AUCTIONS
MAY 31, 2020 • WINE SPECTATOR 271961 sold for $41,825 against a top
estimate of $30,000, and a 6-liter
imperial of Pétrus 1989 garnered
$45,410 against a top estimate of
$38,000. In the historical curiosity
department, a six-bottle lot of Châ-
teau Cheval-Blanc 1939 (plus
lunch at the château) sold for
$26,290.
In early December, Sotheby’s
auctioned a wide array of Bordeaux
from the cellar of an unnamedmember of the Bronfman family,
former owners of Seagram’s. The
sale fetched $1.9 million. The prov-
enance of the wines, all from im-
porter Seagram Chateau & Estate,
accounted for strong case prices.
On Oct. 10, Christie’s New York
garnered solid prices for lots of Pé-
trus. Six magnums of the 1989 vin-
tage brought $43,750, as did a case
of 1990. The highlight of its De-
cember consignment was a majorcollection of Château Lafite Roth-
schild spanning the 1960 to 2016
vintages. The showstopper was a
case of the 1982 vintage that traded
for $32,500.
Auction houses also had success
with wines from the Rhône, Cali-
fornia, Piedmont and Madeira.
Notably, however, the top-selling
alcohol lot of the year was not a
wine but a whisky. At Sotheby’s
London in October, a bottle of
The Macallan Fine & Rare 60-
Year Old 1926 set an auction re-
cord for any wine or spirit, selling
for $1.9 million, far surpassing its
presale high estimate of $550,000.
The bottle was part of the first sin-
gle-owner whisky collection sold
by Sotheby’s, which grossed just
under $10 million, the highest to-
tal for any whisky collection ever
offered at auction.
Bidders chased after Scotch
milestones in every format: A rare
30-year whisky Sherry hogshead
cask (approximately 250 liters)
from Macallan sold in November
at Bonhams Hong Kong for a re-
cord $572,000, and a 1989 Macal-
lan hogshead sold for $527,000 at
Acker Hong Kong. A 1997 Bow-
more Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Refill Oloroso Cask 2409 brought
$210,800 at Acker Hong Kong last
May. Acker chairman John Kapon
observed that his top lots of the
year reinforced the increasing im-
portance of fine and rare spirits in
the auction scene.
Are there clouds on the horizon
for 2020? The outbreak of CO-
VID-19 has already impacted some
Hong Kong sales, forcing resched-
uling. Financial markets were
showing concerns over the global
impact of the virus at presstime in
March. That could reduce collec-
tors’ willingness to spend.
Continued 25% tariffs on many
European wines also loom over
2020 sales. It is a major concern for
American auction houses, who
worry that it will encourage con-
signors to look to London and
Hong Kong.BY PETER D. MELTZER
I
n 2019, worldwide wine and
spirits auction totals (including
sales held in the U.S., U.K., Ge-
neva and Hong Kong, plus on-
line) rose to $521 million, up 9%
from $479 million in 2018. That’s
bullish, if not as dramatic as 2018’s
26% surge. Burgundy continued to
boom, while Bordeaux remained a
solid draw. But the biggest growth
came from the small but flourish-
ing market for rare spirits.
Sales in New York climbed a
hefty 20% to $157 million. In Eu-
rope, London and Geneva, they
rose a combined 19% to $55 mil-
lion. Hong Kong totals increased
17% to $160 million. And online
was up 8% to $81 million. (All fig-
ures rounded for this story.)
Among the major auction
houses, Zachys led the pack, with
a substantial $122 million in over-
all sales (up 51% over 2018), fol-
lowed by Sotheby’s at $120 million
and Acker at $93 million.
Burgundy continued to be the
biggest draw. Of the top 10 wine
lots sold at Acker in 2019, five
were Domaine de la Romanée-
Conti (DRC) Romanée-Conti,
with one 12-bottle lot of the 2005
vintage commanding $248,000 in
Hong Kong on Dec. 5.
Burgundy was the clear winner at
Zachys’ New York sales. In early
October, 12 bottles of Domaine
Ponsot Clos de la Roche Cuvée
Vieilles Vignes 1985 sold for
$111,150 against a high estimate of
$80,000. In late October, six mag-
nums of Armand Rousseau Cham-
bertin-Clos de Bèze 2005 brought
$74,100, just below the top esti-
mate. A magnum of DRC Ro-
manée-Conti 1991 sold for $51,870,
topping the previous world record
by over $10,000.
Despite the sea of Burgundy on
the market, Bordeaux prices held
firm. Hart Davis Hart held its sixth
annual “A Celebration of Bor-
deaux” auction Nov. 15–16. A
5-liter jeroboam of Château LatourBurgundy and Rare Spirits Boom in 2019
2019 AUCTION TOTALS
2018 SALES 2019 SALES PERCENT
(in USD millions) (in USD millions) CHANGE
New York
Zachys $ 43. 20 $ 76. 30 77 %
Acker $ 52. 80 $ 41. 50 - 21 %
Sotheby’s $ 28. 20 $ 30. 70 9 %
Christie’s $ 6. 50 $ 8. 17 26 %
Total New York $ 130. 70 $ 156. 67 20 %
Other U.S.
Hart Davis Hart Chicago $ 67. 90 $ 58. 40 - 14 %
Heritage Los Angeles $ 10. 40 $ 9. 20 - 12 %
Bonhams San Francisco $ 1. 80 $ 1. 00 - 44 %
Zachys San Francisco $ 5. 90 – –
Spectrum Beverly Hills $ 3. 90 – –
Total United States (including N.Y.) $ 220. 60 $ 225. 27 2 %U.K. & Europe
Sotheby’s London $ 17. 80 $ 28. 40 60 %
Christie’s London $ 15. 10 $ 11. 60 - 23 %
Christie’s Geneva $ 7. 20 $ 7. 20 0 %
Bonhams Edinburgh & London $ 6. 30 $ 7. 90 25 %
Total U.K. & Europe $ 46. 40 $ 55. 10 19 %
Hong Kong & Shanghai
Sotheby’s $ 51. 90 $ 59. 00 14 %
Acker $ 43. 00 $ 38. 30 - 11 %
Zachys $ 22. 30 $ 33. 80 52 %
Christie’s Hong Kong $ 13. 90 $ 17. 50 26 %
Christie’s Shanghai $ 3. 80 – –
Bonhams $ 2. 30 $ 11. 80 4 %
Total Hong Kong & Shanghai $ 137. 20 $ 160. 40 17 %Internet Only
Winebid.com $ 31. 00 $ 29. 00 - 6 %
Acker $ 9. 30 $ 12. 90 39 %
Zachys $ 9. 30 $ 11. 50 24 %
Spectrum $ 10. 00 $ 10. 90 9 %
Hart Davis Hart $ 9. 20 $ 10. 10 10 %
Christie’s $ 3. 40 $ 3. 00 - 12 %
Heritage $ 3. 20 $ 1. 30 - 59 %
Bonhams – –
Sotheby’s $ 0. 30 $ 1. 90 38 %
Total Internet $ 74. 90 $ 80. 60 8 %GLOBAL TOTAL $ 479. 10 $ 521. 37 9 %Market Leaders Worldwide
Zachys $ 80. 70 $ 121. 50 51 %
Sotheby’s $ 98. 10 $ 118. 00 20 %
Acker $ 105. 20 $ 92. 60 - 12 %WS053120_auctions.indd 27 3/18/20 10:01 AM