PARIS, Oct 30 ― Champagne producer Edouard Brun, located in Aÿ in the Marne region of northeastern France, has joined forces with a German porcelain producer to create a new bottle for its Cuvée Sensorium wine. According to the brand, this is the first time that porcelain containers have been used by a champagne house.

Rule number one for storing wine, particularly white wines and champagnes: keep it away from light. Exposure to white light, ultraviolet light, or virtually any kind of light can affect a wine's colour and lead to premature oxidation.

This is such a persistent problem that champagne makers even have an expression for it: “le goût de lumière,” or the taste of light. It's also the main reason that light is kept to a minimum in cellars where wine is stored before being shipped and sold.

Traditionally wine makers have used tinted glass bottles to filter out unwanted light, but now an alternative material has come to the fore: porcelain.

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Champagne house Edouard Brun, which cultivates the three leading champagne varietals in the Montagne de Reims area, has teamed up with prestigious German porcelain manufacturer Reichenbach to ensure that its flagship product is kept in total darkness.

The fruit of their collaboration is a six-liter Methuselah bottle, holding the equivalent of eight standard bottles, which will be used to house the Cuvée Sensorium, a 70 per cent pinot noir and 30 per cent chardonnay blend.

A 75cl standard-size bottle of Sensorium will also be launched in the second half of 2020.

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Porcelain was chosen for its functional properties, but it is also a luxury material appropriate for a Methuselah which bears the brand's name and emblem inscribed in 24-carat gold.

The Cuvée Sensorium will be launched in November on the website Champagne-sensorium.com, at €6,500 for a bottle.

A special edition of Sensorium decorated by American artist James Rizzi, limited to 500 copies, will also be available at €8,000. The wine will be a prestigious blend exclusively sourced from grand cru vineyards. ― AFP-Relaxnews