Wealthy connoisseurs and collectors of prestigious wines have freed up a few days in early April for a unique sale of thousands of collectible bottles organized by the auction house “Lombray-Tecam” in the chic surroundings of the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
The total value of all lots is tentatively estimated at 6 million euros. All the bottles exhibited at the auction come from the same collection of a major collector and enthusiastic about the history of French winemaking man.
For more than 50 years this enthusiast, now deceased, whose name the auctioneers do not announce, bought up and preserved tens of thousands of bottles. His heirs decided to scatter this collection at auction. In the “Ritz” April 3 7 will go under the hammer about 30 thousand bottles.
Those who have had the opportunity to get acquainted with the collection, they say that this is the very material history of the best millezimy, the milestones of the winemaking of post-war France. The collector bought his wines following recommendations from the most renowned, internationally recognized experts in the wine industry.
“The auction house informed me of a certain significant cellar. But it never occurred to me to be in front of such a treasure. It is a kind of Grail, the best initiation into wine experts,” admires Claude Maratier, a specialist who has been invited to advise a number of famous wine auctions. This time he was asked to authenticate each of the bottles.
According to connoisseurs, the selection is worthy of a museum. Among the tens of thousands of bottles are 2,000 magnums (one-and-a-half-liter jars), hundreds of cases of Bordeaux grands crus classés (collected from the best vineyards). As well as batches of bottles of the legendary Petrus, Le Pin, Haut-Brion, Clinet, Mouton-Rothschild and a whole range of other wines of the southwest of France, coveted by any lover.
The collector, of course, did not forget about Burgundy. Numerous cases of the best Burgundian wines – grands crus and premiers crus – from the estates of Romanée-Conti, Dujac, Georges Roumier, Armand Rousseau and others, whose names alone say a lot to true connoisseurs, were put up for auction.
“To describe it in a few words, very simply: all the best is here. Bidders will see only the famous labels and only the best vintage years, such as many wines of the mythical, especially for the Rhone Valley, 1978. Seeing it all was an exciting sight,” comments Claude Maratier.
“At the same time,” emphasizes the expert, “all these wines are in impeccable state of preservation, as if they were new, fresh off the bottling line. I’ve never seen anything like it. The labels are intact, the capsules on the necks look great – all of which should appeal to discerning buyers. This is a cellar of treasures carefully collected over the years.”
The starting prices of the lots are known. For example, a set of six “magnums” Petrus 1982 will be traded from 40-50 thousand euros. A set of bottles Romanée-Conti 1976 year offered for 50-60 thousand euros.
During a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to hold an international conference on assistance to Ukraine in the coming winter in Paris on December 13, the Elysee Palace said on Tuesday.
“The President of the Republic (…) expressed his determination to help Ukraine weather the approach of winter (…). He indicated that France would increase its support in this regard and take part in international mobilization (aid). The two presidents agreed to organize on December 13 in Paris an international conference in support of the civil resilience of the country during the winter period,” the presidential office said in a communiqué.
We are talking, in particular, about the restoration of infrastructure, electricity and water supply.
The document says that for this “preparatory work with other partners of Ukraine will begin in the near future.”
In addition, according to the communiqué, Macron and Zelensky also agreed on the organization of a bilateral conference aimed at helping Ukraine from French enterprises, which will be held on December 12.
The Spanish low cost airline Vueling will open direct flights from Kyiv (Boryspil International Airport) to Paris (Orly International Airport) from December 5, 2021.
According to the ticket booking system, the airline will fly on the route twice a week: in December with a shifted schedule, and from January 2022 – on Tuesdays and Sundays with a departure from Paris at 06:55 and from Kyiv at 12:10.
Previously, flights between Ukraine and France were operated by UIA, Air France and SkyUp.
As reported, the Hungarian low cost airline Wizz Air announced plans to start operating flights to Paris from Kyiv and Lviv.
Vueling Airlines is a low cost airline based in Barcelona (Spain).
Ukraine and the European Union signed the Common Aviation Area Agreement on October 12. On June 28, 2021, the EU Council agreed to sign with Ukraine, as well as with three other countries – Armenia, Tunisia and Qatar – the Common Aviation Area Agreement. The process of uniting the Ukrainian aviation space with the EU was launched back in 1999. On December 12, 2006, the EU Council authorized the EC to start relevant negotiations with Ukraine. In October 2013, the text of the Common Aviation Area Agreement was agreed upon by the parties, however, due to foreign policy conditions, its signing was postponed indefinitely.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Paris on a one-day official visit. In accordance with the program, upon arrival, the head of the Ukrainian state will visit the world’s largest startup campus Station F opened by French President Emmanuel Macron on June 29, 2017.
At about 15:30 local time Zelensky is to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in the Elysee Palace. A joint press conference of the presidents is scheduled for 16:30.
Zelensky is also expected to visit the French Senate.
On Monday evening, the Ukrainian president will leave for Germany.
In addition to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Zelensky in Germany will also meet with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
France’s Aigle Azur airline in 2019 plans to service 9-10% of passenger flow between Kyiv and Paris, which is around 16,000 passengers, Aigle Azur President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frantz Yvelin has said at a press conference in Kyiv.
“I believe in the Ukrainian market and we have long term plans. In the future, we hope for more flights than three per week,” he said.
According to him, the airline counts on passenger traffic in the amount of about 16,000 passengers in 2019.
“About 160,000 passengers travel between Kyiv and Paris, and we expect to receive about 9-10% of this passenger traffic,” Yvelin said.
According to him, there is practically no competition among air carriers on the Kyiv-Paris route, which makes these destinations attractive for Aigle Azur.
The airline will operate flights between Paris-Orly and Kyiv-Boryspil airports three times a week: from Paris on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and from Kyiv on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. A one way trip will cost around EUR 74.
As reported, Aigle Azur airline will launch a direct flight between the airports of Paris-Orly and Kyiv-Boryspil from April 18, 2019.
At the moment, UIA and Air France operate direct flights to Paris from Kyiv.
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will soon start flights from Kyiv to Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais Airports.
“Our newest added destinations of Wizz from Kyiv include: Dortmund, Memmingen (Munich West,) Brussels-Charleroi, Paris-Beauvais and Copenhagen,” says a message sent to the airline’s customers on Thursday.
At the same time, flights from Kyiv to Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais are not currently shown in the booking system, while flights to Dortmund and Memmingen (Munich West) have been serviced by the company for several years, and those to Copenhagen since August 2017.
As reported, Wizz Air in January-May 2018 transported 425,000 passengers to/from Ukraine, which is almost twice as many as in the same period of 2017. “From Kyiv, we offer 1.3 million passenger seats this year, which is 79% up. And in total from Ukraine this year, we offer 1.67 million passenger seats,” Head of Corporate Communications at Wizz Air Sorina Ratz said late in June.
