Bonhams: ‘Exceptional demand’ for whisky in Asia

Bonhams auction house has reported that its latest Hong Kong sale saw several bottles of Karuizawa, Hanyu and Macallan all smashing through their estimates.

Henri Jayer’s Richebourg also came in among the top 10 lots with four vintages of 1978 and 1985 in bottle and magnum formats beating their previous estimates.

Two bottles of 1985 Henri Jayer Richebourg saw stiff competition and exceeded their top estimate of HK$190,000 by selling for HK$245,000; surprising both auction house and bidders alike.

But it was the rare collection of aged Karuizawa, Hanyu and Macallan which stole the show.

Hanyu’s Ichiro four-bottle Card series which included the Ace of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Clubs and Ace of Diamonds fetched HK$196,000 over its top estimate of HK$190,000 while a 50-year-old Karuzawa went for HK$343,000 over its top estimate of HK$260,000.

Head of the Bonhams wine department, Daniel Lam said:

“We are delighted with the strong results, demonstrating the exceptional demand for rare whiskies such as Karuizawa, Hanyu and Macallan. We look forward to our first old and rare whisky auction in January next year, which will offer more than 300 lots of some of the best whiskies in the world to our international buyers.”