Sotheby’s global wine and spirits sales achieve US$127.5 million

Sotheby’s saw its global wine and spirit sales rise 12% during 2025 to US$127.5 million, attributing this to “renewed global momentum and a rapidly expanding collector base”.  

2025 “was a year of strong momentum”, the auction house said in its annual Wine & Spirits Market Report, with “near-equal geographic distribution” of buyers across Asia (accounting for 31%), the Americas (32%) and EMEA (37%). Bidder participation expanded to 63 countries, with Japan entering the top ten buyer list for the first time., it noted.

The USA took the lion’s share of the America’s market, accounted for 31% of total sales, making it by far the largest market. This was followed by France (18%), while Hong Kong, in third place (21%) , saw a “strong uplift in spend”. The UK followed with 7% of the market, Denmark 5% (equalling the rest of Europe combined, except Switzerland which accounted for 3%), while China took 4%, followed by Singapore (2%), Taiwan (1%) and Japan (1%).

In terms of demographics, around a third of its buyers were new to Sotheby’s, with 50% under the age of 50 and half of those (25% overall) under the age of 40, the company said, a signal of “strong engagement from the next generation of collectors and a consistently widening audience”.

Bordeaux dominates

Bordeaux dominated the top ten, accounting for six of the top ten spots, with Petrus (7%) and Lafite (5%) doubling their share across the year, while Mouton Rothschild, Latour and Haut-Brion shared fifth position with 3% of sales, just ahead of Margaux (2%).

It was however, Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) which took the top spot, accounting for 17% of sales, supported by Domaine Leroy + d’Auvenary (4%)  and Domaine Armand Rouseau (3%), while Henri Jayer (2%) became the only new Burgundy entry in the top ten.

It was also DRC which achieved the highest prices for wine in the year, selling 12 bottles of la Romanée-Conti 1990, for US$449,890  – the equivalent of $37,490 per bottle – in Hong Kong.  The 1999 vintage came in second place, when six bottles were sold in New York for 150,000 (equivalent to $25,000 per neck).

“Rebalancing” of Spirits market

There was also “significant” regional rebalancing in the spirits market with EMEA tripling its share year-on-year to 21%, with the US also gaining share (the Americas account for 38% of sales) balancing out Asia, which has previously dominated the market.  Hong Kong accounts for 20% of the market, along with Singapore (8%), Mainland China (5%), Vietnam (3%) and the rest of Asia at 3%. The majority of the share in EMEA was taken by  South Africa (10%), with the UK the only other market of note, with a share of around 6%.

The Macallan remained in the top spirit producer spot for the fifth consecutive year, accounting for 18% of sales, followed closely by Moutai with 16%. Van Winkle came in third, – its first time in the top three, with 7%, followed by Japanese ghost distillery, Karuizawa and American Whiskey producer Old Fitzgerald was new to the top ten, showing the diversity of whiskies at the top of the market and “underscoring both global demand and the increasing importance of rarity, heritage, and brand legacy” in spirt sales.

The top lot was a bottle of The Yamazaki 50 Year Old 3rd Release 2011, which sold in London for US$228,541 , followed by a bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle ‘Van Winkle Selection’ Kentucky Bourbon Festival Master Distiller’s Auction 2007, which sold in New York for US125,000.

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