Big music star launches hefty Champagne

London merchant Vanquish Wine held the official UK launch of Champagne’s most expensive brut NV, Angel, last week.

The new prestige cuvée which costs £640 a bottle has the backing of pop singers Mariah Carey and Sinitta, entrepreneur Stefano Zagni, as well as the winemaking expertise of Patrick D’Aulan, from the former Piper Heidsieck owning family.

The Angel brand and concept was the brainchild of Zagni, who was previously in the construction industry and born into a Lambrusco-producing family.

Having found that women in high-profile US bars and nightclubs weren’t finishing their glasses of the favoured luxury Champagne brand, Cristal, he wanted to make something with the perfect flavour profile for women.

“I wanted to create the most amazing Champagne taste-wise but with a more feminine style,” he told the drinks business at the UK launch on Thursday 17 September.

He managed to enlist the help of D’Aulan, whose family had sold Piper Heidsieck in 1989, and then the marketing support of the record label group Island Def Jam.

“I wanted to create a vibe and buzz before launching the brand but the celebrities were charging too much, between US$2-3 million, so I approached the record labels,” he said.

“I struck a deal with Island Def Jam that gave me access to celebrity events and the first one was Mariah Carey’s first wedding anniversary.”

According to Zagni, Carey “loved” the Champagne, which was served at the event in Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on 30 April last year, and was excited by the name because her upcoming album would be called Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel.

“After that I decided to give her a stake in the business and she is now a partner,” he stated.

Zagni also said that the Champagne would not be sold in the off-trade but people would be able to buy the new cuvée for drinking at home through the brand’s website.

The Champagne has a starting price of £640 online and Zagni says that Angel’s target market – high profile nightclubs – will sell the Brut NV for £750.

Having spoken with some of the club owners, he says he wants the fanfare which surrounds the sale of prestige cuvées, especially in large formats, in these venues to be more subdued when it comes to Angel.

“Instead of the sparklers and Superman music for Champagne ordered in nightclubs, we are working on a track for Angel that will bring the tone down a bit.”

“It will be like a heartbeat with a shush in the background, and the heartbeat will get faster as the Champagne gets nearer the consumer.”

Angel has already launched in the US and has been taken on by North America’s largest distributor Southern Wines & Spirits.

Zagni recalled that “There has been no resistance against the price,” which is upwards of US$900 in the nightclub market.

So far Angel’s total production is 6,000 bottles, 5,000 of which are the brut NV, and 1,000 the vintage, which sells online for £800.

Zagni hopes to increase that to 60-100,000 bottles and admitted that the US “could be taking 30 to 40,000 bottles fairly soon”.

As for where Angel is made, Patrick D’Aulan explained that he’s working with the Coopérative Regionale des Vins de Champagne (CRVC), the region’s second largest cooperative with 680 members and 880 hectares of vineyards (and producer of the UK’s Champagne de Castelnau brand).

“We’re renting a facility from them and have our own separate ageing cellar," he said.

The grapes are from Grand Cru vineyards from 35ha of CRVC growers based in Cramant, Le Mesnil and Bouzy.

The Brut NV spends fours years ageing on its lees and both the vintage and NV has a dosage of 6 grammes per litre.

Interestingly, the range, including the Brut NV, uses a proportion of Pinot Meunier from a 4ha site of 70-year-old vines.

The launch vintage for Angel is 2004, because, according to d’Aulan, “I had the chance to begin with ’98 or 2002 but I chose 2004 because I think it has great potential.”

The Champagne’s packaging is particularly distinctive, with four layers of a "platinum finish" paint, solid silver labels and inset Swarovski crystals.

Some surprise is expressed by d’Aulan at the successful registration of Angel by the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC).

“It’s very hard to launch a new Champagne brand as there are strict CIVC regulations and it’s rare they allow new brands,” he said.

“It took a year of trying and I couldn’t believe it when I got the call with an agreement,” he added.

Interestingly, Carey is not just involved in the promotion of the brand, but also the taste profile.

“We sent every three months a range of samples for her to choose the colour and then the taste,” recalled d’Aulan, who points out that Angel will add a rosé to its UK line-up at then end of 2012.

“She likes a lighter style and colour,” he says, and also notes that Angel may halve its dosage to 3 g/l and increase the time spent ageing in cellar.

“For someone who never really drinks she knows exactly what she wants: she is very clear about what she wants in life,” d’Aulan also said of Carey.

Upcoming additions to the range include a jeroboam and a special edition rosé called Hint of Pink by MC.

Click here to see Mariah Carey’s first UK television promotion of the Champagne.

And to be reminded of other Angel Champagne celebrity partner Sinitta’s music success of the 80s, click here.

Patrick Schmitt, 20.09.2010