Fancy water that's costlier than wine
A few months ago, Madonna’s pal let it slip that the Material Girlfriend spends $10,000 each month for water blessed by Kabbalah rabbis. Other celebrities—namely Jeff Goldblum, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Naomi Campbell and Liz Taylor—reportedly share Madonna’s appreciation, if not her line-item budget, for the stuff.
When it comes to devotion for premium water, however, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, Berg, a bottled water company in
Berg is one of the top 10 exclusive bottled waters named by anthropologist-turned-water-expert Michael Mascha— who, incidentally, declines to comment on Madonna’s drink of choice. “I’m talking about water in the epicurean sense,” he says.
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Bottled water is the next wine, according to Mascha, and like wine, bottled water has terroir, or a sense of place. But unlike wine, he says, “water is really in touch with the ground.” (Except, that is, in the case of Tasmanian Rain and Cloud Juice, two bottled waters from
Just as consumers have embraced the concept that chocolate is no longer merely a candy bar stamped “Nestlé” (the world’s largest water bottler, by the way) and salt is more than crystals in a cylinder labeled “Morton’s,” so too are they coming to appreciate the different tastes and “mouthfeel” of premium waters. Says Mascha, “Bottled water is now making the transition from being considered a commodity to being considered a natural product with its own origin.”
While Europe and
See our slideshow of Most Expensive Bottled Water
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See our slideshow of Most Expensive Bottled Water
Although the
Premium water, on the other hand, comes from virgin sources—and from companies that maintain the pristine nature of those sources.
In 2004, an uproar resulted when Londoners discovered that Coca-Cola sourced its
Where, then, to find the best bottled water?
“That would be akin to asking where the best wine is coming from,” says Mascha. After all, some wine connoisseurs swear by Bordeaux, others by Barolo. “That’s the beauty of what I am talking about… We can have many different waters with many different flavors with many different aspects, and we should really enjoy the differences and the variety and not look for just the best water.” Mascha’s recommends comparing water terroir at Colette, a water bar in Paris, where customers can select from more than 100 labels.
Of course, water differs from wine in some regards. For one thing, even a connoisseur such as Mascha can’t discern a water’s source in a blind tasting. “The flavor in water is very subtle,” he says. And, it doesn’t improve with age. “The only difference between rainwater and iceberg water is 18,000 years… I think where the age of the water makes a difference is not so much in the flavors or taste, but in indicating the source of the water.”
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For example, 10 Thousand BC bottled water comes from 10,000-year-old ice. Because there were few, if any, pollutants 10,000 years ago, this British Columbian luxury quaff is “very, very virgin.”
When a new luxury product is born, can Hollywood be far behind? Already 10 Thousand BC has at least five feature-film product placements lined up. Also available: designer bottles with charms, pendants and necklaces made with cubic zirconia and diamonds “for some of the very special events we have been invited to as gifts for royalty, celebrities, movies and international business clients,” says Andrea Bates, vice president of Source Glacier Beverage Co. The cost of those bottles will range from $250 to $550, with proceeds going toward charities that the company supports.
An invitation-only Premium Water Summit is set for May 5 and 6 in Barcelona, Spain, home of co-organizer Wawali Way of Life. The invitees include not only bottlers and distributors, but also chefs and sommeliers from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, Europe, the United States, Chile and Argentina. Organizers are proposing the creation of a Premium Water Society to promote ethical and quality standards. That might advance the sophistication of consumers. In his book, Mascha offers guidelines for water and food pairings, drinking temperature and even decanting.
Some bottlers aren’t waiting for people to make the wine-water connection. Lauquen Artesian Mineral Water from Patagonia, Argentina, is labeled “Reserve.” And, taking a cue from the wine industry, Equa from Brazil is working on a series of bottles sporting art reproductions. The twist: A bottle of standard Equa will be placed conspicuously within the famous work represented on the label. At $15 or more, the water will cost consumers about the price of a decent bottle of wine. Meanwhile, Iskilde from Denmark and Bling H20 from Tennessee offer cork-sealed bottles.
Madonna’s accountant should be glad his client doesn’t have a Bling habit. While the water does come from a virginal spring, the bottle is “blinged” with Swarovski crystals, jacking the price to a whopping $441 per case. Suddenly, that $60-per-case Kabbalah water sounds like a bargain.
We’ve ranked 10 of the world’s premium waters in approximate order of most to least expensive. A few caveats: Not only do these bottled waters come in different sizes, but “cases” are different as well. Some are six bottles, others are 12; one is sold in 24-bottle sets. We provide the bottler’s per-case price, as well as a cost per 750 milliliters (regardless of the bottle’s actual volume). Perhaps, eventually, these boutique bottlers will take yet another cue from vintners—and standardize their serving sizes.