BAYC champagne bottle sells for US$ 2.5 million

A limited edition of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) champagne was recently sold in an auction for a whopping US$2.5 million. The bottle, a magnum Chateau Avenue Foch from 2017, is plastered with one of the BAYC ape characters. The BAYC bottle sale has supposedly broken the record for the most expensive wine bottle.

Shammi Shinh, a self-styled champagne connoisseur and NFT trader, came up with the idea and collaborated with Mig, a designer who has worked on the BAYC and Sneaky Vampire Syndicate NFT collections.

The bottle has not just one but five NFT art printed on it. Here’s the kick; whoever buys the bottle also gains ownership of the actual NFTs and the Intellectual Property rights to the images.

'Once the buyer has the bottle, they will receive the actual NFTs that are on the bottle as well,' said Shinh. 'Although they are physically printed on the bottle, they will receive the actual NFT artwork.'

Giovanni and Piero Buono, Italian cryptocurrency investors, have become the new owners of the bottle after acquiring it in a private sale.

'I don’t plan to drink it; I think it will be a good investment,' Giovanni Buono said. 'There is a lot of turmoil in the investment world; things are changing geopolitically very quickly. Wealthy people will look for places to store their wealth for a while—and that could be a champagne with an NFT attached to it.'

To Shammi Shinh, he saw an opportunity in the NFT market, and he took it. “I knew there was a market for it,” he said. “People are spending millions of dollars on pictures of apes; why wouldn’t they prefer a high calibre champagne with an ape on the bottle itself?”

Other winemakers have started incorporating NFTs into their products, joining what seems to be a growing niche market. One of these is an Australian company called Penfolds. 

Penfolds partnered with NFT platform BlockBar to issue a vintage wine barrel NFT which sold to a lucky buyer for US$ 130,000.

Last October, a 1991 Macallan scotch, paired with a specially-commissioned NFT, also sold for US$ 2.33 million.

Photo: Champagne Avenue Foch