“Bottles come and go, indefi nitely. My
latest purchase was one of the 164 bottles
of wrongly-fi lled The Balvenie Tun 1509,
which were only released in Europe and
recalled. That took more than a month
of negotiation but I am proud to say that
l am now one of the 164 owners of those
bottles,” he shares, knowing that there’ll
always be more bottles to chase.
Besides whisky, collectors and
investors today are increasingly looking
at a wide range of spirits. Limited-release
tequila has sold well in the US, armagnac
as well as cognac is popular in the UK,
and Diageo points to an increased interest
in rum. Asian spirits are on the up,
too, particularly moutai in the Chinese
market, with older bottles from the 1960s
and ’70s garnering the most interest
at auctions.
The source and provenance of any
liquid investment is as important as its
rarity and quality. Every investor wants
to know that their asset is authentic.
Distilleries will release to clients and
collectors, or to a trusted if limited
selection of retailers, but also directly
to auction houses.
“We work closely with distilleries,
châteaux and wine producers, so there’s
extra appeal for collectors who like the
idea that the source couldn’t be any better
or more direct,” says Sleigh. Provenance
is thereby guaranteed and in many cases
products are fresh to market, another
enticing factor.
Once a purchase or investment is
made, and if a buyer is keen to hold their
bottles, it is essential that they are stored
properly. Spirits are generally more robust
than wine, but if resale is the end game,
it is preferable that even their labels are
kept pristine.
Spirits purchased for the right reasons
and held safely appear to offer a stable
performance for investors, and one
removed from the fi nancial markets. Best
of all, if their value does drop, another
exceptional tipple awaits.
THAT’S
THE SPIRIT
THE VINTAGE WINES AND SPIRITS
WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLDu The Macallan 72 Years Old
in Lalique
The Macallan 60-Year-
Old set a new world
record for a whisky
sold at auction after
selling for £1.2m at
Christie’s London in
November 2018.
Only one bottle of
this ultra-rare elixir
was hand-painted
by Irish artist Michael
Dillon. In the same year, The Macallan
unveiled the oldest whisky ever released
by the distillery, which might just set a new
record, “an incredibly rare single malt defi ned
by years of dedication and craftsmanship,”
says Nick Savage, the master distiller at
The Macallan. The Macallan 72 Years Old in
Lalique is contained in the Genesis Decanter,
an architectural masterpiece handcrafted by
crystalware brand Lalique and inspired by the
design of The Macallan’s new distillery. It is
limited to just 600 decanters worldwide.Kweichow
Moutai w
Kweichow Moutai
made its debut at
Sotheby’s auctions
in September last
year and, at the
time of writing, all
Kweichow Moutai
off ered since
has been sold.
In that fi rst sale,
12 half-litres of
Kweichow Moutai
1996 sold for
HK$372,000. A
new category for
the auction house,
the spirit has proved popular in the
past—the record for the most expensive
bottle of baijiu sold at auction is 10.7
million yuan, which was in 2011 for a
rare 1935 Lay Mau.Domaine de
la Romanée-
Conti 1945 w
A new record
for a bottle of
wine sold at
auction was
set in October
2018 when a
Domaine de la
Romanée-Conti
1945 went for
US$558,000
at Sotheby’s
New York.
It was one
of just 600 bottlesof DRC1945,and
this particularexamplecamefromthe
extraordinarypersonalcellarof famed
French wine producer Robert Drouhin.x Casks of
Distinction
Diageo’s Casks of
Distinction off ers
select private clients
the opportunity
to invest in single
malt Scotch whisky
through the sale of
individual casks in
its reserves. Each
cask is unique and
of extraordinary
quality and
character. Patrons
become the
owners of some of the rarest
whiskies ever released.l f DRC 1945 dssingapore tatler. the tatler 300 list 2019 9