Jay-Z is turning 50, and to celebrate, he’s toasting the milestone with a $5,000 bottle of cognac.
The billionaire rapper, entrepreneur, and co-owner of D’Ussé cognac is today—on his actual birthday—unveiling a new pricey brandy to mark his personal golden jubilee. The D’Ussé 1969 Anniversaire is cognac bottled from a single barrel in France that has been maturing in the centuries-old cellars of Château de Cognac, where the other D’Ussé expressions XO (priced at $199) and VSOP ($50) are made.
The first 50 bottles will be numbered one through 50 and given away to Jay-Z’s close family and friends. But next year, fans can get a taste when a limited number of bottles will be sold during the 2020 holiday season in high-end retail accounts. D’Ussé 1969 Anniversaire is also expected to appear on the top shelf of some fancy bars and restaurants.
The D’Ussé 1969 Anniversaire is unique in that it is 100% Grande Champagne from a single barrel, whereas most cognacs are a blend from a variety of brandy barrels. Though D’Ussé isn’t providing an age statement for the barrel, it has disclosed it has been aging “for decades.”
Jay-Z has been singing the praises of cognac for the past seven years, when he first launched the D’Ussé brand. He jumped into the category at a time when a slew of rappers including T.I., Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Ludacris became cognac ambassadors or investors. But like most short-term celebrity deals in liquor, the glitz and glamour of cognac hasn’t proved to be lucrative.
Jay-Z’s staying power comes as the cognac category remains a star in the liquor aisle. The French-made spirit sold 6.4 million nine-liter cases in the U.S. last year, a 12% increase from the prior year, according to data from trade organization Distilled Spirits Council. Over the past five years, cognac sales have soared 73%.
Because of how it is made, cognac isn’t a business one can jump into today and hope to hit the ground running. “You need history and aging,” explains Keith Howard, senior vice president of D’Usse Cognac. The 1969 Anniversaire launch and all D’Ussé bottles are made and sold along with co-owner Bacardi, an established global liquor giant that sells rum, Dewar’s Scotch, Patrón tequila, and over 200 other brands.
“You can’t be a successful or respectful cognac if you don’t have heritage,” adds Howard. The cognac house where D’Ussé is made has been blending liquors for 200 years, but D’Ussé is a more recently established brand. Celebrating Jay-Z’s birthday was a way to celebrate (and market) the longevity of the process at Château de Cognac and to debut a decades-old new cognac that was barreled years before the brand was conceived.
Because 1969 Anniversaire is made from a single barrel, supply will be severely limited.
“Once this barrel is empty, we won’t be able to produce anything like it,” says Sullivan Doh, global ambassador for D’Ussé. When it comes to the taste profile, Doh describes it as having “nice aromas of hazelnut, walnut, and candied fruit like apricot and apple. It has subtle notes of leather and tobacco.”
Charging $5,000 per bottle may sound preposterous to most consumers, but sky-high prices are somewhat commonplace in the cognac category. Hennessy and Rémy Cointreau’s Louis XIII are among the brands that sell bottles worth thousands of dollars. And at auction houses, those brands can fetch price points well above $10,000. With an aura of uniqueness thanks to a production process tied to a narrow region in France, the pricing structure for cognac is similar to Scotch and a stratosphere above vodka, gin, rum, and tequila.
“We see the cognac drinker as up-tempo,” says Matt Drummond, a client manager at Nielsen CGA, when describing the liquor brand’s target audience.
Drummond says most cognac consumers are male and are more likely to live in large cities like New York or Chicago. Cognac drinkers also frequent high-end bars and restaurants, and cognac is a popular spirit because it is easily mixable in cocktails like the sidecar. An estimated 60% of cognac drinkers order by brand name, indicating high loyalty.
Jay-Z, who is also full owner of premium Champagne brand Armand de Brignac, fits the bill for the typical cognac drinker. And it almost goes without saying he’s an aficionado of the spirit.
“He’s always had an appreciation for cognac,” says Howard. “What drives cognac is heritage, history, and luxury, and that’s what drove his interest in the cognac business.”
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