One of the biggest bottles of champagne in the world has winged its way to New Zealand for Auckland Cup Week.
It holds 20 standard champagne bottles - or 125 flutes - which guests in the VIP area will get the chance to enjoy.
Champagne giant Mumm's chef de caves, Didier Mariotti, has flown in from France with the prestigious Nebuchadnnezar, which will be hand delivered especially for the upcoming Auckland Cup Week celebrations at Ellerslie Racecourse which begin next weekend.
The giant bottle of bubbly costs about $3500 but it is only available on request and would be specially made to order.
The bottle is so large and the champagne creates so much pressure that the cork can fly 30 metres in the air.
The bottle will be secured in a wooden crate en route from Europe.
"The bottle doesn't need a special fridge but it does need to be chilled for 48 hours because of the thickness of the bottle glass," a spokesperson for Mumms said.
The Nebuchadnnezar is made especially to order at the 190-year-old Champagne house.
Mariotti will also be overseeing the ancient art of Sabrage at the event, which sees standard size bottles of Champagne Mumm opened with a sabre.
Guests in the VIP area will also get to try their hand at sabrage throughout Auckland Cup Day.