Dear readers,
Here I am wishing you a very special and serene holiday for this Christmas!
Enjoy traditional and new recipes, drink good wine, eat great food and don’t forget to do what you want to do!
Category Archives: Art & Wine
La Belle Époque, Emile Gallé & Duke Ellington: a bottle story
Dear readers,
today I will tell you the story of the “Belle Époque” bottle, a story which links art, music and Champagne!
The “Belle Époque” is produced by Perrier-Jouët, one of the most famous Champagne Maison: the name probably will be known as the beauty of the bottle symbol, the white anemones designed by the artist Emile Gallé.
The famous design of the “Belle Époque” bottle.
It all began in 1902 when the famous Maison commissioned Gallé, already an icon of Art Nouveau, the design of the bottle which will contain the precious Cuvée: he was asked to use his glass art techniques in order to be able to reflect in the bottle design the spirit and the vibrations of that era, the Belle Époque.
Portrait of Emile Gallé at work.
Gallé drew the white Japanese anemones on four magnum size bottles, but initially the design was not appreciated due production costs: so, the four bottles were well hidden in the cellar of the Maison for over 60 years.
In 1964, the cellar master at that time, André Baveret, found these precious bottles and the Maison finally decided to bottle their Cuvée in the bottles designed by Gallé. Indeed, the design was considered so beautiful and charming enough to be paired with the prestige of the Cuvée.
Birthday of a Jazz Legend, Duke Ellington partying at L’Alcazar, Paris.
So, after 67 years from the original conception, exactly with the seventieth birthday of the American Jazz legend Duke Ellington, the Maison released to the public the “Belle Epoque” in Paris, at the L’Alcazar restaurant.
Five hundred vintage 1964 magnum size bottles were reserved for special customers and the rest was exclusively sold at Maxim’s and Fauchon food store, always in Paris.
The first “Belle Époque” vintage, the 1964.
Since 1964, Perrier-Jouët still bottles in “anemones” his most precious versions of its Champagne, the Millésime, making Emile Gallé name last forever.
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