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Upcoming auctions bring out the big guns
The best of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Tuscany will go under the hammer in London and New York over the next couple of months at Sotheby’s.
The London auction next week features a truly impressive line-up of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. All the lots are, sadly, incomplete cases but do cover the vintages 1988 to 2006 and all of DRC’s holdings, including: La Tâche, Echézeaux, Grands Echézeaux, Romanée-Conti, Richebourg and Romanée Saint Vivant.
Prices per lot vary from £800-£1,000 for the single bottle of 1988 Grands Echézeaux, to £5,000 for 10 bottles of 2000 Richebourg.
The collection, recently released from a French château, also includes complete cases from a number of other Burgundian estates and vineyards including; Clos de la Roche 1999 from Lucien Boillot et Fils (£300-£360 a case), Clos de Tart 2001 from Mommessin (£1,100-£1,500) and Bonnes Mares 2000 from Domaine Laurent Roumier (£550-£750).
The auction also includes several large format and very limited edition lots of Masseto and Ornellaia from the 1990s, released from the cellars by Lodovico Antinori.
The usual claret suspects are also in attendance, with lots comprising a bottle of Cheval Blanc 1947 (£1,000-£1,400), six bottles of 1961 Latour (£8,000-£10,000), a magnum of 1982 Ausone (£360-£480) and a Jeroboam of Yquem 1990 (£1,100-£1,400).
Several lots of Pétrus 1970, 1975, 1982 and 1990 dominate the New York auction on 4 March.
Prices for the Pétrus begin at US$7,500-$12,000 for half a case of 1975, US$15,000-$20,000 for a case of 1970, go up to US$32,000-$42,000 for 10 bottles of 1982 and end up at US$35,000-$55,000 for a full case of 1990.
There are several interesting large formats going under the hammer. An 18 litre Melchior of 1995 Cheval Blanc is valued at US$5,000-$7,000, a six litre Methuselah of DRC Richebourg 1993 priced at the same; a double magnum of Lafite 1989 is expected to fetch US$4,500-$6,500 and anyone without that sort of petty cash should console themselves with the equally rare Jeroboam of Jacquesson Blanc de Blancs 1990 for US$250-$360.
Rupert Millar, 17.02.2011