Outcry as diners tip dozens of bottles of vintage £3,200 Petrus into a bowl to make '£100,000' sangria
10 September 2024, 16:08 | Updated: 10 September 2024, 20:12
Wine connoisseurs have been left outraged by a video which shows people haphazardly pouring dozens of bottles of vintage Petrus wine into a glass bowl to make a £100,000 sangria drink.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Video footage reveals the patrons of the La Guérite restaurant on Sainte-Marguerite island, off Cannes, cheering and whistling whilst mixing two vintages of world-class Petrus with ice cubes, oranges and additional ingredients.
One man is shown licking a bottle as he poured the liquid out into the bowl.
The partygoers have not been identified but in August they were seen pouring the vintage wines, which included one from 2006 costing approximately £3,200 a bottle and another from 2011, costing £2,700.
However, it wasn't until the French newspaper La Figaro wrote about the story, that the criticism started.
Speaking to The Times, Philippe Faure-Brac, a renowned sommelier, said it was "like using a Picasso or a van Gogh to make a fire".
"This is a wine with a gastronomic vocation par excellence. Why not taste it in a very festive way? Putting it in a sangria is not its vocation."
Read More: Break out the bubbly: Inmates freed to 'party' outside jails under Labour's early release scheme
WARNING: Some viewers may find this video distressing
Petrus became a favourite of Princess Elizabeth in the 1940s when Marie-Louise Loubat, who owned the brand at the time, sent over a case to the UK.
The princess adored the red wine and went on to invite Loubat to serve it at her wedding.
In addition the wine was served to John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie, who were both known as Francophiles and shared their love for the wine which hugely boosted its popularity in the US.
The vineyard produces just 30,000 bottles of Petrus a year on its ten hectares of land.
Previously, the well-known wine critic Robert Parker said the 2006 Petrus had "notes of caramelized, sweet black cherries and wild berry fruit with plenty of spice, earth, and a hint of herbaceousness."
In 2011, he said the vintage had "restrained but intriguing aromas of kirsch, raspberry jam, wood spice, and mulberries."
