Chartreuse Yellow Label (Distilled 1935)
BY NEAL MARTIN |
Spirits are big business these days. We are not talking bottles you buy off supermarket shelves, but ancient bottles that might be covered in thick dust in rural bistros or perhaps lying in your grandparents’ drinks cabinet. Demand has risen exponentially as more and more connoisseurs have a newfound appreciation of their quality and rarity. Basically, the hunt is on. Cognac and Armagnac have always been coveted, even if they fell out of fashion in the Nineties. At present, there is a huge demand for Scottish single malts, with Macallan the Domaine de la Romanée Conti of the whisky world. In addition, ancient bottles of Chartreuse are now highly sought after. You can buy Yellow or Green label Chartreuse to this day that is not that expensive. Tempting as these are to drink young, you can scurry a few bottles away because they improve with time as the alcohol gradually eats the sugar.
If you cannot wait a few decades, then go and find an aged bottle from a merchant or at auction. The uninitiated will be astonished by hammer prices that can almost make Burgundy look cheap. In fact, when I was lucky enough to taste a bottle of Yellow Label Chartreuse bottled in the Forties, it was part of a forthcoming single cellar auction of rare spirits at Christie’s with an estimated hammer price of £2,000. My hunch is that it will surpass that.
Spirits are big business these days. We are not talking bottles you buy off supermarket shelves, but ancient bottles that might be covered in thick dust in rural bistros or perhaps lying in your grandparents’ drinks cabinet. Demand has risen exponentially as more and more connoisseurs have a newfound appreciation of their quality and rarity. Basically, the hunt is on.
