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Mosel TBA smashes auction record
Egon Müller’s 2003 Scharzhofberger Trockenbeerenauslese smashed records last week when it sold for €12,000 a bottle at the VDP Prädikat wine auction in Trier.
Taking place at the IAT Plaza hotel in Trier last Friday (18 September), the annual sale saw VDP producers from across the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer regions present their 2014 wines and a few “treasures” from past vintages.
The remarkable result rocketed passed the previous record set in 2011 when Müller’s 1999 Scharzhofberger TBA made €5,300 p/b.
With only 18 bottles of the 0.75cl available, bidding began at €2,000 p/b and shot to over €6,000 very quickly before finally hitting its €12,000 (£8,730) ceiling.
Even the half bottles, 36 of which were available, broke the 2011 record, selling for €5,500 each.
Speaking to the press afterwards, Müller, who is also chairman of the VDP Grosser-Ring, said he knew the price for the 2003 TBA would be high “but not that much”.
He added that although the 2003 vintage is generally remembered across Europe as “too hot”, “in the Saar-Ruwer it is known as a great vintage and that’s widely known now.”
In total the auction realised €1.6 million, in itself a new record for the annual sale and Müller opined that the success was being driven by more and also younger collectors from around the world. “Why shouldn’t they spend their money on German wine?” he asked.
Other top lots included magnums of Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken’s 2005 Rausch TBA making €2,910 apiece (and €1,100 per 0.75cl), Egon Müller’s 2014 Scharzhofberger Auslese Goldkapsel at €770 per 0.75cl and magnums of Joh. Jos. Prüm’s 2013 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese lange Goldkapsel which made €1,260 each.
The sale also saw the first ever sale of a kosher wine, a 2014 Scharzhofberger Kabinett from Weingut von Hövel which made €24 p/b.
The day before (Thursday 15th) the Bernkastler-Ring auction had taken place. TBA’s proved the stars of that sale too with half bottles of Johannes Schmitz’s Ürziger Würzgarten TBA making €400 each and half bottles of Weingut Bauer’s Brauneberger Juffe TBA making €500 apiece.