A six-litre imperial of 1989 Petrus from the Pomerol region of Bordeaux fetched £28,200 ($35,100) from a UK private bidder at a Sotheby’s wine sale in London last week, exceeding the upper estimate of £20,000, according to an e-mailed statement from the auction house.
Twelve bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1982 sold for £22,325. Among Burgundies, six magnums of Chambertin 1980 Armand Rousseau went for £18,800, compared with an upper estimate of just £3,000, while six bottles of La Romanee 2002 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair fetched £16,450. Auction prices included a 17.5 per cent buyer’s premium, which was not included in pre-sale estimates.
The auction came as the market for top-end Bordeaux wine has been recovering after a 40 per cent plunge in prices of many first growths. The London-based Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index of top Bordeaux rose 27 per cent last year, recouping some of the ground lost during the five previous years of declines. Demand for scarce or historic Burgundy bottles remains solid, as does appetite for wines from regions such as the Rhone, northern Italy and California.
The 22 February sale was “very strong across the board,” Stephen Mould, head of Sotheby’s Wine Europe, said in the statement. “The collection included some fabulous Burgundy, with rare Rousseau rocketing several times over the high estimate.”
Twelve bottles of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2000 sold for £15,275, while a 12-bottle case of Chateau Lafite 2000 fetched £13,513 and two magnums of Petrus 1990 went for £10,575.
Sotheby’s has other wine auctions scheduled for 25 March in New York and 29 March in London.
News by Bloomberg, edited by Hospitality Ireland
