Sotheby’s HK sale highest grossing of 2015

Sotheby’s latest Hong Kong sale of fine wines realised HK$56 million, making it the leading sale of the year globally and the fourth highest grossing single-owner wine sale and the sixth highest grossing sale in the company’s history.

The sale was 100% sold and over 50% of the lots exceeded their high estimates with Domaine de la Romanée-Conti contributing to 46% of the total with a HK$26.3m (US$3.3m) haul for the 1,000 bottles offered and a collection of Champagne added another 10% with HK$5,5m realised.

Burgundy in fact represented 75% of the total value, making HK$42.2m, with buyers also going after the collector’s other current favourite Henri Jayer as well as Emmanuel Rouget, Armand Rousseau, Georges Roumier and Domaines Leroy, Ramonet and Leflaive.

The sale also included a collection of over 800 bottles of fine Champagne which the house’s head of wine in Hong Kong, Robert Sleigh, had previously called “one of the best collections of Champagne to ever come to Asia.”

Top picks included 12 bottles of 1966 Bollinger RD which went for HK$31,850, alongside cases of the 1982, 1988, 1990 and 1996 vintages, 1992 and 1998 Vieilles Vignes Françaises, 1985 and 1990 Dom Pérignon, 1966 and 1973 Oenotheque and 1982, 1985, 1990, 1995, 1996 Krug, Krug Collection dating back to 1979 and multiple vintages of Clos d’Ambonnay and Clos du Mesnil, alongside Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses and Salon.

Jamie Ritchie, CEO & president of Sotheby’s Wine, Americas & Asia, said: “At HK$56.8 / US$7.3m, this outstanding collection takes its place among the most important wine auctions ever staged, ranking as Sotheby’s all-time fourth highest single-owner wine sale in Hong Kong and sixth highest worldwide.

“It was our second consecutive 100% sold sale, following the Château Mouton Rothschild sale in January. This time, Burgundy dominated the sale, with particularly strong prices for DRC whose wine achieved sales of HK $26.4 million / US$3.4 million, just under half the value of the sale. This sets the stage for our next Single-Owner sale on 8 & 9 May, The Don Stott Cellar, which represents the greatest Burgundy collection ever to be offered by Sotheby’s in New York.”

Over 100 watches from the same collection as the wine will be offered today (7 April) and are expected to make HK$18 – $27m.