Warnings follow Lafite success

Words of caution have been uttered from different parts of the trade following the recent Lafite auction in Hong Kong.

Although various indices and brokers have reported huge jumps in price for the first growth, it is felt that the incredible prices were due to the collection’s impeccable provenance.  

Henning Thoresen, CEO of Bordeaux WineBank (BWB), said he believed that such records were “very rare and exceptional and not expected to be repeated unless Lafite decides to sell more of the limited stock direct from their cellars.”

He continued: “Sophisticated wine collectors now want authentic wines with a guaranteed provenance. And it is when they are assured of the provenance that they are willing to place astronomical bids. This is what now redefines prices across the globe.”

Furthermore, the stupendous success of the auction only heightens the very real danger of fraudsters trying to get fake bottles on to the market to be sold for inflated prices.

The spectre of fakes surrounding the 2009 vintage – and in particular 2009 Lafite – was raised earlier this year.

BWB’s director of the Authenticity & Auctions department, Michael Egan, commented on the fact that of all the large formats the estate released for the auction, none was older than a double-magnum of 1949.

Château Lafite, like its peers, did not produce very many large format bottles in the 1940s, 1930s, 1920s and beyond,” he continued.

“Yet these are the very formats that I see on a regular basis, many of which I find dubious, for example an imperial of Château Lafite 1945.”

Rupert Millar, 11.11.2010