A barrel made out of Lalique crystal and containing around 300 bottles-worth of Sauternes has been unveiled at Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey to mark the estate's 400th birthday.
Specialists at Lalique spent more than two years perfecting designs and building the 225-litre crystal barrique, which the company claimed was a ‘world first’.
The artwork now lies in Lafaurie-Peyraguey cellars and contains around 300 bottles-worth of the premier grand cru classé estate’s 2013 Sauternes vintage.
Lalique CEO Silvio Denz, who bought Lafaurie-Peyraguey in early 2014, commissioned the crystal barrel to mark 400 years since the property was acquired by Sieur Raymond Peyraguey, in 1618.
Denz said, ‘The alliance between Lalique and Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey is a marriage of French savoir-faire and savoir-vivre, a fusion between the gold of Sauternes and the crystal of Alsace.’
He paid tribute to the skill of Lalique’s glassmakers in creating the barrel, which has a crystal bung and is encased by leather straps fastened with crystal cabochons; designed to replicate the metal hoops that normally hold a barrel’s staves together.
The barrel also carries the ‘femme et raisins’ [woman and grapes] engraving created by René Lalique in 1928.
A closer look at the Lalique crystal barrique…Credit: Hervé Lefevbre.
In January 2019, the recently opened ‘Lalique’ restaurant at Lafaurie-Peyraguey gained a Michelin star at the first time of asking, under the stewardship of chef Jerôme Schilling. The restaurant was opened as part of renovation work that also included the launch of luxury accommodation at the estate.
