A man who claims to be behind the extraordinary video showing a group of people using £100,000 worth of a wine favoured by Queen Elizabeth to make a sangria has revealed exactly why he pulled off the crazy stunt.
Video footage showed patrons of the La Guérite restaurant on Sainte-Marguerite island, off Cannes, cheering and whistling as they mixed two vintages of world-renowned Petrus along with ice cubes, oranges and other ingredients. One man was seen licking one bottle as he poured its contents out into the bowl.
The as-yet-unnamed partygoers were seen pouring the vintages, a 2006 that costs around €3,800 (£3,200) a bottle, and the 2011, which costs about €3,200 (£2,700), on August 10. But it wasn’t until French newspaper La Figaro picked the story up that condemnation became widespread.
Now one of the men, who claimed to be an entertainment executive, has revealed that he poured ten bottles of Petrus into the bowl because he needed to hit a €100,000 minimum spend on a premium table for a charity gig run by legendary electronic label Keinemusik.
The executive, who declined to be named publicly, told MailOnline that: ‘I was bored of ordering champagne to hit the minimum for the table at a private event where Keinemusik was performing. That’s the story behind the story.
‘I only chose Petrus because it was the most expensive item on the menu per bottle.’
The vintages, a 2006 that costs around €3,800 (£3,200) a bottle, and the 2011, which costs about €3,200 (£2,700), were used to make the concoction
Video footage showed patrons of the La Guérite restaurant on Sainte-Marguerite island, off Cannes, cheering and whistling as they mixed two vintages of world-renowned Petrus into a glass bowl
The executive shared a receipt from La Guérite that was seemingly printed on August 9 showing a total bill for nearly €114,000
When asked how he felt about spending the eyewatering sum of money on booze, he simply said: ‘I don’t know. Indifferent, I guess.
‘I wanted to see Keinemusik with my friends and 100k was the price.’
The charity event, which took place on August 9, saw the label raise money for the Holy Family Foundation, a charity dedicated to housing orphaned children.
The executive shared a receipt from La Guérite that was seemingly printed on August 9 showing a total bill for nearly €114,000.
Of that total, €80,000 was spent on Petrus wine, he claimed. He told MailOnline that while La Guérite ordinarily sells bottles of Petrus at a massive premium, he was given a 20% discount as he is a ‘recurring customer that spends a lot there.’
His viral stunt divided opinions, particularly in France. Philippe Faure-Brac, a renowned sommelier, told The Times 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.’
The executive and his friends bought 10 bottles of Petrus (pictured)
Just 30,000 bottles of Petrus are made every year
They bought the expensive bottles as they wanted to meet the minimum spend at the restaurant
He hit back at these accusations, telling MailOnline: ‘I don’t tell you how to eat your steak or drink your preferred beverage. At the end of the day it’s just wine. Why people have such a strong opinion about such stuff is beyond me.’
Petrus became a favourite of the then-Princess Elizabeth in the 1940s, after Marie-Louise Loubat, its owner at the time, sent a case over to the UK.
She was enamoured by the red wine, and later invited Loubat to serve it at her wedding.
The wine was also served to John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie, both known Francophiles who declared their love for the wine which massively boosted its popularity in the US.
The vineyard makes just 30,000 bottles of Petrus a year on its 10 hectares of land.
Legendary wine critic Robert Parker previously said of the 2006 Petrus that it had ‘notes of caramelized, sweet black cherries and wild berry fruit with plenty of spice, earth, and a hint of herbaceousness.’
He said the 2011 vintage had ‘restrained but intriguing aromas of kirsch, raspberry jam, wood spice, and mulberries.’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
