A Different Spring Auction

Different Wine Auction Hong Kong April 2013

I just went to my first live wine auction and I’m still on a high! Knowing that Asia is beating all records when it comes to wine auctions at the moment, it’s needless to say how excited I was when I first received the invitation.

After entering a ballroom filled with round tables sitting about twelve persons, the auction started. Held by Maitres Ruellan et Labarbe, things were in full swing from the beginning and on for the next four hours or so. The prices went from really reasonable to really hopeful (i am still pondering on the fact that some might be willing to pay that much for a wine they won’t event drink…).

The spread offered over these two days of auctioning was coming from various private collections, lovingly gathered by the two Maitres over their many journeys and encounters with wine collectors from France. Among them was “Mr H.”, a debonaire bearded man who looked more like a druid than your usual wine investor, and who owns a 19th century castle in France, “where the cellar contains more than 10,000 bottles”. It is not difficult to imagine how heartbreaking the sale of such collection must have been to Mr H., as his impeccable taste was widely expressed in his choice of names and vintages.

What surprised me the most was the amount of unsold lots, and not of the worse quality! There was an amazing selection up for grab, like a vertical Chateau Mouton Rothschild from 1960 to 1989 which didn’t find a buyer; 30 bottles for US$12,600 didn’t seem that overpriced yet, it didn’t go. Same as for a vertical d’Yquem from 1933 to 2004 selling for US$54,000, although here one could make a point in arguing that you either need quite a lot of space to be able to fit such a collection, either be a complete d’Yquem fanatic, which would be totally understood among the vino community, even encouraged! Yet, no buyer. And how about this bottle of Mouton Rothschild 1859? No one?? My heart sank when the hammer went down and the Maitre whispered “Unsold…”. Somebody should have come forward and buy it to offer it to a museum, as a good (and pricey!) gesture for the protection of Universal Patrimony!!

As the evening went on, the bids became higher… and the less frequent the bidders! Lots of big names left unsold, such as La Tache 1947, Haut Brion 1955, Romanee St Vivant 1949… Maybe past their prime, still, a few cases of collection Duclot (including bottles of Margaux, Mouton Rothschild, Latour, Haut Brion, Petrus, Cheval Blanc) were left on the racks. Ah… sacrilegious! and surprising as well, knowing the records broken during the last Hong Kong Auction  (early April, a wine auction fetched a record HK$38,3 million, which is slightly less than US$5 million).

Luckily, Burgundy was here to save the day and the big winner of that evening was without a doubt Romanee Conti. Move over Bordeaux, Hong Kong has taken on a new fancy! There were some Petrus fans in the house as well, with a lot at 6 bottles of 1982 going for U$21,400.

Overall, it was an event not to be missed and unique experience. It  might not have presented the top notch vintages of its kind (leave it to Acker Merrall Condit), but the collection lovingly accumulated throughout the years and ready to be passed on to the next generation of avid collectors or hedonists was giving a very nostalgic feel to the whole evening.

Friendly bidders at the auction.