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Christies looks to year ahead
Christie’s has declared that 2009 ended on a high and that 2010 looks set to be equally successful, thanks to the demand for fine wine in Asia.
Despite disruption caused by the economic crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008, prices recovered quickly and the auction house reported a successful end to last year.
“Interest remained high, and by the start of the autumn season, not only had hammer prices started to creep up, but we saw a greater willingness from consignors to offer high quality wines,” said Charles Curtis MW, head of wine sales at Christie’s.
“The legendary wines offered during this season spurred buyers, particularly Asian buyers, to drive hammer prices even higher and provided a strong finish to the year. Sale totals for the year once again surpassed the $50 million mark,” he added.
The autumn of 2009 saw the selection of this year’s spring sale wines.
Curtis revealed that there are “several very interesting wines on offer” for this first quarter.
Bordeaux, he claimed, remains the backbone of the saleroom, but Burgundy is increasing in prominence and consignments of Champagne and Italian wine promise to generate a lot of interest.
“Although the supply of fine wine to the market is steady, the provenance and condition of the wines on offer is more important than ever before,” said Curtis.
The growth in supply has coincided with the demand from both the UK trade and Asia, especially Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.
“These trends have been strongly accentuated by the establishment of Hong Kong as a free port for wine," said Curtis.
“Another trend throughout the course of 2009 was the concurrent proliferation of Hong Kong sales. Judging by what has sold and by the prices attained this season, the Hong Kong market is beginning to mature."
He also concluded that increasingly the "savvy buyer" was shopping around the salerooms of New York, London and Hong Kong in order to find the finest and rarest products.
“Overall, the prognosis for 2010 is good, with exceptional wines coming to market and an active market with firm prices and rising demand,” he concluded.
Rupert Millar, 25.02. 2010