AUCKLAND AIRPORT DUTY FREE SHOPS RECORDS USD 130,000 SALE

A Chinese passenger at Auckland Airport has paid NZUSD 190,000 (approximately USUSD 130,000) for a set of the limited edition BARON OTARD Collection du Roi, consisting of three rare, hand-crafted crystal decanters.

The trio of exceptional and exclusive cuvées of BARON OTARD Collection du Roi, offering three unique expressions of the art of Cognac, were sold at the ARI-operated Duty Free store at Auckland airport.

Tom Byrne, general manager of ARI, Auckland Airport, enthused: “With such a limited release, we’re excited to have sold one of only eight bottles available globally of the BARON OTARD Cuvée 1 Grande Champagne.”

Gaurav Joshi, regional director Asia Pacific for Bacardi Global Travel Retail, said: “With amazing products supported by world class retailer expertise, travel retail provides a uniquely dynamic and engaging retail adventure for the shopper and for amazing stories like this one from our partnership with ARI at Auckland Airport. 



"Across the Bacardi portfolio we are utilising our consumer insight to deliver innovative new experiences to engage and excite the shopper, driving channel differentiation and making Travel Retail a key destination for everyone from budget shoppers to luxury collectors.”

The BARON OTARD Collection du Roi consists of 3 different Cuvées:

Cuvée 1 is the rarest expression and only eight decanters of this extraordinary liquid will ever leave the Royal Castle, home to Baron Otard. The finest, rarest blend of only two ancestral eaux-de-vie, kept for decades in the Paradise cellars of the Château de Cognac.

Cuvée 1 is presented in a mouth-blown crystal decanter, encased in a layer of black glass, hand-cut to show the precious liquid inside, with a hand-carved stopper crafted from a single piece of jet-black crystal and all protected by the exquisite handmade presentation case, covered in silk, leather, gold leaf and lacquered wood.

Cuvée 2 is rare single batch of eaux-de-vie of very old Grande Champagne, which the BARON OTARD Maître de Chai recently discovered and found it to be so beautiful in taste and bouquet that he bottled it straight away. Only 288 decanters will ever leave the Royal Castle.



Presented in a stylish luxury case, each decanter in the individually numbered edition is crafted of mouth-blown crystal, hand-cut and gilded, with the elegant stopper carved by hand from a single block of crystal.

Cuvée 3 is a rare and complex blend carefully crafted by the Maître de Chai from a selection of the oldest eaux-de-vie.

The special liquid is presented in an exquisite mouth-blown, handmade crystal decanter, inspired in part by the finery of King Francis I of France, safely protected in a sturdy case that befits the King of Cognac.