Wally's and Zachys, two of America's major wine retailers, plan to sell wine at auction jointly in Los Angeles next year.
The first sale will be held May 7-8, and another will be held in the fall, said Jeff Zacharia, the Zachys president, on Tuesday.
The arrangement will be called Zachys With Wally's, according to an announcement posted on the Wally's website.
Zacharia recalled that Zachys previously held auctions in Los Angeles with Christie's when Christie's was its partner, and was there last in 2001. He declined to go into the details of the new partners' relationship.
'If we are seriously interested in being a leader in auctions in this country, then we need to be back in Los Angeles,' Zacharia said.
The arrangement to hold joint auctions was reached by the owner of Wally's, Steve Wallace, and Don Zacharia, the chairman and Jeff's father, who have long been friends.
Both houses will supply the wines for sale. Zachys will supply the auctioneers, Ursula Hermacinski and Fritz Hatton.
Wally's, in Los Angeles, is usually considered to be the city's greatest wine store. It famously caters to Hollywood.
Zachys, in affluent Scarsdale, in Westchester County, a Manhattan suburb, has been holding extraordinarily successful sales in Restaurant Daniel in Manhattan.
The Wally's-Zachys deal has been in the works for about four months, Jeff Zacharia said.
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