Acker lines up superlots

Acker Merrall & Condit is selling three superlots at its next sale in Hong Kong, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Pétrus and Mouton Rothschild.

John Kapon, CEO of Acker Merrall & Condit, told the drinks business that the lots would be the “jewel in the crown of a collector’s cellar”.

The lot of DRC Romanée-Conti is comprised of 55 bottles and spans the years 1955 to 2007 – excluding 1968 which was never produced. Valued at US$600,000 to $800,000, Kapon has already stated he believes it has the potential to sell for $1 million.

“It’s the most valuable of the three,” he told db. “DRC is on fire at the moment and is certainly the strongest producer of the year.”

The other two lots are a vertical of Pétrus from 1959 to 2007 and including a bottle of 1945 (estimate $200,000 to $300,000) and a vertical of Mouton from 1936 to 2008 including loose bottles of 1867, 1874, 1899 and 1905 (estimate $200,000 to $300,000).

On the subject of Burgundy in Asia and signs that that market is broadening out as well as prices and sales apparently falling he said: “The market is diversifying a little bit.

“Bordeaux is still the most important segment, followed by Burgundy – those categories have always dominated – but Bordeaux is still king of the market and always will be.

“Because prices went up so much, a lot of collections came out of the woodwork. The market was up, up and away for two years and it’s levelled out a bit. People musn’t forget though that we’re still trading a huge amount of Bordeaux and it’s selling well.

“We’ve continued to maintain a 90%+ sell rate throughout the year. We’re up on the year by some 15% so overall we’re pretty pleased.”