Sotheby’s kicks off autumn with ‘triumphant’ sale in London

Sotheby’s has started its autumn series of fine wine sales with an auction in London that raised £2.9 million – its second highest total ever for a UK sale.

Calling the result, “triumphant”, Sotheby’s head of wine in Europe, Stephen Mould, said: “The £2.9 million achieved marked Sotheby’s second highest total for a wine auction staged in London. There was huge global demand with over 250 bidders and buyers from 24 countries and the interest was such that the sale could have been sold eight times over.”

Held on 20 September, the sale was dominated by top Bordeaux, Burgundy and Italian wines and one of the star lots was a bottle of The Dalmore’s ‘The 12 Pointer’ 62-year-old Scotch which “soared” over its high estimate of £50,000 for a final hammer price of £91,650.

As the house reported, Burgundy was also in high demand with a six-bottle case of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s 2004 Romanée-Conti selling for £61,100 and another three bottles of the 2005 making £56,400.

More top prices were achieved for mature claret including 2000 Mouton Rothschild, 1989 Haut-Brion, 1982 Lafleur and nine bottles of 1945 Lafite (£18,800).

All of the top 10 lots in the sale were bought by UK and European trade and private buyers.