El Bulli cellar to be sold at auction

The fabled wine cellar of celebrated restaurant El Bulli, which closed its doors last July, is to be auctioned off by Sotheby's.

The list at the restaurant, a pioneer of molecular gastronomy under chef Ferran Adria, was a predictably encyclopaedic affair, weighing in at 139 pages and including about 1,600 bins in total.

The list was compiled by Adria’s business partner, Juli Soler, who admitted it was a challenge to find good matches for the restaurant’s ceaselessly inventive and varied tasting menu.

It ticks all the classic boxes – fine Bordeaux and Burgundy, top Champagne and, naturally, a strong selection of Spanish wines including 10 vintages of Torres’ Mas La Plana.

There are 17 bins featuring Le Montrachet, all the great names of Bordeaux and, at the very top of the range, 1999 Romanee-Conti from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti at EUR5,350 a bottle.

But less obvious names such as Samos and Switzerland also feature among the list’s 16 countries, with styles as diverse as Sherry, Port, Tokaji and Canadian icewine.

A Sotheby’s spokesperson would reveal little about the impending sale, saying: ‘Detailed information regarding Sotheby’s sale of wines from El Bulli restaurant will be available in due course.’

Three Michelin-starred El Bulli closed in July last year, but is due to re-open in 2014 as a non-profit foundation for ‘avant-garde gastronomy lovers’.

The El Bulli Foundation is set to be a ‘think-tank of gastronomic creativity’ involving chefs, sommeliers and front-of-house professionals.

Written by Richard Woodard