Nine bottles of DRC fetch £235,000

Latour 1961 and old vintages of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti have been doing the rounds at auctions this week in London and Hong Kong.

Bordeaux Index reported the sale of nine Jeroboams of DRC in Hong Kong this week, which sold for £235,000. Meanwhile, a case of Latour 1961 and several collected bottles of DRC sold strongly in Sotheby’s London sale of fine wine yesterday (20 July).

Sotheby’s auction featured several lots of DRC, usually in collections of one to five bottles, dating from 1943.

The single bottle of 1943 of DRC La Tâche valued at £800-£1,200 sold for £1,955, while three bottles of 1959 DRC Romanée-Conti went for £25,300 (valued  at £15,000-£20,000).

Five bottles of 1978 sold for £36,800, again some way above its £28,000 high estimate.

Other big lots included a complete case of 1961 Latour, which was sold for £32,200, having been valued at £22,000-£28,000. Similarly, six bottles of Pétrus 1953 saw the hammer go down at £7,820 (£4,000-£5,000 estimate).

Over in Hong Kong, the nine Jeroboams of DRC sold for so much due to a “frenzied” bidding war between five Asian bidders according to the merchant.

The bottles covered three vintages, 1988, 1989 and 1990, with a bottle of Montrachet, La Tâche and Romanée-Conti in each vintage collection.

Bordeaux Index’s founder Gary Boom said that the result showed just how far the Far East has come as a market place for fine wine: “It’s no exaggeration to say this collection was genuinely a once in a lifetime opportunity to snap-up some incredibly rare wines,” he said.

“We’re not surprised that bidding reached that level in the current market. It also isn’t surprising that the eventual buyer is based in Hong Kong. Demand for fine wine from the region is extraordinary, and the prices they’re willing to pay for the best vintages are eye-watering. It’s no coincidence that every one of the final five bidders was based in the Far East.”