The short answer
The most recent recorded sale of Dom Perignon 1949 in our data was £1,019 a bottle in December 2020.
Dom Perignon 1949 is one of the declared vintages in the house record, from a harvest that followed the rebuilding of the Champagne vineyard after the second world war. Bottles reaching the open market are scarce and are almost always sold singly rather than by the case. The vintage has traded in 2 months of our recorded history, and last traded at £1,019 a bottle in December 2020, on very thin volume. Public auction aggregation records two further lots, averaging 1,449 dollars and ranging from 1,230 to 1,667 dollars. Independent retail guides publish their own asking ranges, which record what sellers want rather than what buyers have paid. The drinker notes we hold give it an average of 94.0, and both describe a wine fully into tertiary maturity: pale golden, faintly mousseux still, with spice, dried citrus and a mineral edge. At this age, provenance decides more of the value than the vintage does.
What Dom Perignon 1949 is
The 1949 is a declared vintage, listed among the house releases from the first declaration of 1921 onwards. It sits in the tight post-war run of declarations alongside 1947 and 1952, a period when production volumes were far below anything the house makes now, and when far fewer bottles were laid down for long keeping in the first place.
That scarcity is the single most important fact about the wine commercially. A vintage that trades a handful of times a decade has no reliable market price, only a series of individual results, and any figure quoted without a date attached to it should be treated as decoration rather than evidence.
What the trade record actually shows
The 1949 has traded in 2 months of our recorded history, and last traded at £1,019 a bottle in December 2020. Observations this sparse do not make a trend, and it would be dishonest to present them as one, but they do establish an order of magnitude.
Recorded auction results add two more lots, at an average of 1,449 dollars with a spread from 1,230 to 1,667 dollars. Independent retail guidance publishes its own asking range for the vintage, which records what sellers want rather than what buyers have paid.
How it tastes now
Drinkers in our record average 94.0 across 2 drinker ratings. The earlier of the two describes a pale golden colour with the mousse still present, and reads the wine as complex and elegant, with ocean air, apricot, citrus and a distinct mineral streak. The later note finds cinnamon, clove and baking spice on the nose, then allspice and light caramel on the palate, with clear oxidative character and a finish that had begun to dry out.
Read together those notes describe exactly what a well-kept bottle of this age should be: still alive, still faintly sparkling, but firmly tertiary and past the point where anyone should expect fruit. The gap between the two notes also shows how much individual bottle condition decides the outcome at this age.
Buying a bottle this old
Provenance decides more of the value than the vintage does. Ask when the bottle was last moved, how it has been stored, and what the fill level is. A low shoulder on a wine of this age is not automatically fatal, but it changes what you should pay, and any seller who cannot answer those questions is asking you to price a risk blind.
Treat a bottle of 1949 as an archival tasting piece rather than something to lay down further. It has no upside left in the cellar. Stand it upright for a day before opening so the sediment settles, and open it gently: what carbonation remains is delicate and easily lost.
Common questions
Is 1949 a declared Dom Perignon vintage?
Yes. The 1949 appears in the published list of declared vintages, in the post-war run alongside 1947 and 1952.
What does a bottle of Dom Perignon 1949 cost?
In our record it last traded at £1,019 a bottle in December 2020. Recorded auction lots average 1,449 dollars, ranging from 1,230 to 1,667 dollars.
Is the 1949 still drinkable?
The drinker notes we hold describe a wine that is still alive and faintly sparkling, but fully tertiary. They average 94.0. Condition varies enormously bottle to bottle at this age.
Should I cellar a bottle of 1949 for longer?
No. A wine of this age has no structural upside left. Treat it as an archival bottle to open rather than to keep.
Sources
- The Finest Bubble on the Dom Perignon declared vintages, checked 2026-08-29
- Recorded auction results for the 1949 bottling, checked 2026-08-29
- Glass of Bubbly guide to Dom Perignon vintage price values, checked 2026-08-29
By WineExperts. First published , last updated . Figures from our tracked merchant prices and recorded sales; text prepared with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed above.