Sotheby’s achieves second highest US wine auction with $9.3m sale

Auction house Sotheby’s achieved the second highest total price for a wine sale in the US last Thursday with the US$9.3 million sale of a single-owner collection which included 466 lots.

Its latest auction, ‘A Monumental Cellar’, marked the opening of the Sotheby’s Wine autumn season in the US.

Year to date, Sotheby’s Wine & Spirits has achieved $30 million in the US, marking a 25% increase year on year, and the latest sale has helped to bolster these results.

Nick Pegna, the former Berry Bros. & Rudd fine wine boss who was appointed as Sotheby’s global head of Wine & Spirits in June, said of the auction: “This exceptional result is a testament to the unrivalled quality of the wine and clarity of the collector’s vision, setting the foundation for a successful fall season at Sotheby’s. We are very pleased that these wines will be kept and enjoyed by collectors who appreciate their excellence and identity.”

The $9.3m single-owner sale saw 98% of lots sold.

Top lots included five magnums of Romanée Conti 1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, estimated at between $260,000/$350,000, which sold for $275,000.

Twelve bottles of Petrus 1961 also included in the auction sold for $118,750, having been estimated at $85,000/$120,000.

A total of 135 Petrus lots were included in the auction, including two bottles from 1924.

Wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, the Rhône and one lot of Ribera del Duero Vega Sicilia ‘Unico’ 1999 were featured in the auction, with bottles of Le Pin, Château Lafite, Chateaux Cheval Blanc and Krug all on offer.

The highest grossing wine sale at Sotheby’s in the US remains the wines from the cellar of William I. Koch, which achieved $21.8 million in 2016.

‘A Monumental Cellar’, which closed Last Thursday, beat the previous record for the second highest total for a wine sale at Sotheby’s in the US held by The Don Stott Cellar, which achieved $8.4 million in 2015.