Rare 258-year-old bottle of Cognac sells for more than £110k

The spirit, which dates from 1762, has been stored in a family cellar for the last 140 years.

It is one of only of only three bottles of the rare Gautier Cognac that exists today, according to the Sotheby’s auction house.

The two others – in the Gautier Museum, France, and sold at auction in New York in 2014 for around £48,000 – are smaller.

The bottle was bought by a private collector in Asia in an online sale and has set a record for the most expensive bottle of Cognac sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s.

The auction house’s spirits specialist Jonny Fowle previously told the PA news agency that the 258-year-old Cognac should still taste good and will have “maintained its character”.

The auctioned bottle was opened in 2014 “but I’ve not been lucky enough to taste it”, he added. “By all accounts it was enjoyed.”

The “condition of the bottle (going under the hammer) is really good. There’s not been that much evaporation”, he added.

“We can assume the alcohol level in it is pretty high and that would have acted as a preservative for hundreds of years.

“The liquid in the bottle would have maintained its character.”