtshaus im Grüntal" in Munich's Herzogpark together with the famous Munich gastro entrepreneur Gerd Käfer in the 1970s, which became famous as a meeting place for celebrities. The restaurant no longer exists; luxury apartments were built there in 2012.

Wolfgang Müller trained as a chef and works as a commercial teacher. After the find in the wine cellar, he remembered previous conversations with his brother-in-law about working in the inn. He told him that he occasionally received donations and attentions from guests who maintained private and business contacts with Iran and were also diplomats in the Foreign Office. His brother-in-law received the Dom Pérignon 1959 "as a gift from a guest to whom he had done a personal favor" in the 1970s. Since then, the bottle had been in his wine cellar, where Müller found it during the estate clearance.

In 1959, Dom Pérignon produced the first Rosé vintage in its history, with only 306 bottles filled at that time. All of them were purchased by Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Persia (now Iran). Most of the bottles were probably served at the 2500th anniversary celebration of the Persian Empire in 1971. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the expulsion of the Shah and his government, some remaining bottles made their way abroad. Former employees of the Pahlavi administration or diplomats may have brought them along.

The find completely surprised Wolfgang Müller. "I was neither aware that the 1959 Dom Pérignon is such a rare and outstanding vintage, nor that it played a role at the grand celebration in Persepolis in 1971." He only learned this through the reporting from wein.plus. Wolfgang Müller is considering selling the bottle to a reputable dealer or collector.

(uka / Photo: private)

Source: wein.plus