Hong Kong Sotheby’s conducts Great American Collector vintage wine auction
Despite the dark clouds of recession hovering over the world’s economy, Sotheby’s October wine auction in Hong Kong attracted many true wine connoisseurs who spent big money in the name of classic wines. The event that was held from 1-2 October auctioned some of the rarest wines, approximately 9,000 bottles, including Imperials of Chateau Lafite, Jeroboams of Mouton, Cheval Blanc, Latour and some of Lafite from the Rothschild’s private cellars.
The auction opened with the eighth auction of wine from the Classic Cellar from Great American Collector, the greatest single-owner wine collection in Sotheby’s history.. This auction alone fetches $3.5 million that was very close to the pre-sale estimation which was $4 million. Apart from Great American Collector’s wine, 12 bottles of 1990 Chateau Petrus was the major highlight of the sale that fetched around $43,436. With 500 lots of rare wine, the sale also featured finest Bordeaux from the last three decades.
The auction is witnessing huge gains from past two years with the biggest contribution from the Chinese buyers made headlines over the past year paying record prices for fine vintage wine. The Chinese buyers invest mostly in Robert Sleigh and Lafite. The auction also sold six-liter Imperials of Chateau Lafite Rothschild from 2000 at the cool price of $20,167.
The major contribution of the sale came from The Ultimate Nine from The Bordeaux Winebank Collection 1988 that sold for $116,346. The second half of the sale raised around $ 9.2 million. The head of Sotheby’s Asia, wine department, commented,
In 2011 the estimates have caught up with the prices and some lots were sold at the lower end of forecasts due to some buyers being more cautious.
Apart from wines, the auction also features fine art, jewelry and rare porcelain. The auction will end on 6th October and is expected to raise around $10 million. Amongst the porcelain items, a rare Chinese ceramics from a vintage European collection by Zuellig brothers will also be auctioned and is expected to fetch around $55 million. Fine jewelry includes a Golconda Pink 9.27 carat pink diamond expecting $19 million and watches from Hong Kong canto pop diva Anita Mui that is expected to collect some $335,000.
Also, check out our complete list on the world’s most expensive wines.
