Most Expensive Champagne in the World

Paris, March 19, 2008— -- The latest fashion and sign of affluence in France, where the best things are tailor-made, is tailor-made champagne.

Champagne producer Perrier-Jouët — PJ for the intimates — the world's fourth largest producer with about 2 million bottles produced a year, will soon launch the first tailor-made champagne in history, called "By and For."

Starting Thursday, only 100 champagne lovers from around the world will be given the privilege of being able to create their own champagne within the secrecy of the producer's cellars in Epernay, in the Champagne region of France.

The price? An all-time record of $79,000 for a case of 12 personalized bottles of champagne. That's $6,500 per bottle, "the price for rarity," Olivier Cavil, Perrier-Jouët's head of communication, told ABC News.

Each of the lucky champagne lovers will spend one day in the producer's cellars, working closely with the cellar master to personalize champagne bottles.

The champagne amateur will first be asked for an opinion on different noble fabrics – silk, velvet, satin, among others. The drinker will also express a preference on a landscape, on a piece of music. These different stages will allow the cellar master and his team to determine a personality for the customer and, more importantly, a taste that goes with this personality.

At the end of the day, the customer will be presented with a personal champagne, elaborated from PJ's star Blanc de Blancs Vintage 2000 mixed with the final touch, the liquor, an assemblage of sugar and wine more or less young, elaborated from the customer's newly determined personality, making it unique. The assemblage between the Blanc de Blancs and the liquor is what makes champagne.

"It's exactly like Haute Couture. We selected the best of the best for this personalization exercise: a Blanc de Blancs 100 percent chardonnay, from one single parcel of land and from the mythical vintage of 2000," Cavil said.

The bottles will then be placed in a dedicated area within the historic cellars of the Maison Belle Epoque, which exhibits one of the most prestigious collections of Art Nouveau masterpieces, for about eight months, the time needed for the personalized liquor to marry with the Blanc de Blancs.

Each purchaser will co-sign the bottles with the cellar master, making it even more unique.

Total sale of Champagne hit an all-time record last year with 338.7 million bottles sold, a 5.3% jump compared to 2006. Exports reached 150.9 million bottles sold in 190 countries, confirming the emergence of flourishing new markets such as Asia and Russia where the bubbly drink is very popular amongst the nouveau riche.

The only champagne market to fall back was the United States, where exports slumped 6.2 percent to 21.7 million bottles, hit by the unfavorable exchange rate between the euro and the dollar.

Surfing on its growing global success, the champagne becomes a luxury product, in the same way as jewellery or perfumes.

"The real luxury today, in our society of mass consumption where money prevails, is to own something unique. The ultimate luxury, it's tailor-made. The person will be the only one to enjoy the bottle he created. There won't be two identical bottles in the world" Cavil told ABC news.