Glass bottle

Hand blown

29 x 8cm

18010c

This hand blown wine bottle with an embossed ‘N’ indicating this came from  from his personal cellars.

With wine, Napoleon was very much a creature of habit. Although he did drink Champagne to celebrate military victories, his lifelong wine of choice was Chambertin Clos-de-Beze from Burgundy. At one time, it had been the favourite wine of Louis XIV, and in the late 18th century, it was still highly prized by European aristocracy. So fond of Chambertin was Napoleon that he had his army carry barrels of it wherever he went, even to Egypt. Following the French army’s retreat from Russia in 1812, Napoleon is reported to have cursed the Cossacks for allegedly confiscating his cherished hoard of Chambertin. It is recorded that Napoleon drank his red wines chilled and diluted with 50% water.

Napoleon only stopped drinking Chambertin when the state of his health forced him to do so. After his exile to Saint Helena in 1815, his health declined and he suffered stomach pains so severe that he could not continue to drink Chambertin - no matter how much water was added. His doctor suggested a golden dessert wine from South Africa, known to the French as “Vin de Constance” or “Constantia.” Napoleon was able to tolerate this wine and records from Groot Constantia indicate more than 1,000 litres of Constantia were shipped to Longwood House on Saint Helena every year until Napoleon’s death in 1821. The Count de Las Cases reported that Constantina was the only drink Napoleon consumed on his deathbed.

Napoleon is is attributed the quotation “Nothing makes the future look so rosy as to contemplate it through a glass of Chambertin”.