Student banks on champagne sale

Nick Davies hopes this champagne will help set him up in business

An enterprising student hopes a bottle of champagne with a royal connection will net him a cash windfall.

The 1973 Bollinger champagne was bottled in 1981 to celebrate Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding.

Nick Davies has persuaded his parents from Herefordshire to part with it to help him fund his own business once he graduates from Swansea University.

Mr Davies, 23, said the bottle had already attracted interest on an online auction site.

"My parents were quite happy to let it collect dust on a shelf and I pushed them a bit to see if they would consider selling it," he said.

"I've researched it a little bit and found a similar bottle sold in America about four years ago that went for £1,200.

He's a bit of an entrepreneur is Nick, we used to call him Richard Branson! Cheryl Davies, mother

"I'm hoping to go into a carpentry business so the money would be a great help."

The champagne was a present from Mr Davies' mother Cheryl to his father Brian in 1981 but they say they are happy to help him out.

Mrs Davies, from Whitney-on-Wye, said: "We told him that if he can get something for the bottle, it's his.

"He's a bit of an entrepreneur is Nick, we used to call him Richard Branson!

"By the age of seven he was selling things in school and he had a printing business set up by the time he was 14."

Mrs Davies said she did not know how much the bottle was worth now but thinks she paid around £30 for it back in 1981.

It is certainly worth a lot more than that now but the experts were not keen on naming a price.

Simon Leschallas, director of Bollinger Champagne, said that although there were a few hundred cases of the champagne sold, there were probably few bottles left now.

"What price it's worth, I honestly don't know," he said.

"Quite a lot were bottled and it wasn't just for the wedding itself, we were allowed to sell them on the open market.

"But there can't be many left and it was a historical moment that affected this country quite severely."

Wine writer Malcolm Gluck was dubious about how it might taste, but thought the royal connection could interest the American market.

Mr Gluck said he would be very lucky to get more than £500 for it.