The New Cristal
By BankersBall on Nov 9, 2006 in Lifestyle, Video
The WSJ reports that champagne kingmaker Jay-Z has crowned his brand of choice. The Cristal-replacement is Armand de Brignac, which comes in an appropriately blingy gold bottle and costs about $300 (available December 2006).
The gold bottle appears in Jay Z’s new video, “Show Me What You Got”, according to the WSJ. In the video, Jay Z “waves away” a bottle of Cristal and then is brought the Armand de Brignac.
From the Armand de Brignac FAQ:
“Cattier’s gold bottle also made an appearance at Queen Elizabeth II of England’s Golden Jubilee celebration. All labels for each bottle of Armand de Brignac are made of real pewter, polished and applied by hand. Each bottle is packaged in a black embroidered velvet bag, which completes a package that speaks to the quality of the Armand de Brignac Champagne and the care taken with each step of its realization.”
The wine is produced by the house of Jean-Jacques Cattier, which has a vineyard in the Montagne de Reims Terroir in the Champagne region, according to the FAQ. According to the WSJ, Cattier also produces a “single-vineyard Clos du Moulin champagne” which only costs about $64 a bottle, and — in a quote that will probably get the winemaker in trouble — doesn’t taste very different from the Armand de Brignac.
Updated: here’s the video. For those in SFW mode, multi-task until you get to minute 3:02 in the video. Wow, the promotion is heavy. Not only does Jay Z wave the Cristal away (which isn’t even shown with its label), but the Armand de Brignac is brought to the table in a briefcase.
On Nov 9, 2006, Anonymous said:
What rhymes with “Armand de Brignac”?
On Nov 9, 2006, Anonymous said:
$300 a bottle isn’t playa enough. Might as well be rappin’ about korbel.
On Nov 9, 2006, Anonymous said:
This news is so profound that I updated wikipedia with the first paragraph of this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristal
On Nov 9, 2006, BankersBall said:
I updated to include a links back to WSJ & BBalle.
On Nov 9, 2006, Anon said:
I think that’s $300 wholesale, before the club mark-up
On Nov 9, 2006, J Debacle said:
Heavens, I can only have pity for the Louis Roederer house now that “Jay-Z” has so augustly rebuked and boycotted Cristal. Oh, wait a second, would Cristal’s typical consumer actually care what a fat rapper thinks?
On Nov 9, 2006, Anonymous said:
Each bottle of Armand de Brignac has a tablespoon of Santa Claus’ urine….true fact. Also, the waitresses at Tenjune bring the bottles with three sparklers instead of the standard 2 for Cristal/Moet to make partygoers feel that much better than everyone else.
On Nov 9, 2006, Hey said:
Johnny D… It’s actually a pretty big market, which was kind of the problem, as Cristal was worried that they would end up like an 80s luxury brand, overexposed, overextended, and unexclusive. We’ll see if the short-term drop in business keeps them healthy long-term. Interesting future case study.
On Nov 10, 2006, The Black Capitalist said:
It’s actually $40 champagne. The label claims to be old and refined but the shit didn’t even exist 6 months ago. The real manufacturer makes cheap champagne in a similar bottle and also produces Jermaine Dupri’s vodka. I put a related article on digg.com last month.
http://www.hiphopgame.com/index2.php3?page=armanddebrignac
On Nov 12, 2006, Anonymous said:
And yet another example of how money just can’t buy class