Global value of wine sold at auction dips

The total value of wine sold at auctions worldwide was slightly down in June and over half the sum reached in May, this year’s peak.

Nine auctions last month shifted just over £6.17 million worth of wine, a drop of £1.5m on May when £7.7m was sold from the same number of events. In contrast, as many as 14 auctions in May raised almost £117m.

According to the Liv-ex auction monitor, published in the drinks business each month, June’s top five lots were all from Domaine de la Romanée Conti (DRC) with mid June’s Zachys Hong Kong auction making the largest single sale: a case of La Tåche 1990, which fetched £26,543.40.

The leading lot in May was also from DRC and sold in Hong Kong, this time through Sotheby’s. It was a single 600cl bottle of 1989 Romanée Conti, and fetched over £40,000.  

April’s auction total was significantly buoyed by five cases of 1982 Lafite Rothschild, again sold in Hong Kong but through Christie’s, raising £116,975.05. However, earlier in the month a 300cl bottle of DRC La Tåche 1990 fetched just under £84,000 at Zachys in New York.

Top five lots by value in June:
                                
Date          Auction     City               Wine                        Vintage            Unit Size    Quantity   Price

13.06.09    Zachys    Hong Kong    DRC, La Tåche       1990               12x75cl        1             £26,543.40
13.06.09    Zachys    Hong Kong    DRC, Assortment    1990               12x75cl        1             £26,543.40
27.06.09    HDH        Chicago         DRC, Assortment    1971               12x75cl        1             £25,322.40
13.06.09    Sothebys New York      DRC, Assortment    1990               12x75cl        1             £23,936.33
27.06.09    HDH        Chicago         DRC, Assortment    1971               12x75cl        1             £23,151.90

Source: liv-ex.com

Patrick Schmitt, 16.07.09