Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque Rose Champagne

Belle Epoque was a French era between 1870-1914 (when they weren’t losing wars in Europe), a time of peace and prosperity and a time when Art Nouveau was in. Perrier-Jouet are all about the Art Nouveau and in 1902 they asked artist Emile Gallé to create a special bottle for their prized Champagne. Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque Champagne

Using glass art techniques he painted white anemones on to four magnum sized bottles of PJ. Because of high production costs the idea was shelved and the magnums stashed away in the cellars.

Over 60 years later, in 1964, the dusty magnums were discovered and the decision made to produced a special vintaged PJ using Gallé’s design. This all tied in with the 70th birthday bash of jazz legend Duke Ellington at the L’Alcazar restaurant in Paris, where PJ first launched Belle Epoque in large magnum format!

Five hundred 1964 vintaged Belle Epoque magnums were made and sold exclusively to Maxim’s and Fauchon food store in Paris. Today, Belle Epoque is sipped by VIP’s, the rich and famous and those with deep pockets all around the world.

In 1978 they introduced a Rosé Champagne to the Belle Epoque series and is only produced in exceptional years and in small quantities.

This latest 2013 release marks the 120th anniversary and in celebration they’ve teamed up with Austrian designer duo mischer’traxler to create The Emblematic Flower. It’s their interpretation of Japanese anemone designed by Emile Gallé with a mix of seventy species from the vineyards of the Champagne region.

We just call it “PJ” for short but if you want to sound like a pro make sure it rolls off the tongue. It’s pehr-ree yay jhoo-et – with the “T” pronounced.