LOUIS XIII’s $28,000 Black Pearl Lands in New York — and Chanel Iman and Nicky Hilton Rothschild Got the First Sip

LOUIS XIII brought its newest and rarest cognac, Black Pearl: Tribute to the Birthplace of LOUIS XIII, to New York on September 23 with an hour-long tasting at Studio 525 in Chelsea. Cellar Master Baptiste Loiseau led it himself, and Chanel Iman, Nicky Hilton Rothschild and Jessica Wang were among the guests. Just 398 decanters of the limited edition exist, priced at $28,000 each. The liquid is served at precisely 13°C, the temperature of Le Grollet, the historic cellar in Cognac where LOUIS XIII began.

Some cognacs announce themselves. This one makes you wait, which, if you know anything about LOUIS XIII, is entirely on brand.

Photo Credit: Louis XIII

The house didn’t throw a party so much as convene a small, deliberately unhurried audience. Champagne Telmont was poured on arrival and there were very good hors d’oeuvres, but nobody in that Chelsea room was there for the canapés. The main event was Loiseau, who is about as close as the spirits world gets to a keeper of the flame, walking guests through the new expression one sip at a time.

The whole evening was built around a single, very specific detail: temperature. Black Pearl was served at 13°C, roughly 55°F, which is exactly how cool Le Grollet runs in winter. That’s the ancestral cellar where Loiseau first tasted the eau-de-vie at the heart of this blend, more than a decade ago, as an apprentice. The house has gone so far as to sell each decanter in its own cooling cellar to preserve that effect at home. (If you’re spending $28,000 on a bottle, you should probably have a dedicated fridge. I don’t make the rules.)

In the glass, the chill does something rather wonderful. The cognac starts closed and quiet, all beeswax, honey and old wood. Then, as it warms in your hand, it slowly opens into spice, nutmeg, rancio and a whisper of dark chocolate. Loiseau’s job for the hour was essentially to slow everyone down enough to notice. He encouraged guests to linger, return to the glass and pay attention to what had changed since the last sip. In an industry that increasingly sells spectacle, it was a refreshingly grown-up idea: the luxury here is time.

Photo Credit: Louis XIII

It’s also the most LOUIS XIII idea imaginable. The house has been drawing on the oldest eaux-de-vie of Cognac’s Grande Champagne since 1874, and it runs on continuity. Every cellar master lays down liquid that someone else, decades from now, will finish. This particular Black Pearl is a case in point. The eau-de-vie at its center was flagged by Loiseau’s predecessor, Pierrette Trichet, as the only one in the house’s historic demijohn collection carrying the unmistakable character of Le Grollet. Loiseau inherited that knowledge, then married the eau-de-vie with a single tierçon from the cellar to finish the blend. The decanter itself has been reimagined in darker glass with midnight-blue reflections, a nod to the half-light of the cellar that inspired it.

So yes, there were famous faces, and yes, they had a lovely time. But the most impressive thing in the room was the format. There was no stage, no speeches worth mentioning and no one competing with the liquid for attention. There was just an exceptional pour, the man who made it and an hour to appreciate both. Frankly, more launches could stand to take the hint.

Photo Credit: Louis XIII

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Want to know how the tasting ritual was designed? Read our deep dive on the LOUIS XIII Black Pearl experience, in Baptiste Loiseau’s own words.