Greek spirit brand Metaxa and brand owner Rémy Cointreau Global Travel Retail invited trade media including The Moodie Report to a cellar experience at its headquarters in Athens on Wednesday (15 April) where the new travel retail exclusive Metaxa Angels’ Treasure and Metaxa with Greek Honey were unveiled.
Angels’ Treasure is making its travel retail debut this week at Athens International Airport with Hellenic Duty Free Shops before rolling out to global travel retail in July. Metaxa with Greek Honey launched over the Easter period at Athens Airport.
Founded by Spyros Metaxa in 1888, Metaxa was known as a Cognac until 1936 when the French legislation came into place, meaning that certain criteria had to be met in order for a spirit to be categorised as a Cognac. Metaxa decided not to change its composition to fit the requirements so from 1936 to 1987 it was marketed as a brandy. The spirit is now classified as neither a Cognac nor a brandy but in a category of its own.
Created by Metaxa Master Constantinos (Costas) Raptis, Metaxa Angels’ Treasure is a blend of aged Muscat wines from the Aegean island of Samos and aged wine distillates which have been selected, blended and left to mature for over 50 years in French limousin oak casks.
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Left: Metaxa Angels’ Treasure will retail at €130; right: Metaxa with Greek Honey is priced at €23.50 |
The name Angels’ Treasure is derived from “˜angels’ share’, a term widely used in the world of fine spirits to denote the portion of a spirit that is lost to evaporation during ageing in oak casks.
Metaxa Angels’ Treasure, aromatic with a sweet perfume on the nose, offers fragrances of bitter orange peel, dried fruit, sweet spices, chocolate, oak and toffee. On the palate it has notes of citrus fruits, leaving a long after-taste. The liquid is presented in an elegant decanter and is housed in a brown gift box which also serves as a display case. Metaxa Angels’ Treasure, priced at €130, will be exclusive to travel retail for a one-year period.
During the cellar experience Metaxa Master Costas Raptis explained the complex distilling process of Metaxa before hosting a Metaxa blending masterclass which saw guests attempting to create their own Metaxa blend.
Speaking at the Metaxa distillery, Metaxa Managing Director Stéphanie Ancel described The House of Metaxa as a “one of a kind”. She added that travel retail is the perfect launch platform for Metaxa Angels’ Treasure.
“We want to premiumise our products and to showcase the know-how and longevity of the brand to the world. We are using global travel retail as a channel to reveal the long-term offer of Angels’ Treasure. It is the beginning of a long-term story; such an exceptional creation is rare,” said Ancel.
Remy Cointreau Global Travel Retail Marketing Director Matthew Hodges commented: “Metaxa Angels’ Treasure provides travellers with an intriguing new variant with which they can treat themselves or present with confidence as a special gift. The House of Metaxa has a strong history of excellent design and this exceptional decanter extends this proud tradition. I am confident that Metaxa connoisseurs will fully appreciate the wonderful intensity and lingering after-taste of this new expression and those new to Metaxa will quickly come to appreciate this exceptional spirit.”
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Metaxa Master Costas Raptis explains the complex distilling process of the spirit | |
Hodges added that despite the huge number of spirits brands available in travel retail, Metaxa is a “more than worthy competitor”.
Metaxa’s core duty free locations are Greece, Eastern Europe and Russia, but the brand is also sold in locations further afield such as Hong Kong, Melbourne, New York and the Maldives where the brand is performing well.
“The beauty of travel retail is that you can go to where your consumers are, for example Greeks, Eastern Europeans, Russians and you find them in many different places in addition to their homeland. It’s about building the brand with its core target but also exposing it to a wider audience,” said Hodges.
Metaxa Master Constantinos Raptis said: “For the creation of Metaxa Angels’ Treasure I was inspired by the uncommon phenomenon that occurs in our cellars in Attica. True to the style of the House, Metaxa Angels’ Treasure is a spirit of supreme concentration and aromatic intensity, with a taste that combines subtle smoothness and intense pleasure.”
Also unveiled on the trip in Athens was Metaxa with Greek Honey, priced at €23.50. It features aromas of honeycomb with hints of orange blossom, jasmine and apricot while the palate combines notes of black raisins, honey, oak, dried prunes and exotic spices with a sweet and spicy velvety finish.
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The home of Metaxa in Athens where the ageing and all the bottling takes place |
The liquid is housed in the signature Metaxa shaped bottle and features a golden drop of honey on the label to identify the flavour.
“Metaxa is a spirit which has excited consumers for generations,” Hodges continued. “The new offer is a serendipitous pairing of the smoothness of Metaxa with Greek honey. Within the vibrant spirits category it stands out with real provenance. It maintains all the complexity for which Metaxa is famous and adds a gentle touch of smokiness. I am looking forward to seeing how consumers react when they taste it.”
To promote awareness of Metaxa with Greek Honey and Angels’ Treasure, the brand has started to use invitation samplings as well as digital methods to target people precisely, Hodges revealed.
Commenting on the launch of Metaxa with Greek Honey and Angels’ Treasure, Hellenic Duty Free Shops Commercial Director Manos Mathianakis said: “Metaxa Angels’ Treasure and Metaxa with Greek Honey are two amazing products available, in exclusivity, at Hellenic Duty Free Shops for the next three months. Travellers will be lucky to be the first to taste and purchase these two unique products. We expect these products to climb our bestseller list at a rapid pace.”
Guests of Metaxa in Athens also had the opportunity to take a ride on the Metaxa cable car which goes up to the top of Lycabettus Hill. The journey upwards represents the ascent from Metaxa’s vineyards and cellars upwards to the sun, echoing the brand’s slogan of being “the smoothest spirit under the sun”, it explained.
