Rare whisky poised to break auction records

A bottle of 1937 Glenfiddich is expected to break the £50,000 mark at Christie’s London sale today.

Valued at £50,000 to £70,000, the 1937 is one of only 61 bottles that were taken out of their cask in 2001.

Glenfiddich’s even rarer bottling of its 50 year old Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve has regularly broken records when it has come up for auction, with the most expensive of the four sold so far going for £59,000 in New York this March.

Whisky is a key feature of the auction with a total of 64 lots including a trio of 1964 Bowmore each matured in different casks which are estimated at £12,000 to £15,000.

The whiskies – which also include a Glenfiddich 1955 (£8,000-£10,000) and a Macallan Select Reserve 1948 (£5,000-£6,000) – are expected to be some of the top lots at the sale, which also includes cases of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s 1988 Romanée-Conti at £60,000-80,000 apiece.

Chris Munro, head of wine at Christie’s London commented: “We are very excited to be able to offer our clients the opportunity to bid for such a rare whisky in our June auction.

“The already global collecting base within the whisky market continues to grow, with a great deal of crossover from our established wine buyers and I’ve no doubt this bottle will invite a flurry of interest from collectors both old and new.”

Also for sale is Latour 1982 for £14,000 to £18,000, Pétrus 1988 for £10,000 to £12,000 a wide range of other Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and vintage Port, in particular Taylor’s 1977.