Bilbey: the younger generation isn’t ‘looking for 12 bottles of 1990 Romanée-Conti’ to store

Christie’s has announced its next New York wine sale after triumphantly returning to the East Coast, a “surprising” collection that is likely to attract a new demographic. Arabella Mileham talks to global head of wine & spirits Adam Bilbey about the collection, rebuilding its New York sales and the overall health of the fine wine market. 

This follows its triumphant return to sales in New York after a six-year hiatus, with the Cellar of William Koch raising US$28.8 million – nearly twice its minimum estimate and a new world record for a single owner wine sale sold in North America.

Speaking to db last week, Bilbey said it was “something special”, given the global macro-economic conditions, which he credited to the hard work of the Christie’s team as well as Mr Koch and his team, his “mesmerizing” collection.

Bilbey describes the timing of that collection as perfect “divine intervention”, given that the team had received their license from the State Liquor Authority (SLA) to re-establish sales. These had been halted in 2019 (with sales moving to Los Angeles), but “we were missing one of the biggest, if not the biggest, fine wine markets in the world, which is the East Coast,” Bilbey says. They took time to develop a clear strategy for New York. “We didn’t rush into it, because it’s quite technical,” he adds and it took time to “dot the i’s cross the t’s.”

Visiting the cellar was “one of those great moments”, he said. “I’m a Manchester United supporter and it’s a bit like going to play at Old Trafford.”

“We could not have asked for a more fitting sale to launch our business back in New York.”

Broader appeal 

It is consolidating its successful return to New York with the two-day sale of a cellar from a European private collector that promises to attract new consumers and offer a broad and sometimes “surprising” collection.

“It is a really fun, and the complete opposite to Mr Koch in that although they are very focused on Burgundy, it’s a much broader collection,” he said. “Mr. Koch focused on the very, very best – and it’s not that this collector isn’t looking at the very best, but they very much don’t discriminate [by just] listening to critics, they listen to their palate.”

“If you look at this cellar and this is somebody that just first and foremost has a passion for wine, and they really want to portray sort of like their insights and knowledge, to a broader audience.”

It was, he said, one of the largest by wine collections he’d ever seen, “and this is only a very small part of that” and there are wines from the mid- to late-1990s – some white Burgundies, for example – “that might just surprise you.”

“I don’t think you’re going to see as broad a collection of Burgundy offered for a while from someone that is an absolute, true collector.”

New demographic

Bilbey adds that holding the sale in New York provided “a great opportunity” to not only consolidate its return to the city in line with a clear strategy, but its very breadth was something that perhaps the East Coast of America “might not have seen”. As such, it is likely to appeal to a slightly different demographic of wine drinkers – and Christie’s is presenting a large amount of wine to taste in the US, Asia  and the UK.

The younger generation isn’t “necessarily looking for 12 bottles of 1990 Conti, their hero wine”, he argued, preferring to ” drink and try” their wines.

“They’re building up their collection. They have great knowledge. And this is the key  – with social media nowadays, the access to information is more than ever, but still, the younger generation want to drink and try. They might not want to buy 12 or 24 bottles and store it in the UK, like we used to (and some of us still do), they want to buy it and they want to drink it. And they’re drinking things younger. So while there are some older wines, this is ranging mainly from the late 90s through to  the mid-noughties.”

Overall, “we want to do them justice as well, because it is a great collection, and there is a heart to the collection. This is not someone that just has lots of money that just says ‘I want this, I want this’, this is someone that has bought wines to be drunk.”

The cellar, which was built through “extensive tasting and a deep appreciation for terroir”, Christie’s said in a statement, comprises over 1,000 lots, including both red and white wines from iconic domaines as well as more “hidden gems”.

Highlights include full cases of Emmanuel Rouget’s Echézeaux from 2009 and 2010, a rare case of Clos de Vougeot from Prieuré Roch, and more than ten vintages of Bonnes Mares from Domaine Georges Roumier. It also includes a selection of Champagne from Krug, Philipponnat, and Salon, some top Rhône producers including Rayas, Chave’s Hermitage, and Guigal’s “La La” wines, as well as wines from Italian producers, including Soldera, Giacosa, and Giacomo Conterno.

The two-day sale will take place on 25th  and 26th September at Rockefeller Centre.

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