Cognac brand D’Usse has released its newest and most premium offering yet: the 1969 Anniversaire Limited Edition collection. The Cognac aged for decades from a single barrel at one of the oldest and most storied houses in France—the Château de Cognac—under the tutelage of the senior-most Maître de Chai today, Michel Casavecchia.
What’s more, the 1969 Anniversaire Limited Edition is packaged in a decanter with a 12-cut crystal diamond design, encased in a luxury leather box. It boasts a suggested retail price of $10,000, and just 285 bottles exist. The first bottle in the collection, also featuring a 24-karat gold foil wrap and signature from Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, sold at Sotheby’s auction house in March for $52,500, with proceeds benefiting his charity, the Shawn Carter Foundation.
Jay-Z co-owns D’Ussé with spirits giant Bacardi; the Cognac range includes VSOP (Very Superior Old Pale) and XO (Extra Old) expressions. The bottling of the 1969 Anniversaire Limited Edition coincided with the rapper/entrepreneur’s 50th birthday in December 2019.
D’Ussé Global Brand Ambassador Sullivan Doh hosted a virtual guided tasting of the 1969 Anniversaire Limited Edition for the media on June 24. The Cognac sample, from bottle #183, had aromas of walnut, hazelnut and candied fruit, and flavors of stewed fruits with hints of leather, wood and tobacco.