Notoriously Rare Champagne: The Connoisseurs Vie For Selosse

The Paradigm Shift In Champagne Creates Investment Potential

Alongside the biggest names like Krug, Moët & Chandon and Louis Roederer, the champagne house Jacques Selosse is almost an unknown phenomenon, but although the common man may not know about Selosse, so does the world of champagne!

The champagne house Selosse was bred by Jacques Selosse, who together with his wife created the house's first wine in 1964. Ten years later his son, Anselme, took over the domain. Anselme completed his studies in oenology in Burgundy and began a revolutionary transformation of his parents' domain in the 1980s. He is regarded by many in the industry as both evolutionary and visionary and is commonly known as a leader in biodynamic operations in Champagne. Anselme Selosse is also a big proponent of the Solera system, a storage system that is otherwise known by many primarily from rum production.

Unlike other wine regions, the large champagne houses purchase large parts of the grapes for their production from smaller producers where price is largely determined by quantity and geographical boundaries. Therefore, the incentive to increase the quality at the expense of quantity and to introduce heavy, manual workflows to promote the biodynamic is limited. Anselme Selosse went against the flow and introduced both principles and is now acknowledged as a cult producer - a status that makes sommeliers, wine lovers and champagne lovers talk about Selosse with an even greater affection than they do with the other top producers.

Rising Demand Causes Non-vintage Prices To Explode

Anselme Selosse, a little untraditional, specializes in non vintage (NV) champagne and produces a wide range of NV blends, each telling a unique story from the parcels they originally came from.

The word of mouth take precedence over Selosse and, together with an attractive price, the champagne enthusiasts around the world have found that here is a champagne experience that may only be found in more expensive vintage champagne. This interest has also led to large price increases of 30-40% on the NV wines over the past 12-24 months. A trend that has so far only appeared among the house's NV champagnes.

Although the NV-champagne "Substance" is regarded as the house's flagship, one should still look at the house’s only vintage champagne if the ultimate Selosse experience is desired. The quality of this also means that the storage potential is at its peak, which ensures the possibility of presenting perfectly matured Selosse in the future - a champagne experience that today is virtually impossible to buy for money.

Notoriously Rare

As a consequence of Anselme's philosophy and approach to growing grapes, total production is extremely limited. Several wine media estimates that the total production hardly exceeds 50,000 bottles per year, while only around 4,000 vintage bottles are produced per year - and this, of course, only in the absolute best vintages as known from Dom Pérignon, Cristal and Salon.

A production of just 4,000 bottles makes Selosse notoriously rare and makes them extremely difficult to find. If it is to succeed, it is a race with a strong fan base who thirsts for the cult producer's pearly drops.

Rare Wine Invest’s Opinion

Champagne Selosse is the ultimate champagne for the toughest connoisseurs and dedicated champagne nerds. Anselme Selosse's approach to champagne production is both visionary and partly revolutionary, and has in a relatively short time created a strong fan base, among others the most knowledgeable champagne lovers.

Selosse’s rising popularity can be tracked in the rising prices of the NV champagnes, while Selosses vintage champagne is still an undiscovered treasure for most. At the same time, the focus is growing on healthy and sustainable cultivation in Champagne, where Selosse is one of the great pioneers - something that can certainly generate further interest for the small winery.

Contrary to the top quality, the quantities produced are at the very bottom and the approximately 4,000 bottles released per vintage disappears quickly from the market. Without the right connections, it is virtually impossible to buy Selosse in whole boxes.

In addition, Selosse has not yet released their 2008 vintage. Just as we have seen among other champagnes, there may be a big upside in buying up prior to the release of a great 2008. The quality and the hype of a 2008 vintage have on several occasions caused the price of a given champagne from this particular vintage to be unprecedentedly high, which has helped to further raise the price of surrounding vintages.

Our expectations for Selosse are high and with the growing interest in the extremely limited quantities from this cult producer, this champagne is likely to become even more difficult to buy in the future. An investment in Selosse is an investment in the opportunity to offer mature Selosse to a rising fan base in the future - champagne that is completely impossible to obtain today and can be particularly expensive in the future.