Thanks to its iconic logo that makes it immediately recognizable, the Armand de Brignac Champagne is known worldwide also under the name Ace of Spades.

The price for a single bottle is around two hundred and fifty euros. While limited editions can go up to three hundred and fifty.

The annual production reaches 60.000 bottles and they sell out every year.

Nevertheless, the famous enologist, Lyle Fass defined it as “the biggest scam in wine history”.

The product has in fact been described of poor quality and owns its pleasant taste to the excessive sugar addition that makes the skin of wine experts crawl. So how can they possibly sell all these bottles?

The story is quite intriguing.

Everything started when Jay Z (one of the most famous rappers of the world, husband of her majesty, Beyoncé, realized that his songs (and the ones from his colleagues) could be excellent rhyme promotional tools. Tools that could exponentially increase sales for luxury brands, alcohol, and sports cars.

One day, good Jay, got tired of promoting brands without getting any share on the sales he nurtured, or following an Italian saying “to work for the church”. Ok, the artistic flair needs to be pleased, but why enrich someone who is not even thanking you?

He, therefore, started to adopt the principle of “we don’t do it, we don’t sell it”, in other words, the law of your product.

He started to substitute all the brands he was mentioning in his songs, with his own brands.

His Vodka.

His clothing brand.

And yes, you got it: his champagne.

This “method”, which his colleagues decided not to follow, made him even richer.

He then decided to film a scene in one of his music videos while he was theatrically choosing a bottle of Armand de Brignac over a bottle of Crystal.