White Bordeaux and Burgundy shine at auctions

The bidding for top Bordeaux and Burgundy was as heated as ever in Hong Kong and New York this weekend, but it was white wines from both regions that made some of the biggest impressions.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti dominated Sotheby’s New York auction, while Zachys’ Hong Kong sale saw more of a mix between Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne in its top lots.

Sotheby’s head of wine auctions, Duncan Sterling, added: “Today’s sale – our shortest ever, at a concise 2 hours flat – continued trends we saw in our October sale, with white Burgundy performing extremely well.

“Ten bottles of 1988 Montrachet from DRC sold for US$45,938 (est. $25,000-35,000) and three bottles of 1985 for $14,700 (est. $8,000-11,000).”

Eight bottles of Henri Jayer’s Cros Parantoux ($39,812), five bottles of 1982 Le Pin ($27,562) and a case of ex-cellar Latour 1961 ($33,687) and three bottles of 1945 ($30,625) were also in the top 10.

The sale also included Yquem dating from 1816, however that bottle failed to make its low estimate of $25,000 and instead went for $24,500.

A bottle of 1921 went above its high-estimate of $5,500 however and sold for $8,575.

At Zachys’ sale, there was particularly strong bidding for a case of Haut-Brion’s 1999 white, which made HK$51,240 (high estimate HK$30,000).

Six magnums of Krug’s 1985 Clos du Mesnil were similarly well received, making HK$85,200 dollars over its high estimate when it went for HK$195,200.

Similarly impressive was a vertical of Mouton-Rothschild from 1967-2008, which made HK$317,200 (HK$180,000) and six assorted bottles of 1998 DRC went for HK$488,000 (HK$380,000).