One of the world’s rarest bottles of wine is the latest addition to the Oracle Paradis Wine Fund portfolio.
11 September 2013, London: The Oracle Paradis Wine Fund, an alternative investment fund launched by Oracle Capital Group, today announced it had acquired the oldest surviving bottle of white wine from the most distinguished of the Jura vineyards in France: a 1781 Château Chalon.
The bottle was purchased for €38,000 directly from the private family cellar of Jean Bourdy, the oldest producer in the region. Bourdy’s direct family line can be traced back to the 16th century, and their cellars contain the oldest collection of vintage Château Chalon and Côtes du Jura in existence.
“I consider it a real privilege to be able to become custodian of this remarkable bottle,” said David Nathan-Maister, director of the fund and a former wine producer himself. “Château Chalon is one of the most historic wines in the world, and has been legendary since before the time of Napoleon”.
The Oracle Paradis Wine Fund was launched earlier this year, and recently announced it had already reached US$5 million of funds under management.
“Securing such a rare vintage, as well as the confidence of so many investors, is the best start we could have hoped for,” said Nathan-Maister. “It shows that, despite a turbulent market, a well-managed fund with distinct investments can be very successful”.
Château Chalon is renowned for the ability of its best vintages to age superbly well for over a century or more, and remain not just drinkable, but outstanding. This makes them an attractive long-term investment.
To celebrate the acquisition, and the fund’s success, Oracle Paradis held a wine tasting in London, where invited guests sampled three of the greatest Château Chalon vintages of the last 150 years.
“We tasted the wonderful 1947 and 1929, as well as the fabled 1895,” Nathan-Maister explained. “All three were remarkable, but the 1895 really was special. There are only a few remaining bottles of this vintage left in existence, and despite being nearly 120 years old the wine was not only intact, it had a freshness to it that was astonishing”.
The 1895 is the oldest bottle of Château Chalon opened for tasting in the UK in recent memory and the last vintage from the pre-phylloxera era in the region. Indeed, the 1895 is considered one of the finest intact pre-phylloxera examples of wine from continental Europe.
Although the 1781 was not tasted, Nathan-Maister stated that the wine would likely be not just drinkable, but “probably outstanding”.
“The 1781 vintage is as close to immortal as a dry white wine gets,” he explained.
The fund continues to use its expertise and extensive network to acquire rare and notable items, such as bottles of Cognac Clos de Griffier 1789 from the cellars of the famous La Tour d’Argent restaurant in Paris. Indeed, it is the inclusion of cognacs, primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as pre-1940 whiskies, that distinguishes the Oracle Paradis Wine Fund from its competitors.
“It is the ability to secure rare and distinct vintages such as the 1781, as well as the unique diversification into rare cognacs and whiskies, which sets this fund apart,” said Nathan-Maister. “As a result, we’ve had remarkable success in a short space of time.”
