This bottle is a mystery. We bought it several years ago along with another bottle of Meukow: a vintage 1789 (see picture: the bottle on the right side)! Well, the value of the other bottle was relatively easy to determine: In the "book of cognac" (Behrendt) can be read that such a bottle was once auctioned for 100.000 francs - about EUR 15.000 (according to the former course).
But what should we think of the other bottles value?? The seller told us that the bottles came from a member of the sparkling wine manufacturers Henkell which he received a gift from a tsar (or Meukow provided this special bottling on behalf of the tsar to Germany).
That sounds nice, right? But it is not impossible, for there was in fact a personal connection. Regardless of whether this story is true or not, the bottle is a sensation. We asked Meukow, but there is no information in the archive, because it only has copies of all labels - this text is, however, written in golden letters! The complete text "Meukow
Grande Champagne qualité spéciale la plus vieille et la plus fine de la... ***",which means "the oldest and finest reserves in the House Meukow" was once written with gold (which is unfortunately only in fragments, but you still imagine the former state ).
If Meukows stocks (in 1889 or some years later when the bottle was filled) included 1789, then the OLDEST stocks might be even older - that means older than the year 1789! Although official documents list 1789 as the oldest VINTAGE Cognac from Meukow, our bottle might contain older Cognac because it might be indeed a blend not indicating a vintage year! The whole presentation is so exclusive that it may be assumed: It was the former luxury product ever - certainly adaquate for a tsar (and the logo on the bottle might be the double-eagle).
Such a golden bottle CAN only be produced in a very small edition! Why should the content not origine from the mid-18th Century? We researched for years, but there is just this one bottle of the world. Even the most comprehensive collection of old cognac (www.oldliquors.com) has no bottle like this.
We will not solve the riddle. What a pity. We deliver together with the bottle an approximately 100 years old rest of the original paper by Meukow with company imprint (in this paper, the bottle was once wrapped up)!
*** NOTE: There is one last word I can not read. It consists of about 6-7 letters - my first guess would be "maison".