Distiller devotees got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase a portentous piece of port history recently when the first of five Niepoort in Lalique 1863 decanters went under the gavel in Hong Kong, courtesy of Acker Merrall & Condit, the New York-headquartered wine merchants and auctioneer group.
After several rounds of fierce bidding, the 1863 bottle went for a world-record breaking US$128,000, six times its presale estimate.
What made the crystal demijohn decanters so special are that they are the latest fruits of the long-term partnership between Niepoort, one of Portugal’s most-admired port producers, and Lalique, the legendary French crystal glassmaker, with each numbered item bearing both the glassmaker’s own imprimatur and an engraved acknowledgement of ‘Francisco Marius van der Niepoort’, one of the port-making pioneers who founded Niepoort.
However, the true allure of this illustrious lot is down to what lies within – an exceptionally rare 155-year-old vintage port distilled way back in 1863, the same year Abraham Lincoln signed the slavery-abolishing Emancipation Proclamation, but they may only be coincidence. While its vintage may cause some concern as to whether this particular port is way past its prime, fear not – last year, renowned wine critic James Suckling gave it an unambiguous 100 points without so much as slurring a word.