Decanter World Wine AwardsChristie's Hong Kong sale 'confirms strength of Asian market'
- Monday 7 March 2011
Photo: Christie's
In the sale, which took place last weekend on 4 and 5 March, there were also rare magnums of top-end Burgundy.
Six magnums of La Tache 1961 from Domaine de la Romanee Conti fetched US$92,448 (£56,736), while three bottles of Domaine de la Romanee Conti 1929 fetched US$77,400 (£42,280), considerably higher than the estimate.
The Petrus and Lafite fetched US$83,203 (£51,062) and US$69,336 (£42,552) respectively.
The sale included a quantity of younger Bordeaux – wines like Pontet Canet, Leoville-Las-Cases, Lynch Bages and Leoville-Poyferre in vintages up to 2005 – that went under the hammer ‘at very strong prices’, Charles Curtis MW, head of wine for Christie’s Asia said.
This demonstrated ‘the continued strength of the market,’ he said. ‘The majority of the bids came from private clients from around the Asia region.
‘Particular areas of strength included the wines of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, which sold above high estimates in many cases, especially the 1990 and 2000 vintages, and Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, which maintained its continued popularity.’
Curtis added that the trend for buying larger formats and older vintages was continuing, ‘while the competitive international bidding shows that Hong Kong is now firmly established a global hub in the trading of fine and rare wines.’
Have your say!
Andrew Davison
March 24 13:51
Not correct James. The seller's proceeds of March 5 (after all fees) were precisely 2.09% under the Livex mid valuaiton of the consignment. Would you bid Livex mid less 2% for 1.6m GBP of stock?
James Oliver Swann
March 08 16:00
Whereas hammer prices at Hong Kong auction have certainly made headlines, all research and analysis of results to date finds that sellers would have achieved higher prices from the London merchants than from selling at HK auction.
Buyers paid premiums of 9%, 8% and 22% over market prices at high-brow auctions in January and have paid 12% over (for 1st growths) at an auction held by Christie’s HK last weekend. On appearance, this would seem an attractive option for the seller.
However, once buyer’s premiums (a whopping 25%) are removed, returns are less impressive, with the latter auction coming in at some 11% below UK market prices.
Therefore, we would advise you to contact the London wine merchants for quotes.
James Swann at
www.dittonwinetraders.co.uk