Christie’s Hong Kong sale ‘confirms strength of Asian market’

Cases of Chateau Petrus and Chateau Lafite 1982 have sold for between US$63,000 and US$83,000 in the latest Christie's Hong Kong sale.

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.’

Written by Adam Lechmere