Lyons: How I built one of the biggest private collections

The name may not be familiar but the English former barrister, Graham Lyons has amassed over 20,000 bottles during the last 50 years of wine collecting, most of which will go under the hammer at Zachys HK auction on Friday, 11 September. He spoke to db HK about picking up a case of 1955 Krug halves for £23 and meeting the charismatic Vincent Leflaive in his cellar.

Graham Lyons who has amassed over 20,000 rare bottles over the last 50 years.

“I’m worried what you might think of me now,” confided Lyons over tea in the Mandarin Oriental’s Café Causette, “but the first bottle of wine I ever bought was a Mateus Rose during the 1960s”.

“It wasn’t for collecting of course but it was fun and easy to drink and to me, wines should be like that no matter where they come from or at what price.”

The former barrister-turned-wine-collector is in Hong Kong for the Zachy’s auction on Friday which will see many of his prized collections go under the hammer for the third and final installment of A London Gentleman’s Cellar after sales in New York in 2008 and 2010.

At its height, Lyons estimates his collection was over 20,000 bottles with a rollcall of some of the greatest names and vintages in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and Champagne – 1947 Cheval Blanc, Palmer, 1951 Haut-Brion, Krug, Mouton, Figeac but by his own admission, said he didn’t have much of an idea about wine when he started amassing his collection.

“I was studying for the Bar which gave me a lot of time to explore wine. Also when I got married, my father presented me with a case of 1959  Gruaud- Larose. I knew that it was a lovely wine but didn’t know enough about it intellectually. In those days [the early 1970s], the only way you could taste wines was to attend the events held by Sothebys and Christies’s in London. I must have been to absolutely dozens.

“Later, I soon put together a collection of wine books and as I read, I noted the best wine of each year. I remember mentions of very obscure wine: Château Margaux 1905, Château Beychevelle 1933, Château Haut Brion 1957, all of which I drank. Only the Haut Brion was any good! But I would recommend trying these wines in large formats now.”

Unsurprisingly, one of the most enjoyable parts of having such an extensive collection, is meeting the winemakers and producers behind the labels as well as other collectors, said Lyons.

“They’re all such great characters. I paid 10 francs for a 1949 Chateau Coutet in the 1970s. M. Roland was a real delight. It was his only bottle but he had no idea what to charge me and so I departed with a fantastic bottle at the current vintage’s price.

“M. Leflaive was another one. He took us down into his cellar but forbade us to spit, saying ‘In your wife’s kitchen, you wouldn’t spit and in my cellar you don’t either!’”

“Buying 120 bottles of 1945 Lafite at a tiny auction in Lyons is a particular favourite memory of mine. There was a Parisian collector who looked most surpsied when he saw me, an Englishman bidding on wines he probably thought I knew nothing about. There were 120 bottles in total and I bought all of them. I think it bothered him a little.”

Relinquishing most of his collection to Zachys, “aside from the eclectic rejects of very ullaged wines” has been a bittersweet experience for Lyons who pointed out that many of them are ready to drink now and less of an investment.

“What’s the point in having these great bottles which won’t be appreciated if I hang on to them for the next 20 years. They are all in their prime! And the estimates really are astonishing. The case of 1955 Krug half bottles cost me £23 in the 1970s! I’m most sad about the Rhone wines. 1961 and 1978 La Chapelle really are amazing now but I want people to enjoy them just as much as I have.”

Click through to see some of the highlights of the Zachy’s auction…

Lot 2: Six bottles of 1926 Cheval Blanc estimated between HK$140,000-200,000

Lot13: A magnum of 1874 Château Lafite Rothschild.  HK$120,000-190,000

Lot 213: One bottle of 1926 Dom Pérignon. HK$10,000-20,000

Lot 201: Six bottles of 1978 Châteauneuf du Pape Reserve Château Rayas. HK$46,000-70,000

Lot 129: Five bottles of 1971 La Tâche Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. HK$120,000-200,000

Lot 70: Three magnums of 1945 Château Gazin. HK$55,000-85,000