A shiny red bag arrives via messenger at your desk and inside, a chiffon-wrapped bottle of Piper champagne comes with a note that reads, “The fantasy is about to begin. Your journey starts with a toast to tonight.” Next you receive a phone call arranging your car service for the evening. So began your day if you were a guest of Rémy Martin at a press tasting for its cognac Louis XIII at Vine.
Because the cognac is so old and so expensive, and the brand is so status-oriented, Rémy brand ambassador Jason Bowden and KIM Media produced an event that emphasized those qualities. The event was structured in three parts: When guests arrived at Vine, Bowden led the group through a vintage-looking wrought iron gate, opened by a white-gloved butler, into a space that resembled a rustic French woodland, with shrubs, branches, rustic wooden furniture, and leaves on the floor. (This first space was intended to represent the long history of the brand, and to evoke a bygone century.) Next, GCI staff parted a black velvet curtain to lead guests into a glittery, mirrored, all-white space where a woman in a silvery dress swung on a crystalline swing in front of a massive ice sculpture by Okamoto Studio. (We’re not sure what this space was meant to suggest, but it had an elegant, dreamlike quality.)
Finally, Bowden invited guests into Vine’s signature space: an old bank vault containing walls of safety deposit boxes. Donning white gloves, Bowden opened one box to reveal a magnum—valued at about $3,500—of Louis XIII, and poured generous glasses for each guest. Everyone was invited to circulate around the room to various stations intended to underscore each of the cognac’s flavors—spice, honey, fruit, and chocolate—where fragrance strips and desserts from Le Bernardin pastry chef Michael Laiskonis complemented its complex taste. The procedure was fun and interactive: sniff, sip, taste, repeat.
When guests emerged from the tasting into the jarring din of post-trading-day Wall Street, they were forced to return from their reverie to present-day New York. If only their host could have prolonged the fantasy with the gift of a magnum on the way out—but Louis XIII-branded stemware in red velvet wrapping sufficed.
—Alesandra Dubin
Because the cognac is so old and so expensive, and the brand is so status-oriented, Rémy brand ambassador Jason Bowden and KIM Media produced an event that emphasized those qualities. The event was structured in three parts: When guests arrived at Vine, Bowden led the group through a vintage-looking wrought iron gate, opened by a white-gloved butler, into a space that resembled a rustic French woodland, with shrubs, branches, rustic wooden furniture, and leaves on the floor. (This first space was intended to represent the long history of the brand, and to evoke a bygone century.) Next, GCI staff parted a black velvet curtain to lead guests into a glittery, mirrored, all-white space where a woman in a silvery dress swung on a crystalline swing in front of a massive ice sculpture by Okamoto Studio. (We’re not sure what this space was meant to suggest, but it had an elegant, dreamlike quality.)
Finally, Bowden invited guests into Vine’s signature space: an old bank vault containing walls of safety deposit boxes. Donning white gloves, Bowden opened one box to reveal a magnum—valued at about $3,500—of Louis XIII, and poured generous glasses for each guest. Everyone was invited to circulate around the room to various stations intended to underscore each of the cognac’s flavors—spice, honey, fruit, and chocolate—where fragrance strips and desserts from Le Bernardin pastry chef Michael Laiskonis complemented its complex taste. The procedure was fun and interactive: sniff, sip, taste, repeat.
When guests emerged from the tasting into the jarring din of post-trading-day Wall Street, they were forced to return from their reverie to present-day New York. If only their host could have prolonged the fantasy with the gift of a magnum on the way out—but Louis XIII-branded stemware in red velvet wrapping sufficed.
—Alesandra Dubin
At Rémy Martin’s Louis XIII tasting at Vine, a white-gloved butler escorted guests inside a rustic space.
In the second room, a model swung on a crystalline swing in front of an ice sculpture.
In the vault, brand ambassador Jason Bowden removed a magnum of Louis XIII from a safe to serve guests.
At the honey-themed tasting station, guests smelled a fragrance stick and sampled desserts from Le Bernardin pastry chef Michael Laiskonis.
