Most famous whisky collection in the world arrives in the Netherlands
Zagatti-collection holding over 3,000 ultra rares bottles in Dutch hands for the next ten years
It has been a while, but today the Zagatti collection, the most famous whisky collection in the world has arrived in the Dutch town of Sassenheim, not far from Amsterdam. Scotch Whisky International, the company of CEO Michel Kappen, specialized in whisky investment has added the last bottle to the collection today. A stunning total of 3.103 very rare bottles made the trip from Italy to the Netherlands.
“It's almost impossible to describe this collection”, Kappen says. “Compare it to a series of Rembrandt paintings you purchase all together. One bottle is even more rare than the other. We managed to beat countries like China and Japan, where people were also very interested to take over the collection.”
The collection will stay complete for ten years
The collection is the life work of the now 81 year old Italian Valantino Zagatti, who was never able to really see the bottles himself. During the Second World World a landmine destroyed his eyesight. Zagatti was eleven years old back then. This never stopped him from collecting (malt) whisky and he is very keen to share his passion and work with the rest of the world. His books "The Best Collection of Malt - Volume I & II" are the only books in the world handling about single malt whisky.
Michel Kappen: “It was a very emotional moment for Zagatti to see his collection leave the house. Ronald Zwartepoorte, chief editor of Whisky Passion magazine and fluent in Italian, helped to pave the path.
Thie actual moment of signing the contract, with all the people involved is caught on film in the documentary "Netherlands, country of whisky" that moviemaker Gwen Jansen made in 2014.
Thie actual moment of signing the contract, with all the people involved is caught on film in the documentary "Netherlands, country of whisky" that moviemaker Gwen Jansen made in 2014.
"We have insured him that the collection will stay intact for at least ten years to come. It will be on display for the public in a special museum due to open in 2016 in Sassenheim."
Invaluable
For many years people (especially whisky collectors) all over the world have been speculating about the value of the Zagatti collection. But due to the sheer rarety of many of the bottles (only one worldwide) no one can be sure. “This collection is so unique that we could not give an estimate to the value” Kappen concludes.
This is the video we made of the event in Sassenheim on November 11th 2015.
For us whisky geeks and freaks it is wonderful to have this collection in our own small country. You will see bottles you have never seen before, so old and so rare. What about Parkmore? There are four bottles in the collection. Looking forward to the opening of the museum in 2016. Whiskytips will be there.
